Weekend Report US Jobs Report Sends Stocks to Record High US stocks hit a new record high on Friday as investors reacted positively to the US jobs report a day earlier and fueled speculation that the Fed’s monetary policy will remain unchanged until early 2014. On Thursday, the Department of Labor in the US reported that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits dropped last week by 21,000 to a seasonally adjusted figure of 323,000. The fall of 21,000 easily surpassed analyst expectations for a fall of 9,000 and sent stocks higher. Helping to fan market expectations for the Federal Reserve to maintain its $85 billion a month asset purchasing programme in place until early next year was disappointing manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region which expanded at its slowest rate for six months in November. #Stocks The data from the world’s largest economy on Thursday, fueled a surge in stock buying which saw The Dow Jones index close at a new record high on Friday, after finishing above the 16,000 level for the first ever time the day before. At close of US trade the Dow -finished up 0.34%, at 16064.77. The broader S&P 500 closed above 1,800 for the first time, up 0.50%, at 1,804.76 and the tech-based Nasdaq closed up 0.57%, finishing at 3,991.65. The US Stock market is now on target for a gain of 27% for the year. European indices finished mostly higher with Frances CAC 40 closing 0.58% higher, Germanys DAX 30 closing 0.25% higher, but the UK’s FTSE 100 finished 0.11% lower. #Currencies The rise in stocks saw the US Dollar mostly suffer in Friday’s trade as investors continued to applaud Thursday’s US data and the likelihood of the stimulus policy staying in place for the next few months at least. The GBP/USD hit a 4 week high, rising 0.16%. Germanys business climate index rising to a 19-month high of 109.3 helped push the EUR/USD up 0.56% whilst the EUR/JPY hit a 4 year high on the back of the closely watched German data. The AUD/USD was down 0.70% as rate cut talk dominated trading in the Aussie, whilst the USD ended flat against its Canadian cousin. #Commodities Natural Gas continued its ascent, surging 2.26% on Friday as icy arctic conditions hit the US and Europe with demand for Natural Gas surging. Crude Oil dropped 0.64% on profit taking and investors monitoring the Iranian nuclear deal talks which if successful would see Iran, the world’s 4th largest oil producer, resume selling. Gold fell 0.05% hovering around the 4 month low mark, whilst Silver dropped 0.47% as Fed tapering talk dominated trading in the precious metals.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 10:01:59 +0000
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