Let's take a look at the global market highlights and news for April 3rd 2014.
Data remains positive for the US Home Depot one of the big winners of the day
And the ADP report shows a sharp upswing in jobs
Let's see what's happening in the global markets now...
Wall Street climbed higher pushing the S&P 500 to another intraday record, after data
suggested the economy was slowly building momentum after a winter-related pullback earlier
in the year.
Eight of 10 S&P 500 sectors were in positive territory, though gains were limited following
a recent push to new highs.
U.S. private employers added 191thousand workers in March, slightly below the 195thousand forecast,
while gains in the prior month were revised to 178thousand from a previously reported
139thousand, signaling that a winter-related impact on job growth earlier this year was
easing.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 14.59 points, or 0.09 percent, to 16-5-47.2, the
S&P 500 gained 3.99 points to 18-89.51, after hitting an intraday record high of 18-90.80.
The Nasdaq Composite added 4.942 points to 42-72.982.
Home Depot is one of the big winners of the day, as shares were up 1.3%.
The move comes after UBS named the home improvement store one of the top five retailers to buy
at this time.
Furthermore, recent housing data indicates that home prices in a number of states hit
all-time highs in February.
This is an indication that the majority of homeowners in those locations are no longer
underwater on their residence.
That is a great sign for Home Depot, because customers who are not underwater spend substantially
more on their home than those who are upside down..
It was a quiet trading session in Europe as market participants positioned for the upcoming
ECB governing council meeting, which as a result meant that peripheral equity indices
underperformed.
In the foreign exchange market the dollar reached a high of two months versus the yen
on Wednesday as a private report indicated that companies in the U.S. had boosted their
payrolls by the most in 2014 during March, which backed the case for interest rates to
be increased by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The U.S. dollar gained for only the first time in the past four days versus the euro
as a prediction has been made by analysts that April 4th data will show that employers
in the U.S. added jobs during March.
The European Central Bank holds a monetary policy meeting on Thursday afternoon.
Policy makers in the European Central Bank will keep the main refinancing rate the same
at 0.25% on Thursday, which is a record, according to the majority of economists surveyed.
The euro has been weaker by 0.6% against the dollar since Mario Draghi on March 13th said
the rate of exchange is increasingly relevant in our assessment of stability of prices.
In the commodities space despite a fall in API inventories, WTI and Brent crude futures
traded steady in minor negative territory, with Brent prices weighed on by further reports
of blockade ending within days in Libya.
Of note, NATO's top military commander said that the situation with Russia's forces on
the Ukrainian border remains incredibly concerning.
Market participants will get to digest the release of the latest ADP Employment Change,
Factory Orders and the release of the weekly DoE reports.
Crude oil inventories dropped by 2.4 million barrels, the Energy Department reports on
Wednesday.
Gold futures climbed, putting an end to five-straight sessions of losses as traders placed their
bets ahead of the monthly U.S. jobs report due at the end of the week.
Gold rose $10.80 to settle at $12-90.80.
Prices had lost about 2.4% in the past five sessions.
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