Oh for some volatility to return to the markets. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao tried to get them going by issuing a warning that the country's economy is under pressure with slowing global demand for their exports and disappointing growth in domestic consumption.
Against that, Standard Chartered gave some encouraging news as it continued on the recovery trail, back over £14 a share, having had some success in negotiating it's way through the settlement process with the regulators. The markets shrugged their shoulders and looked for more. The FTSE continues to sit atop its recent tight range, trading above 5800 for the 8th consecutive business day, still shy of the highs of the year (6000) set back in March.
The Dow is struggling to gain ground past the 13200 level, rising just 7 points in yesterdays session to close at 13164 as market traders sat back and pondered on what the Fed's next move could be. The bags been filled with mixed results lately, some strong economic data has been pared off with equally weak news, meaning that investors aren't wanting to commit any strength to a bull rally. Looking to the future however, with volumes light, it won't take much to see a hefty shift in either direction.
While market enthusiasts waited for the ECB to support it's banks, they looked on the US industrial data for direction in the EUR/USD pair. With the figure increasing by 0.6%, the chosen currency was the greenback, and with this in mind, the pair lost 33 pips to close at 1.2286.
Black gold took on some gains yesterday, with the price of a barrel of WTI Crude increasing by 1.08 to 94.33 bucks, mainly driven by greater than expected draw in crude inventories as indicated by the US Department of Energy. Another factor buzzing about in the back of investors heads is the ongoing tension in the Middle East, which at the moment is providing support.
Bargain hunters flocked to the yellow metal in yesterdays trade, pushing the price above the psychologically important level of 1600.0. It seems that there's still optimism that there will be bout of stimulus from the Fed, helping to nudge along the pace of the economic growth. News also came to the market place that a number of large hedge funds were boosting their holding of the precious metal, adding extra support. Currently, gold is trading at 1601.6.
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