US stocks keep rallying
US stocks rallied on Friday, helping Wall Street’s major indexes advance for the fourth consecutive week, as increased hopes the United States and China would resolve their trade dispute lifted shares across sectors.
he market was boosted after a Bloomberg report said China sought to raise its annual goods imports from the United States by a combined value of more than $1 trillion in order to reduce its trade surplus to zero by 2024.
The news followed a report on Thursday that U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was considering lifting some or all tariffs imposed on Chinese imports. A Treasury spokesman denied Mnuchin had made any such recommendation.
A strong rally in January has put the benchmark S&P 500 index on track for its best monthly gain since March 2016. The S&P 500 is now 8.9 percent below its Sept. 20 record close after dropping 19.8 percent below that level – near the 20-percent threshold commonly considered to confirm a bear market – on Christmas Eve.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 336.25 points, or 1.38 percent, to 24,706.35, the S&P 500 gained 34.75 points, or 1.32 percent, to 2,670.71 and the Nasdaq Composite added 72.77 points, or 1.03 percent, to 7,157.23.
For the week, the Dow rose 2.96 percent, the S&P 500 gained 2.87 percent, and the Nasdaq added 2.66 percent. All three indexes registered their biggest four-week percentage gain since October 2011.
US stock markets will be closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Industrial stocks .SPLRCI rose 1.9 percent, the second-most among the S&P 500’s major sectors, while the Philadelphia SE semiconductor index climbed 2.3 percent. Both groups of shares have been sensitive to trade developments. Technology stocks were the biggest boost to the S&P 500, rising 1.5 percent.
Shares of Netflix Inc, however, fell 4.0 percent after the video-streaming company forecast lower-than-expected revenue for the first quarter. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.93-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.26-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
India’s Sensex, Nifty jumps
The Indian market which started on a somber note managed to push the index back above crucial resistance levels in the week gone by, which was largely positive for the bulls. The Nifty50 reclaimed its crucial resistance level of 10,900 and closed the week with gains of 1.04 percent. Similarly, the S&P BSE Sensex reclaimed 36,000 and closed 1.05 percent higher for the week ended January 18. The broader market underperformed with Smallcap index falling by 0.6 percent while the BSE Midcap index slipped a little over 1 percent in the same period. Even though the benchmark indices managed to reclaim their crucial resistance levels, the number of stocks which hit 52-week low were more than the number of stocks which hit 52-week highs in the week gone by. This could be seen as a sign of caution ahead of the big event.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
France stocks higher at close of trade; CAC 40 up 1.70percent
France stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Utilities, Technology and Consumer Services sectors led shares higher. At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 rose 1.70 percent to hit a new 1-month high, while the SBF 120 index climbed 1.75 percent. The best performers of the session on the CAC 40 were Atos SE, which rose 4.87percent or 3.42 points to trade at 73.66 at the close. Meanwhile, STMicroelectronics NV added 4.38percent or 0.540 points to end at 12.860 and TechnipFMC PLC was up 3.98percent or 0.80 points to 20.88 in late trade. The worst performers of the session were Sodexo, which fell 1.07percent or 1.02 points to trade at 94.16 at the close. Sanofi SA (PA:SASY) declined 1.07percent or 0.79 points to end at 72.92 and EssilorLuxottica SA was down 0.04percent or 0.05 points to 112.05.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
[ads1]
DAX index daily price forecast
European markets continued to experience bearish price action in both forex and equity markets as investor sentiment was weighed down by broad based risk adverse trading activity and political/economic woes. Following dovish comments from ECB President Mario Draghi that European economy is slowing down, Euro area macro data came out highly dovish which further fuelled growth worries among investors. While German macro data saw positive outcome, the growth rate was slowest in last 5 years. The week started on cautious note, but bears have started dominating price action in equities near the close of week. Frankfurt stock exchange saw all its three major indices close lower at end of session on Thursday. Out of 778 stocks trading in Frankfurt stock exchange, 361 stocks closed in red 93 stocks closed unchanged at the close of trading session on Thursday. Loss from technology and basic material stocks played a major part in influencing bearish price action in DAX on Thursday. At the close in Germany on Thursday DAX, MDAX and TECDAX indices were down by 0.12 percent, 0.20 percent & 0.12 percent respectively.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Britain top share index ends higher
FTSE 100 closed out an eventful week, in political terms at any rate, higher, advancing over 133 points to close at 6,968 on the day. On the week as a whole, Britain’s blue chip index closed up 0.72 percent. On Friday, sentiment was boosted by reports surrounding the US/China trade spat. FTSE 250 was also higher, the index gaining over 225 points to close at 18,762. Top riser on Footsie was insurer Prudential plc, which added 4.55percent to stand at 1,515p.