American House Prices Help US Equities

US equity markets edged marginally higher in early trading today following a report that pointed to further signs of stabilisation in American house prices. Equity market gains were later relinquished on the back of an unexpected drop in US consumer confidence data and a surge mortgage delinquencies, however. The S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index was the first [...]

US Equity and Commodities Markets Update

US equity markets opened the week in positive territory today as broker upgrades and merger-and-acquisition activity fuelled risk appetite. JC Penney, the third-largest US department-store chain, was 1.8% higher at $28.89 a share this afternoon after Morgan Stanley upped its recommendation from ‘equal weight’ to ‘overweight’. The bank highlighted the fact that the retailer trades [...]

Stock Markets and Crude Oil Rally

It’s been a good start to the week for equities so far today with major indices managing to build on early morning interest. What is most impressive about today the rally is the breadth of today’s buying. Most sectors are on the advanced with banks and energy firms leading the way. UK banks such as [...]

S+P 500 Poised to Fall

US equity markets opened lower this afternoon, as last night’s brief rally offered investors an opportunity to lock in gains. As a matter of fact, JPMorgan Chase today said the uninterrupted rise in the S&P 500 since its March lows has left the index vulnerable to a sell-off. The bank predicted that the index is [...]

Crude Oil Prices Recover

Recovering oil prices are helping to push European equities off their lows of the day, while US markets continue to push higher albeit at a slow pace. Slow seems to be an apt word to describe conditions at the moment. Aside from Monday’s plunge, equities seem to have settled back into the tighter daily ranges [...]

Jobs Data Pushes US Equity Markets Down

US equity markets opened in the red once again this afternoon, as a disappointing rise in the number of new jobless claim filings indicates that the US labour market still remains weak, despite recent signs of stabilisation. The jobless claims report revealed that the total number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits for more than a [...]

Equities Improve in Low Volume Trading

Equities are making a reasonable fist of it today, but volume is low ahead of this afternoons FOMC statement. The Fed is highly unlikely to change rates, but their statement will be scrutinised down to the last detail as traders look for hints on economic confidence and the speed of any future changes. US Durable [...]

FTSE 100 Index Boosted

The FTSE was given a boost this afternoon following a slow morning after positive figures coming out of Wall Street. The Dow Jones is up 95.53 points (1.15%) to 8418.44 and the Nasdaq is up 37.11 points (2.10%) to 1802.03. By 4pm, the FTSE 100 was boosted significantly by these results, garnering 50.62 points (1.20%) [...]

US Equity Markets Open Up

US equity markets opened higher today, as yesterday’s biggest one-day loss in two months encouraged investors to re-enter the market in search of value. A reassuring note from Moody’s Investor Service may have also helped bolster sentiment at the start of trading, but the release of weak housing data later in the afternoon suppressed earlier [...]

Equities Markets Stabilise in Early Trading

Equities stabilised in early trading today as resource stocks bounced after taking the lion’s share of the selling yesterday. Commodities, especially crude oil are a barometer of global economic sentiment at the moment, so the afternoon retreat is telling. Bereft of any positive catalysts, markets starting to stumble last week. Now the news flow is [...]