Let's take a look at the global market highlights and news for April 2nd 2014.
Equities keep quiet Gold and Crude oil ease
And Investors lose interest in safe havens Let's see what's happening in the Global Markets
Now
In the global equities market: European shares trade in positive territory
today, ignoring mixed economic data.
In the US, the manufacturing ISM was too close to expectations to influence equities.
The S&P is around 0.7% higher and set a new record high.
EMU Finance Ministers signed off today on a 8.3 billion Euro aid for Greece, ending
a six‐month stand‐off between Athens and the Troika.
Greece is now fully financed for the next 12 months and does not want to ask for a third
bailout, although it is still too early to say if it will be able to fulfill that ambition,
a Eurogroup head disclosed.
Most regional manufacturing PMI's were slightly stronger than expected.
Germany was the exception to the rule and the final figure for EMU was eventually unchanged.
German unemployment data were better than expected but couldn't influence trading.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials added 55.81 points to 16-5-13.47, the NASDAQ
lifted 49.05 points to 42-48.04 and the S&P 500 index rose 7.23 points to 18-79.57.
The S&P 500 had earlier hit an intra-day high of 18-85 -setting a new record.
Comments from U.S. Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen on Monday gave investors a better
idea of a roadmap for the economy.
Yellen said she thinks the struggling U.S. jobs market will continue to need the help
of low interest rates "for some time."
In Europe London's FTSE 100 index rose 0.8 per cent, Frankfurt's DAX ended ahead 0.4
per cent and the Paris CAC 40 has gained 0.8 per cent.
In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 is down 0.24 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng is ahead 1.34
per cent and China's Shanghai Composite Index is up 0.70 per cent.
In the foreign exchange market the greenback eased as currency traders looked ahead to
key U.S. jobs data due Friday and shrugged off a report showing growth at U.S. factories.
The dollar index slipped 0.12 percent to 80.008, off a two-week high of 80.296 where Federal
Reserve Chair Janet Yellen defended the U.S. central bank's loose-money policies.
The euro was up against the dollar by 0.26 percent in New York trading to $1.38-10 after
eurozone PMI's printed better than expected.
Against the yen, the dollar touched a high of 103.61 yen, its best since March 7th, after
a report showed factory growth increasing for a second straight month.
The sales tax increase kicked in today worrying investors and putting pressure on the Bank
of Japan to act.
The pound tumbled to trade at 1.66-26 after UK PMI missed expectations.
In the commodities space oil prices dropped today after weak Chinese manufacturing data
sparked concerns that the world's second-largest economy slowed more than expected in the first
quarter, clouding crude demand.
Brent crude dropped by $0.24 to $107.52 a barrel, while US oil was down by $0.41 to
$101.17.
Crude prices dropped after China's official Purchasing Managers' Index released by the
National Bureau of Statistics, showed mixed results for its manufacturing sector.
Gold hit a seven-week low and other safe-havens like the yen weakened.
Two surveys on Tuesday showed that manufacturing in China struggled in March, bolstering talk
that Beijing will bring in selective stimulus.
Gold, one of this year's surprise star performers after a 2013 slump, hit a seven-week low of
12-78.34 per ounce.
Gold was recently down 0.3 percent at $1.280.20.
The price is still up more than 6 percent year-to-date.
This is Amy Anderson from OptionRally signing off And of course I'm waiting for your LIKE
below if you enjoyed today's Market Watch.
Have a great day