Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed rapidly on Wednesday as investors looked forward Fed Chairman Bernanke's signals for additional monetary stimulus in summer. Blue chip gauge surged 2.37% or 286.84 points to 12,414.79 with all 30 stocks ending session in the positive territory. Bank of America rallied 7.6% on speculation for monetary accommodation. Home Depot gained 3.4% after increasing its share
With investors' growing hopes that Europe and the U.S. may loosen monetary policies to combat with the progressing economic concerns, the Asian market benefitted with a boost during Thursday trade. The Asian shares that advanced were Japan's Nikkei Stock Average with a 1 per cent jump, Kospi – 2.7 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index – 1.4 per cent, and the Shanghai Composite
S&P 500 index rallied on Wednesday, posting the biggest daily gain for the year, lifted by investor hopes for fresh stimulus to economic growth. US benchmark rocketed 2.30% or 29.63 points and closed at 1,315.13. Iron Mountain jumped 13.8% after document-storage firm raised quarterly dividend by 8% and announced it will transform to a real-estate investment trust. The leading hydraulic-fracturing
According to Moody's, if the financial anxiety reaches the U.S., the entailed repercussions could be significantly more severe for Asia, which currently has to cope with the negative influence of crisis in Europe. Repercussions of the turmoil in Europe could result in Asian production declining by 5% within a one year period. In contrast, if the U.S. is pulled into the financial distress,
European stocks rallied on Wednesday ahead of ECB interest rate decision. Gains were slightly limited after ECB President Draghi said no interest cut will be implemented. Nevertheless markets performed significantly better compared to last week. Stoxx Europe 600 jumped 2.3%, German DAX added 2.1% and French CAC gained 2.4%. British FTSE 100 also surged 2.4% after two holidays.
US stocks appreciated sharply on Wednesday amid positive news from housing sector and on speculation Federal Reserve may indicate further stimulus for this summer. S&P 500 rocketed 2.30% or 29.63 points and closed at 1,315.13. Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 2.37% or 286.84 points to 12,414.79. Nasdaq Composite advanced 2.4% or 66.61 points and finished at 2,844.72.
On Wednesday the Canadian currency strengthened for a third straight day against its US peer on hopes for monetary stimulus. Commodities and stocks also reflected optimism on Fed's decision. Canadian Dollar jumped 1% to CAD 1.0276. Currently USD/CAD is trading at CAD 1.0273.
The Greenback traded close to one-week record low versus 17-nation currency ahead of Fed Chairman Ben Bernake's speech today. Investors expect indication of additional stimulus to the world's largest economy. Euro advanced against Dollar to USD 1.2563 in Asian trade. Currently EUR/USD is trading at USD 1.2568.
Timothy F. Geithner, US Treasury Secretary and Ben Bernake, Fed Chairman are worried about the current situation in Eurozone banking industry, said Jyrki Katainen, Finnish PM. Leaders met on Wednesday to discuss how to tackle problems in Spanish financial sector and in other European nations to avoid another banking sector collapse.
Mario Draghi, the President of ECB highlighted interest rate reductions, liquidity injections and bond purchasing as only remaining tools ECB can use. He rejected ECB ability to cap borrowing costs or apply quantitative easing. Draghi reminded that the main task of ECB is to provide stable prices. Draghi did not support further interest rate cuts and added that monetary policy is
The hiring in Australia posted a surprise advance in May, reducing need for further interest rate cuts. The number of workers added surged by 38,900 last month, Sydney statistics bureau reported on Thursday. Analysts questioned by Bloomberg predicted flat employment. The unemployment rate slightly climbed from 5% in April to 5.1% in May.
Activity in the UK construction sector slowed for a second month in a row, as a number of new orders declined and confidence in the economy plunged due to the recession-hit UK economy and worsening Eurozone crisis. The construction industry's PMI decreased to 54.4 in May from 55.8 in April. The data came after the PMI for the manufacturing sector
While European countries responding to the Eurozone's debt crisis are tightening belts, French President F. Hollande has provided more generous retirement benefits and moved lower the retirement age from 62 to 60 years old for some workers. The pension decree might increase tension between Germany and France, which are arguing how to effectively address the crisis.
According to a Bank of Italy official, a quarter of Italian economy evades taxes, due to illegal criminal economic activities, causing increasing borrowing costs and poor investment in the most affected by the crisis regions. Last month the European Commission pushed Italy under pressure to undertake measures to combat tax evasion problem in the country.
The overseas investment of China rocketed in Q1 to 21.4 billion US Dollars as China's state-owned firms increased buying of resource-related assets all over the world. Considering yearly moves, China's investments rose more than two times, according to the report of A Capital. The report also outlined rising China's interest in Europe as ongoing Eurozone debt crisis provided opportunities for
Crude oil futures edged up in Asian trading on Thursday amid falling US inventories and hopes that the Fed will provide additional monetary stimulus to boost economy. Light, sweet crude oil futures for July delivery traded at 85.45 US Dollars per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, rising by 0.51% from the last session's low of 85.38 US Dollars
Australian construction industry shank for 24th month in a row in May. Australian PCI lost 0.2 points, attaining 34.7 in May; reading below 50 signals contraction. Meanwhile, the sharpest fall was registered in commercial construction and house and building activity. The data mostly reflects cyclical downturn in the industry; however, recent interest rate cuts from the RBA are likely to
Gold futures moved lower in Asian session on Thursday as traders cashed out from the market after recent rally of the yellow metal. COMEX gold August contract traded at 1,623.55 US Dollars per troy ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, dropping by 0.65%. Meanwhile, COMEX silver for delivery in July traded at 29.415 US Dollars per troy ounce, retreating
China announced that it will postpone the introduction of tougher bank rules until January 2013 as such measures may impact lending amid cooling economy. The new regulation is aimed at increasing reserves banks have to keep to cover losses from bad debts. The financial, institutions will be given sufficient transition period to comply with new requirements, reported China's cabinet.
Australian jobless rate advanced in May, reported Australian Bureau of Statistic. The rate of unemployment in the country rose to 5.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis in May as compared to April's reading of 4.9%. The figure is in compliance with expectations. After the data release, Australian Dollar rallied against its US counterpart by 0.26% to trade at 0.9955 US
On Wednesday, futures for crude oil rallied, as dollar was falling and investors were optimistic about ECB measures to combat Eurozone crisis. However, the supply of crude oil, which appeared to be larger than expected, did not allow further increase in oil prices. On the NYMEX, July delivery futures were traded at USD85.79 per barrel.
On Wednesday, the Euro gained significantly versus the U.S. dollar, as the ECB President Mario Draghi said that the ECB will act, if Eurozone's economy slips lower. EUR reached 1.2555 against USD in the U.S. afternoon trading session, after pulling back from a session's low of 1.2441. The support was likely to be found at 1.2409, and resistance was prone to be at 1.2573.
European stock markets rallied up as investors focused on possible stimulus from Fed and did not pay much attention to ECB decision about holding interest rates steady. Stoxx Europe 600 gained 1.8% and reached the level of 238.70. Spanish IBEX 35 grew by 1.7% and reached 6,374.40, being affected by Telefonica shares, which gained about 4%.
On Wednesday, the Bureau of U.S. Labor Statistics reported that the figure for productivity of non-farm business sector was revised down to the level of 0.9% drop in Q1 . This is a steeper decline than an earlier estimated drop of 0.5% and also a sharper fall than expected 0.7%. The bureau also reported that unit labor costs grew by 1.3%, which is less than