Finally some relief in the stock markets half way through this week, with all major indices showing a glimmer of strength. The Nikkei led the way on Thursday, printing a 1.80% gain on the day and coming in at 31075. Modest gains were also to be found in the Korean, Hong Kong and Australian stock markets. In the US, the Nasdaq showed some strength mid-week, closing 1.35% in the black on Wednesday before finishing relatively flat on Thursday. The S&P showed a similar pattern, and the NASDAQ also followed suit, albeit not as convincingly.
The Japanese yen obviously didn’t like touching the $150 mark earlier this week, and has since reversed course, managing to close around the $148.5 mark by Thursday’s close. The EUR and GBP also performed well in the mid-week, prompted by short-term weakness in the Dollar, with Cable flirting with $1.22 yesterday.
All of this may simply be the calm before the storm that comes this Friday in the form of Non-Farm Payrolls and unemployment rate. Expect fingers on buzzers today as the event that everyone has been anticipating all week finally rolls around. Expect volatile conditions if expectations are not met.
Little else on the economic calendar today, particularly during the Asian session, where the Chinese market remains closed.
Gold continues to be the talk of the week, so far failing to show any signs of strength whatsoever despite weakness in the Dollar, closing at $1820 on Thursday’s close. The Chinese markets open back up next week, remains to be seen whether this is enough to produce some sort of response.
