Wall Street Gains After Positive News
Wall Street added to yesterday’s gains today after better-than-expected first-quarter profits at Dow Chemical and an unexpected fall in initial jobless claims fuelled optimism.
Dow Chemical, the largest US chemical maker, jumped 16.4% to $15.72 a share this afternoon after producing first-quarter profits (excluding certain one-off items) of 12 cents a share. That was significantly better [...]
Markets Ignore the Rules and Go Up
Sometimes markets don’t act like they “should” do. Today US GDP came in at -6.1% for Q1, significantly worse than consensus expectations, yet markets have rallied today. Even the revelation that 6 out of the 19 banks being examined as part of the US stress test will need further funds, hasn’t dented enthusiasm today.
It [...]
US Banking sector and Swine Flu Knock US Equity Markets
Fresh banking sector fears and negative sentiment instigated by the deadly swine flu outbreak knocked US equity markets a notch lower at the start of the trading day today. Confidence in US stocks, especially towards airlines, returned by late afternoon trading, however.
It has emerged that unidentified sources close to the matter have told [...]
Financial Review of Swine Flu and US Financial Shares
The rapid spread of the deadly swine flu outbreak hit US shares, particularly travel related stocks, this afternoon.
The United Nations has warned that the virus has the potential of becoming a pandemic after rapidly spreading from Mexico, where officials suspect it has caused the death of more than 100 people, to the United States, [...]
IG Index Spread Betting Market Review
Despite Bank of America’s better-than-expected first-quarter results, Wall Street opened sharply lower this afternoon as investors fear that rising unemployment will lead to a surge in banking sector bad debts.
Bank of America (BofA) today produced first-quarter profits that were more than double of last year’s earnings, helped by strong contributions from Merrill Lynch. The [...]
Key Financial Markets Trading Update
Following on from yesterday’s gloomy US retail figures the Dow Jones duly opened lower, down a modest 0.5% in early trading, while the broader S&P 500 was similarly 0.6% off the pace. But it wasn’t all bad news.
The raft of key economic data from the US contained the expected gloomy news, but also [...]
Easter Financial Trading Update
Financials are on fire today and lifting global markets with them as positive headlines hit investors in waves today. It started as a reasonable day anyway for European markets, but the opening surge from the US has pushed markets even further into positive territory.
In the UK, Barclays finally closed out the sale of iShares [...]
Spread Trading Markets Update
Global markets have started to pull back after the largest four week winning streak on US markets since 1983. After rallying by nearly a quarter from the lows of February, investors are understandably keen to book profits. Debate now rages as to whether the recent rally was the start of a meaningful recovery or what [...]