(As of 7:20 am PST)
An
uptick in the price of oil for the second session in a row, a GDP report that
showed economic growth and a global stock rally has put the U.S. markets in a
good mood as trading opens on Friday. All of this, after a session on Thursday
that saw oil prices turn higher for no reason other than some old news which
sent the S&P500 above its 50-day simple moving average and the Dow soaring
nearly 1.3%. Today’s GDP report wasn’t overwhelmingly positive but it did give
the markets a boost. The second estimate indicated fourth quarter GDP increased
at an annual rate of 1% versus the consensus estimate of 0.7%. In other
economic news, the U.S. inflation rate in the past 12 months doubled to 1.3% in
January. This brings inflation closer to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target
potentially raising the odds of another interest-rate increase. This news has
darkened the otherwise good mood in the markets and momentarily brought the Dow
into negative territory. Around the globe, all major indices in Europe were up
nearly 2% as were all of the Asian markets. There’s lots of news for investors
to chew on which could make the day pretty volatile.
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