US Dollar And Stock Market Continues With Its Cat And Mouse Game
On Wednesday stock market moved upward thanks to the optimism provided by falling dollar and an improvement in wholesale inventories data. The Dow Jones industrial average increased by 51 points( 0.5%) to close at 10,337.05 points. The S&P 500 index increased by 4 points (0.4%) to close at 1,095.95 points while the Nasdaq composite increased by 11 points (0.5%) to close at 2,183.73 points.
Sector wise except for consumer discretionary which registered a decline of 0.2%, all other sectors were either unchanged or showed an increase. The advancing sectors for the day were materials (increased by 1.3%), technology (increased by 0.9%), Health Care (increased by 0.6%), Financials (increased by 0.4%), Utilities (increased by 0.4%) and Energy (increased by 0.1%). The sectors which were unchanged include Consumer Staples, Industrials and Telecom.
Like before dollar and stock markets continued with their negative relationship with weak dollar giving boost to dollar traded commodity shares and the stocks of companies that do business abroad and lifting the markets up. Over the last two week stocks have traded in a range with the markets kind of levelling down to levels that are supported by fundamentals. This trend is likely to continue till the end of 2009. Analysts don’t forsee anything that will take the markets to a new high or new low this year end.
Meanwhile in other news that can impact the market the Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced that the federal bailout plan will be extended until Oct. 3, 2010.The program however will now be mainly focussed on stopping foreclosures and providing loans to small businesses. There was also positive news in the form of wholesale inventories data which increased by 0.3% after declining by 0.8% in September.
Overseas markets however continued with their decline for the second day mainly on account of worries about the global economy and debt. Among the major global indices Britain’s FTSE 100 declined by 0.4%, the German DAX declined by 0.7% and France’s CAC 40 declined by 1%. Asian stocks also ended lower on Wednesday.
Market Summary
US markets
World Markets
