(As of 7:15am, PST)
As we head into the last
trading session of February, the markets are trying to find some traction that
could lead to the first positive month in 2016. As of Friday, the S&P500 is
on track for a .4% gain for the month of February while the Dow Jones
Industrial Average is on pace for near 1% gains. For a change of pace, oil
isn’t the dominating factor impacting the markets today. The story that
investors are digesting today is out of China. Overnight, the People’s Bank of
China cut its reserve-requirement ratio for the nation’s banks. Although most
of the Asian markets had already closed prior to the announcement, the
S&P500 futures market reacted with a 17 point rally after the news. Nothing
like a fresh stimulus package for the world’s second largest economy to wake up
investors around the world. The big economic news this week is on Friday when
the monthly jobs report is posted. The only economic data out today is the
January reading of U.S. pending home sales and that report was mostly positive
showing that sales were up 1.4% in January. Oil prices are up 1.5% today while
gold and other precious metals are also higher.
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