Light At The End Of The Tunnel For US, EUR And China

Positive signs in the US at close of trading Friday as the stock prices there hit their highest highs since late 2007. This came as a result of the job figures which matched expectations and consumer sentiment data passed its expectations. The report by the labour statistics bureau showed a rise of 157,000 jobs in Jan further boosting positive data in the US. This almost met predictions of a 160,000 job boost. This took focus away from the unemployment rate which showed an increase of 0.1% from 7.8% to 7.9% in Jan.

Further boosting the US stocks was the Thomson Reuters Michigan University report of Consumer Sentiment which improved to 3.5 points up to 73.8 which surpassed expectations of 71.5.

The Institute of Supply Management in the US also showed positive data on Friday which increased to 53.1 in January, beating expectations of 50.6

At the same time bullish US data and the Japanese earning figures had a positive impact on the Asian market – both stocks and commodities. The stocks hit their highest high in 18 months. Although Japan which has been suffering deflation for many years will fail to meet its target inflation price of 2%. The Yen has been the performing badly all year, the worst currency of any developing country although traders sentiment dictates it cannot continue to under perform in his manner and a rally is expected over the year.

Also positive signs in the World’s second biggest economy, China, as the non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index rose from 56.1 to 56.2 in Jan.

Stocks

DJIA closed at 1.08% higher on Friday while the SP 500 rose by 1.01% and the Nasdaq finished 1.01% above its previous price.

In Europe the French CAC 40 rose by 1.10% and the German DAX 30 closed 0.74% higher. The UK’s FTSE 100 closed 1.12% higher than previous price.

Australia’s S&P ASX 200 closed 0.1% lower after the Australia Statistic’s Bureau showed a seasonal adjustment in new housing of -4.4%. This is compared to expectations of a fall of 1.0%.

The Hong Kong Hang Seng rose by 0.51% from its previous close and the Nikkei 225 climbed 0.62%.

FX

The GBP continued its decline against the EUR which saw its biggest 1 day fall in nearly 3 years as it appears the worst is over for the EUR. At its lowest point on Friday the GBP had a value of 1.1473 EUR’s, its lowest price since Oct 2011. The EUR was close to a 14 month high against the US dollar on Friday while the GBP against the USD fell by 1%.