Weaker U.S. GDP Leads To Stock Rally

The stock rally in the US continued for a second day yesterday with all the three indexes in positive territory. Dow Jones Industrials jumped 1.02% and the Nasdaq added 0.85% after GDP numbers for first quarter results were revised strongly down. Real GDP growth was 2.6 % and not the 3.4 % originally announced. The biggest revision was in consumption figures which had created strong turnaround expectations. When the market realized that these negative figures might lead to prolonged monetary easing, bad news suddenly turned into good.

The European stock market also demonstrated strength with all major indexes gaining ground with Paris the winner, jumping 2.09 % followed by Germany’s 1.66. Stocks in England and Scandinavia were among other winners. The Chairman of the European Central Bank, ECB, Mario Draghi’s, contributed to the good sentiment. In a statement he stressed that ECB will continue with its accommodating monetary policies. This was interpreted as ECB will continue to buy bonds in weaker EURO zone countries if needed.

Global markets saw precious metals fall to their lowest levels in 3 years. Gold plunged USD 43 to USD 1230 an ounce. Gold analysts predict that the 12000 mark set on the downside is too optimistic. A fall to USD 1000 seems more likely now. Silver is following the same pattern and fell yesterday from 19.80 to USD 18.65 an ounce. Oil prices are staying up relatively well with Brent crude trading above USD 101 a barrel.

The American dollar has also been the winner during the last 24 hours of trading. The DXY, a basket of currencies weighed against the dollar, reached its highest level in 3 weeks. EUR/USD is under renewed pressure struggling to stay above the 130 level; after plunging through the critical 120 day moving average of 1.3062. The Euro shows all signs to have fallen in a bearish territory. USD/JPY trades steady at 97.80 after the fear for a banking crisis in China seems to be over for now.