After 6 weeks in the red territory, Wall Street equity markets and European stocks remained brilliant with strong earnings reports successfully offsetting dismal economic data.
Technology stocks topped the strong earnings list with Facebook owned by Meta Platform Inc soaring after the company’s report surpassed expectations.
In addition, Apple Inc and Amazon.com were also in a rally with their quarterly reports although Amazon fell slightly 10% during the close of trading due to quarterly sales forecasts while the company was below target.
The S&P 500 index hit 2.47% at 4,287.50 points, the Nasdaq Composite rose 3.06% at 12,871 points and the Dow Jones Industrial average index jumped 1.85% at 33,916.39 points.
Meanwhile, tech sector gains have backed Wall Street after the U.S. Department of Commerce said its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reading fell at an annual rate of 1.4% in the last quarter.
According to Cornerstone Wealth's Chief Investment Officer, Cliff Hodge, despite the fall in GDP, there is nothing to worry about as the consumer sector and business investment remain strong despite trade, inventory and government spending.
Clearly, the shift to services spending has bode well for inflation to be curbed and the core of PCE to lighten.
Meanwhile, the world MSCI equity index rose 12.07% or 1.85% at 665.97 while the pan-European STOOX 600 added 0.6% on strong corporate earnings.
On the other hand, the MSCI Asia-Pacific broad index of Japanese offshore stocks rose 1.03% while Japan's Nikkei jumped 1.75% as investors celebrated the weakening currency further helping the rising sun country's exports.
Currency summary, the Euro hit a low against the dollar at $ 1.04695 while the dollar index hit 103.930, the highest level since December 2002.
The yen weakened to 20 -year levels after the Bank of Japan (BOJ) announced the purchase of all 10 -year bonds to achieve targeted yields.
Spot gold rose 0.49% after hitting a 10 -week low earlier while US gold futures climbed 0.1% at $ 1,891.30.
