What you need to know before the US open May 1, 2014 A flat open’s expected for US stocks today, as market digest the mixed variety of economic data and earnings reports coming in. Initial jobless claims were higher than expected for last week. 344,000 people signed up for unemployment benefit in the US – analysts expected 319,000, following 330,000 the week before. Personal spending rose 0.7 [...]
What you need to know before the open May 1, 2014 A flat open is expected this morning after a further taper from the Fed yesterday. Investors didn’t seem to focus too much on the weather-induced shock drop in first quarter growth in the US – to just 0.1 per cent, looking instead at the more confident Fed statement, strong ADP employment report and Chicago manufacturing [...]
Japanese shares climb as Fed continues to taper May 1, 2014 Japanese shares have risen after a solid performance on Wall Street and the Federal Reserve delivered a favourable view of the US economy, despite a major slowdown in the first three months of the year. US GDP growth reached just 0.1 per cent on an annualised basis. Economists had forecast a rise of a little [...]
Fed ignores US growth freeze and tapers on April 30, 2014 THE FEDERAL Reserve will keep on winding down its quantitative easing (QE) programme in May, as it turns a blind eye to severe winter weather’s dramatic impact on GDP figures released yesterday. The major slowdown in the US economy in the first three months of the year was much worse than expected, with GDP growth [...]
New York Report: Fed lifts Dow to new record April 30, 2014 US STOCKS rose and the Dow ended at a record high yesterday after the Federal Reserve gave an upbeat view of the economy’s prospects as it announced another cut to its bond-buying programme. Investors brushed aside data showing weak first-quarter economic growth, which was tied to the severe winter that hampered exports and hit investment [...]
What you need to know before the US open April 30, 2014 Weather-hit growth figures are expected to weigh on the open today, with yields on US government bonds falling after the report, along with the dollar. Fed policymakers are still meeting to discuss further tapering to its asset repurchasing programme, with the upshot expected at 7pm. US growth almost ground to a halt in the first [...]
Cold weather sees huge US growth miss in first quarter April 30, 2014 US growth has ground to what is nearly a halt. At an annualised 0.1 per cent in the first quarter, GDP growth is well below the 1.2 per cent analysts were expecting. Clearly the weather is colder than we thought. The US grew at an annualised rate of 2.6 per cent in the last quarter [...]
What you need to know before the open April 30, 2014 A slightly lower open is expected in Europe this morning, as earnings results continue to come in and investors look to economic data from both sides of the Atlantic. Growth data from the US could well show a weaker number after the freezing winter, and after that we’ve for the Federal Reserve’s rate decision. A [...]
Asian markets fluctuate before Fed policy decision April 30, 2014 Asian markets switched between gains and losses after earnings reports gave a boost to Wall Street and the Bank of Japan (BoJ) left policy unchanged. However, investors held back in anticipation of the Federal Reserve's decision on monetary policy. The Fed is widely expected to continue tapering of its bond-buying programme. Few investors believed the [...]
What you need to know before the US open April 29, 2014 US stocks futures pointed to a higher opening today, following some better-than-expected corporate results. European markets have continued to received a lift from positive earnings reports and news of mergers. A two-day Fed policy meeting begins later today, with expectations that a decision will be taken to taper for a fourth time. The increase in [...]