Risk evasion continued Tuesday allowing the U.S. dollar and Japanese Yen to maintain their positions against the background of lack of economic reports planned earlier. First of all, it was caused by the expansion of spreads of Irish and Italian bonds giving rise to anxiety towards some EU member states. Even Obama’s promise to cut business activity tax by $ 200 bln. couldn’t abate investors’ fears of taking risks.
By the end of the trading session, the MSCI Asia Pacific index grew by 1.47% to 756.82 points. Japan’s Nikkei 225 saw growth by 2.05% to 9301.32 points. China’s Shanghai Composite increased by 1.54%, while Taiwan’s Taiex went up by 0.78%. South Corea’s Kospi gained 0.70%. India’s Sensex grew by 1.86%.
As if to commemorate the Labor Day, the long-awaited report has brought some optimism in the U.S. labor market somewhat lessening fears of a repeated national economy recession. With the exception of the agricultural sector, the employment level fell by 54 thousand jobs, with almost double figure predicted earlier.
Recently B.Bernanke stated that the FRB is ready to intervene when required. One more disappointing report may push the FED to a new stage of quantitative easing strategy. Therefore, let us proceed to our monthly task of trying to predict the course of employment indicators using pay-roll record data.
U.S. soup producer Campbell Soup has reported the net profit for the fourth quarter ending August 1 at the amount of $ 113 mln., or 33 cents per share, comparing to $ 69 mln., or 20 cents per share in the previous year, with the forecasted profit of 30 cents per share.
Thursday, October 2, the principal Asian markets, with the exception of Indonesian and Thai markets, closed in green. According to yesterday’s data, the ISM index grew in July from 55.5 to 56.3 points, surpassing analysts’ forecast of a decrease towards 53 points.
Schiller index (displaying growth of home prices in 20 largest American cities) grew in the last 12 months by 4.23%, while real estate analysts predicted a mere 3.1% increase. Moreover, consumer confidence index rose to 53.5 points, with the predicted increase at no more than 50 points. Consumer optimism in June surpassed expectations as well.
Today’s trading at U.S. markets opened with a slight decrease of share indices. In the early trading DJIA fell by 0.17%, S&P 500 – by 0.25%, Nasdaq – by 0.48%. Investors’ concerns were attributed to today’s macro statistics, which fell short of forecasts both in Europe and the U.S. due to worsening business climate and slow income growth respectively.
The previous week has finished with growth for the U.S. stock market, owing to B. Bernanke’s speech. The FED chairman has assured the markets of continued financial support of the U.S. economy.
Although the overseas indices closed with growth, European bidders view it as a short-term effect. Persisting problems in the U.S. residential property market may provoke a fresh turn of recession, which even the U.S. government can hardly cope with.