Advertisement
Advertisement

Forex News – Optimism Spread Through European and U.S. Financial Markets

By:
FX Empire Editorial Board
Updated: Jan 1, 2011, 00:00 UTC

Optimism spread through European and U.S. financial markets on Thursday after strong earnings boosted confidence in stock markets, while a draft released

Forex News – Optimism Spread Through European and U.S. Financial Markets

Optimism spread through European and U.S. financial markets on Thursday after strong earnings boosted confidence in stock markets, while a draft released by Reuters signaled EU leaders will undertake an expanded measure to help debt-laden nations in the Euro Zone including Greece, Portugal, and Ireland, and economic data from the United States came in better than expectations, which further supported confidence among traders.

A number of U.S. corporations announced their financial results for the second fiscal quarter of this year, where most companies continued to report better than expected earnings, where the earnings season so far is proving to be a strong one, since most companies were able to withstand the economic slowdown during the second quarter of this year.

The jobless claims rose last week to 418,000 according to a report from the U.S. Labor Department, above expectations of 410,000. While the leading indicators index rose in June by 0.3%, above expectations of 0.2% and down from 0.8% in the prior month, and the Philadelphia Fed index rose to 3.2 in July, also above expectations of 2.0 and rising from -7.7 reported back in June.

Stocks in the United States rose by opening on Thursday, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by nearly 1.20% to trade around 12,725, while the S&P 500 index was up by nearly 1.35% to trade around 1343. European stock indexes were also higher before closing on Thursday, where FTSE 100 was up by nearly 1.10% to trade at 5918 and the DAX was higher by nearly 1.35% to trade around 7318.

The U.S. dollar declined against a basket of major currencies on Thursday, where the U.S. dollar index was trading at 74.29, compared with the opening level at 74.69. The Euro rose sharply against the Dollar, where the EUR/USD pair traded at $1.4380, compared with the opening level at $1.4259, and the British Pound also gained strongly against the Dollar, where the GBP/USD pair traded around $1.6283, compared with the opening level at $1.6165.

Gold prices were little changed on Thursday, where gold was trading around the opening level at $1598 an ounce, and crude oil prices also rose to trade just below $100 a barrel.

About the Author

Did you find this article useful?

Advertisement