Let's take a look at the global market highlights and news for April 10th 2014.
Facebook continues to climb Traders surprised by Fed minutes
And The euro remains strong against a weak US dollar
Lets see whats happening in the global markets now
In the global equities market: Stocks rose after better-than-expected corporate
results boosted sentiment on the outlook for first-quarter earnings, while the dollar gained
on optimism the U.S. economy will show growth as it shrugs off the effects of a bitter winter.
U.S. stocks rose for a second session, after Alcoa late Tuesday reported quarterly results
that topped analysts' expectations, even though the company's adjusted profit fell due to
declining aluminum prices.
Shares of Alcoa gained 3.5 percent to $12.97 and at one point were the best performer among
components of the benchmark S&P 500 index.
Stocks pulled sharply higher in afternoon trading after the Federal Reserve released
the minutes from its latest policy meeting, with the Dow Jones up 155 points.
Dow component Disney rose nearly 1% to maintain its recent run.
A partial recovery in social networks and other high growth, "momentum" tech stocks
led the gains.
Facebook was among the biggest.
Shares of the leading social network climbed more than 4.6% amid news that Facebook would
tweak privacy settings and had reached the 100 million-user mark in India.
It traded just below 87 dollars-per-share midday.
Many investors called for it to hit even higher.
The NASDAQ was up 20.37 points.
European markets closed higher Wednesday.
Most Asian markets also managed gains, led by Hong Kong's Hang Seng with a 1.1% rise.
Japan's Nikkei continued its decline, falling 2.1%, as hopes fade of more central bank stimulus.
In the foreign exchange market the dollar dropped to more than two week-lows against
the euro and Swiss franc after minutes of the latest Federal Reserve monetary policy
meeting suggested that the U.S. central bank may not raise interest rates anytime soon.
The minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee in March showed that the Fed would wait for
a considerable time after ending a bond-buying program before finally raising rates.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen, at a press conference after the FOMC meeting defined "considerable
time" as "around six months" depending on the economy.
Analysts said the latest minutes showed that the Fed seemed to back away from that six-month
gap.
The euro rose as high as $1.38-56 against the dollar, its strongest level since March
24th.
The dollar was flat against the yen, falling following the Fed minutes, after trading higher
for most of the session.
In the commodities space WTI and Brent Crude traded lower, as reports of easing tensions
between Ukraine and Russia, together with a large build in API crude oil inventories
released yesterday weighed on prices.
However heading into the North American open, prices have since reversed and both WTI and
Brent crude futures are seen little changed.
Gold ended lower, as investors remained focused on the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve
policy meet held earlier in March, with the dollar slipping against some major currencies.
Traders also remained apprehensive over developments in Ukraine, with global equity markets wavering.
Gold edged higher early on in the session amid tensions over Ukraine, but buying interest
declined as stocks rebounded on hopes of more stimulus announcements from China.
Gold dropped 0.2 percent to close at $13-05.90
This is Amy Anderson from OptionRally signing off; The Optionrally News Team will be taking
their spring vacation from April 13th and will return on the 1st of May with a new and
exciting format...
Have a great weekend