Markets Still Positive As ‘No News is Good News – Nasdaq Up 0.7%
Global Markets continued to move in a positive direction over the course of the trading day yesterday as investors look to put the recent banking crisis firmly in their rear-view mirror. Global stock markets all finished the day well in the black with the main US indices closing the day comfortably up although off their daily highs, the Dow finished up 0.43%, the S&P 0.57% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq once again outperformed up 0.73%. The dollar continued to slide against the majors as its safe-haven luster has lost appeal and US treasury yields fell, the 110-yeardown 1.7bps on the day.
Key US Data the Focus for Investors
Things are looking very rosy in the markets again as market sentiment has completely flipped from a couple of weeks ago and we can all relax as the banking crisis was just a minor squall for the ‘good ship global growth’. A nice story, but let’s be honest we could well be living in a bit of a dream world and tonight’s key PCE data out of the US may be the catalyst that brings us back to reality with a bit of a bump – especially as it comes out as liquidity starts to thin into the weekend. It’s well documented that the FOMC pays very close attention to this number and if we get a number higher than the expected 0.4% then the market could take it hard as rate hike expectations come right back into investor focus.
Busy Trading Day into the Weekend
Investors are hoping for another strong day in the markets to the round of the week style. There are however a few potential banana skins on the horizon with a plethora of macroeconomic data due out over the next few sessions. In, Asia there will be a big focus on the latest Chinese PMI numbers which is followed by a raft lower tier data in Europe with the highlight being the CPI Flash estimates. The main events though probably come once the New York session gets going with the PCE data, the Canadian GDP number and several FOMC members giving us their latest updates. Things could get a bit messy if anyone throws a spanner in the works of what has so far been a much more positive week for investors.
