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Let's take a look at the global market highlights and news for March 7th 2014.
The ECB and the Bank of England hold rates US stocks surge ahead of the nonfarm payroll
report Gold and Oil climb on tension mount with Russia
Let's take a quick look at what is happening in the global markets now.
The S&P 500 jumped to a new record high on a mixed day for stocks as investors looked
ahead to Friday's monthly jobs report. The exchange added 3.35 points to close at 18-77.16.
The Dow Jones rose 62.36 to 16-4-22.54, while the Nasdaq slipped to 43-52.13.
US initial jobless claims for the week ending March 1st fell more than expected, to a three-month
low of 323thousand. The ECB and the Bank of England held rates and policy had little effect
on the markets until Mario Draghi's press conference.
European stock markets pulled back in afternoon action after European Central Bank President
Draghi offered no changes to monetary policy and refrained from launching new easing measures
as some had expected. Germany's DAX 30 was slightly higher at 95-45.43,
while the U.K.'s FTSE gained 0.3% to 67-92.35. France's CAC climbed 0.5% to 44-12.17.
Crimea's parliament voted to join Russia on Thursday and its Moscow‐backed government
set a referendum within 10 days on the decision to join in a dramatic escalation of the crisis
over the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula. Shares of Staples fell 15 percent after the
office-supplies chain projected a quarterly drop in sales and said it would shut as many
as 225 stores in North America.
In the foreign exchange market the euro rallied after the European Central Bank left interest
rates unchanged, with ECB President Draghi indicating the risk of deflation in the euro
region had abated as new estimates pointed to inflation nearing targets by the end of
2016. The euro rose during Draghi's news conference and later climbed further to $1.38-73 before
settling back to $1.38-61. The European common currency also gained sharply
against the yen, settling with a 1.6 percent gain at 1-42.7-90 yen. The dollar ended up
0.72 percent at 1-03.0-40 yen. The greenback saw little reaction from encouraging
jobless claims data showing a three-month low. The dollar index, which weighs the dollar
against a basket of major currencies, fell to a 2014 low of 79.59. The Australian dollar
earlier spiked to a nine-day high after upbeat retail sales and trade data climbed higher
during North American trading.
Moving to the commodities market Oil futures rose 11 cents to $101.56 a barrel. Global
oil prices pushed higher Thursday as tensions mounted over Russia's invasion into Ukraine's
Crimean peninsula. Gold futures finished higher Thursday in the
U.S., advancing to its highest settlement in more than four months, amid forecasts that
U.S. borrowing costs will hold at a record low and European inflation will pick up gradually.
Gold added 0.9 percent, to $13-51.80 an ounce.
This is Amy Anderson from OptionRally signing off. Follow me on Facebook. And of course
I'm waiting for your LIKE below if you enjoyed today's Market Watch. Have a great weekend