Although U.S. markets started the day on a down note after China’s bearish GDP release, they surged in the final hours on a report that Germany and France reached an agreement to boost the EFSF and recapitalize banks. Thanks to this, the Dow and the Nasdaq both finished the day up by about 1.6% while the S&P 500 saw gains of 2% on the session. The biggest gains were in the financial and basic materials sectors while tech was dragged down by weakness in IBM and health care saw a slump in health plan firms such as UNH and WLP. In commodity markets, gold, which at one point was trading around $1,628/oz., recouped a great deal of its losses, finishing the session down just $12/oz. or at the $1,665 level. Meanwhile, oil saw gains of nearly $2/bbl. as the European relief program sparked hopes of demand for the important fuel. Other commodities, however, weren’t as lucky as most softs fell although pockets of gains– such as those in the corn, sugar and soybean meal markets– came through to make it a relatively balanced day in the asset class. [click to continue…]
American equity markets finished Thursday’s trading session mixed as a bearish report from JP Morgan dragged the Dow and S&P 500 lower. In fact, the Dow and S&P 500 both finished the day lower by about 0.3% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq, boosted in part by strength in giants such as Apple, Google, and Intel, rose [...]
Although stocks initially rose in Monday’s trading session on the back of a solid jobs report, markets plunged soon afterward as fears of a European crisis once again crushed investor confidence. Fitch downgraded the sovereign debt of both Italy and Spain, while some are speculating that a similar move may be in the near future [...]
In yet another see-saw session, equity markets started the day on a high note on hopes of an expanded EFSF, fell sharply during the mid part of the day, only to rally in the final hour in most major sectors. Thanks to this late rally, the Dow finished the day up by 1.3% while the [...]
It was yet another rocky start to the week for American equity markets as a rough couple of hours to begin trading gave way to roubst performances in the final hours, sending equities sharply higher on the day. The Dow led the way with a 2.5% gain while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both [...]
Total ETF assets declined by almost 4% in August thanks to abysmal performances from equity markets around the globe. But the industry kept its monthly winning streak alive, managing to generate net inflows of about $2 billion during one of the worst months performance wise since late 2008. Not surprisingly, fixed income ETFs saw a [...]
American equity markets came storming back in Wednesday’s trading session as all of the major indexes posted solid gains. The Dow jumped higher by 2.5% while the broader indexes posted even more impressive gains of 2.9% for the S&P 500 and 3.0% for the tech-heavy Nasdaq. Performances were especially good in the basic materials and financials sectors while [...]
American equity markets slumped across the board as a terrible jobs report sank investor confidence. The Dow finished the day lower by 2.2% while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq fell by 2.5% and 2.6%, respectively. Losses were especially bad in the financial and basic materials sectors, while the health care and utilities managed to finish [...]
Tuesday trading continued the solid week for equity markets as all of the major indexes managed to finish in the green after the Fed released minutes from its most recent meeting. The Dow and S&P 500 both finished up by about 0.2% while the Nasdaq continued its outperformance of the other two benchmarks, gaining close [...]
Despite still recovering from a Hurricane, Wall Street surged higher in Monday trading as the damage from Irene was less than expected while comments from Bernanke also helped to boost sentiment. The Dow rose by 2.3% on the day while the S&P 500 gained 2.8% and the Nasdaq surged by 3.3%. Gains were especially robust [...]
In what was yet another rocky session for American stocks, bulls ended up winning out in the end as a late session surge carried equities higher. The Dow and the S&P 500 both finished ahead by 1.3% while the Nasdaq saw gains of 0.9% in comparison. Strength was seen in the beaten down financial sector, [...]
