US Jobless Claims Beat Expectations, Underwhelming Investors

The number of “jobless claims” claimants across the US last week dropped by 42,000 to 346,000. Analysts were expecting a drop of just 23,000. The release seems to paint a healthier picture of the direction of economic recovery in the labour market, especially after poor US nonfarm payroll figures which came in well below expectations last month. Nonfarm payroll monitors the total no. of paid workers across the US.

Also since the Bank of Japan announced their plans for monetary easing to bring up deflation, this has boosted market sentiment.

Markets remain cautious this morning ahead of the Eurozone finance ministers who will meet to decide whether to extend the bailout loan repayments for Ireland and Portugal. It’s also thought Cyprus will be discussed at the meeting as their bailout has grown from 17.5 billion euros to 23 billion euros. European stocks opened up lower ahead of the meeting.

Stocks
Asian stocks after an impressive 4 days continue to move mostly higher at the time of writing. All except for the Nikkei 225, which yesterday broke its highest level since 2008 finally fell, losing 0.58 per cent in Asian trading while the USD/JPY also fell. The Hong Kong Hang Seng gained 0.07 per cent and the Shanghai Composite increased by 0.05 per cent. Next week will see the release of a lot of Chinese data including the Q1 GDP figures on Monday and Industrial Production and Retail sales for last month. The Australian S&P/ASX 200 made small gains, mainly as a result of energy giant Woodside that will be giving further capital to shareholders.

US Stocks closed mixed across the board yesterday inspite of the positive jobless claims numbers from US which beat expectation and the news from the Bank of Japan regarding easing plans. The technical stocks weighed heavy on the US stock market. The Dow Jones closed up 0.42 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 0.36 per cent and the Nasdaq was up by 0.09 per cent.

European stocks were down at the start of the European session in advance of a meeting of Eurozone policymakers later today. The EURO STOXX 50 was down 56per cent, the French CAC 40 lost 0.37 per cent and the German DAX 30 declined by 0.59 per cent.

Forex
The EUR held firm against the USD today, floating around the 6-week high ahead of the Eurozone meeting later today. While the positive jobless data from the US buoyed the USD. The EUR/USD touched the high of 1.3127 in overnight trading. The greenback was trading lower against the Yen in overnight trading following a data release form Japan showing an increase in tertiary index report for Feb. This figure showed that the industry sector index has risen by 1.1 per cent in Feb exceeding expectation of 0.7 per cent. Gainers in the sector include trade, finance, communication and finance. Education and transportation were two areas of the index that fell. The USD/JPY lost 0.22 per cent to trade at 99.46 in overnight trading.

Commodities
Oil prices fell in Asian trading losing 0.11 per cent to trade at $93.41 per barrel. Meanwhile natural gas almost met its 20 week high yesterday. It gained 0.82 per cent to trade at $4.119 per BTMU. Gold was down in overnight trading losing 0.26 per cent to $1,580.65 per troy ounce before rebounding up 0.30 per cent to trade at $1,590,05.