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HY Markets Review of Last Week - Indices

Posted by HY Markets on Monday July 26, 2010 2:44 pm
Indices – Global stocks slid last Wednesday as investors poured money into safe havens such as bonds after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the US economy faces "unusually uncertain" prospects, adding to worries about the recovery. Stocks sold off after Bernanke acknowledged the US labour market's continued weakness during the first day of his semi-annual testimony to members of Congress. Economic conditions will warrant exceptionally low interest rates for an "extended period," Bernanke said. Investors have been reluctant to make big commitments in equities due to growing worry about the economy, sparked by a recent slew of disappointing economic data. Economic data on housing has continued to curb optimism of a strong recovery. US housing starts hit their lowest level in eight months in June, but a rise in building permits offered hope that home building was poised to pick up. The Commerce Department said on Tuesday housing starts dropped 5.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 549,000 units, the lowest since October. It was the second straight month of declines in groundbreaking activity and was well below market expectations for a 580,000-unit rate.

On Wall Street, each of the three major US stock indexes finished Friday's session about 1 percent higher with the Nasdaq edging back into the black for the year. At the close, the Nasdaq had erased its 2010 losses. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 102.32 points to end just about 4 points shy of its close at the end of 2009. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 8.99 points to finish about 13 points below its year-end 2009 close.

Safe-haven assets such as gold and US Treasuries dropped after European regulators reported that only seven of 91 banks failed the tests, which were designed to show the impact of Europe's sovereign debt crisis on its financial institutions. Some analysts questioned the credibility of the tests after regulators revealed they were applied only to the bank's trading books, not their banking books. Under the worst stress scenario, the seven weaker banks, five of them from Spain, would face a capital shortfall of 3.5 billion euros ($4.5 billion).