Wall Street Futures Point Up

Wall Street futures contracts indicated that US equity markets were poised to open higher this afternoon despite the release of worse-than-expected first-quarter US GDP data.
By 1.40pm (London time) June Dow futures were trading 0.44% above fair value at 8421 and June S&P 500 contracts were trading 0.51% higher at 906.63 in spite of an [...]

Troubles Continue in the US Housing Market

The Dow Jones opened higher today after durable goods and initial jobless claims figures beat expectations. However, gains were later relinquished on the back of reports showing that new home sales trailed expectations and mortgage delinquencies surged to record levels in the US.
Investors looked at macro data for reassurance, only to find that underlying fundamentals [...]

Uninspiring Opening on Wall Street

An uninspiring opening on Wall Street has done little to energise international markets.
At 4pm (London time) the Dow Jones is down 35.36 points (0.42%) to 8438.13 and the S&P 500 is virtually flat, down 0.59 points (0.06%) to 909.74. The FTSE, after a day of little movement, remains up only 4.92 points (0.11%) at [...]

US Equity Markets Lower After North Korea Missile Testing

US equity markets opened lower this afternoon as a report over fresh missile tests by North Korea added to market tensions. But the negative sentiment that dominated Wall Street at the open didn’t last long.
Stock market confidence took a blow at the start of trading after North Korea fired two more short-range missiles off its [...]

Markets Remain Cautious Despite Upbeat US Retail Data

US equities opened a notch higher today after credit-rating agency Moody’s Investors Service tried to restore confidence in America’s credit rating outlook. Upbeat developments in the retail and banking sectors also benefitted Wall Street, but sentiment continued to remain cautious nevertheless.
Credit-rating agency Standard & Poor’s yesterday downgraded Britain’s economic outlook from ’stable’ to ‘negative’, [...]

Negative Financial Market News Pushes Investors to Take Profits

An unexpected flood of negative news from both sides of the Atlantic deflated hopes of an early economic recovery, enticing investors to take profits.
Firstly, the Federal Reserve released a gloomy report last night, indicating that the US economy is likely to sink deeper into a recession this year. The Fed said it expects the [...]

BoA Share Sale Helps Boost the Dow Jones

Banks were the clear winners on Wall Street today, helping the Dow recover from yesterday’s losses after Bank of America surged 7.47%, following news it has raised $13.5 billion in capital through the sale of shares. Miners, led by Alcoa, rose higher too after oil prices touched a six-month high ahead of the crude oil [...]

Crude Oil Futures Hit a 6 Month High

A disappointing US housing market report came as a reality check for investors today, knocking Wall Street back into the red at the start of trading.
US housing starts, a measure of the number of residential homes on which construction has started, plunged 13% to a record-low annual rate of 458,000 in April, trailing Bloomberg’s [...]

US Banking Sector Looking More Robust

US equity markets were trading higher today after encouraging results from Lowe’s Companies enticed investors back to the market. Upbeat research notes on Bank of America and Citigroup also helped lift morale.
Lowe’s Companies, the largest US home improvement retailer, today reported a better-than expected first-quarter profit of 32 cents per share. Although this was [...]

Spread Betting Update - Mixed Afternoon for Wall Street

It has been a mixed afternoon for Wall Street so far, with both the Dow Jones and S&P swinging between gains and losses. Financial shares were predominantly trading higher today after a number of US insurers won approval to tap billions of dollars from Troubled Asset Relief Programme (TARP), a governmental support fund that was [...]