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I'm Amy Anderson for the Optionally News Team Let's take a look at the global market highlights
and news that all traders and investors should be aware of.
Tesla stocks soar Bitcoin continues to have problems
Oil tops 100$ for the first time this year.
Let's take a quick look at what is happening in the global markets now.
Traders were on the sideline yesterday reluctant to make any big moves before today's Congressional
testimony by Fed Chair Janet Yellen. This will be Yellen's first time testifying since
taking control of the central bank this month. Investors will be watching to see if she sheds
any light on plans to further taper, or slow down, the Fed's stimulus program.
Some investors believe that the Fed might have second thoughts about tapering, especially
after the disappointing jobs report on Friday. There have been other signs of economic weakness
as well. The Dow surged 160 points Friday as investors shrugged off the tepid jobs report
and put their faith in the Fed. European stocks inched to a fourth straight session of gains
Monday, but barely managed to push into positive territory as investors continued to digest
Friday's disappointing United States jobs report.
European indexes were mixed despite data released Monday showing a bigger-than-expected slowdown
in French industrial production in December. Japanese stocks sprang higher early Monday,
following gains for Wall Street where investors appeared to embrace more upbeat portions of
the U.S. January jobs report. The Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.3% to 14-649.04, and the broader
Topix gained 1.1%, helped by an advance in the U.S. dollar against the Japanese yen
Stocks in the news this morning are Tesla and Bitcoin along with an announcement from
Toyota that it will be ending production in Australia by 2017, this follows on the heels
of Ford closing down production down under. Bitcoin prices plunged again Monday morning
after. Gox, the major exchange for the virtual currency, said technical problems require
it to continue its temporary ban on many customer withdrawals. Gox said it has discovered a
bug that causes problems when customers try to use their account to make a transfer or
payment of bitcoins to a third party. Shares of Tesla Motors shot up to a record
high Monday after China's finance ministry announced higher than expected subsidies for
electric cars bought there. Shares of Tesla climbed as high as $196, before easing off
those highs later in the day. Shares have been climbing steadily since late November,
helped by a company announcement a month ago that 2013 Model S sales were greater than
forecasts.
In the foreign exchange market, the greenback eased slightly against the yen as investors
looked ahead to testimony from the Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen for clues
on the central bank's next move. The dollar declined to ¥102.21.The British pound fell
to $1.64-08 ahead of the Bank of England's quarterly inflation report is due Wednesday.
The euro climbed to $1.36-45.
Moving to the commodities market, crude oil settled above $100 for their highest close
of the year as traders looked toward this week's economic data and monetary policy testimony
from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen for clues on the next direction for prices.
Crude oil added 18 cents, to close at $100.06 which marked the fifth-session climb in a
row. Prices for a most-active futures contract haven't settled at a level this high since
Dec. 27. Gold has rocketed to its highest price in
2014 and since August last year, hitting $12-83.76 in Asian trading today. This is a gain of
0.71% as physical buyers in Asia increase their demand for bullion, coins and jewelry.
This is Amy Anderson from OptionRally signing off. Follow me on Facebook and watch for our
new financial terms of the day and our weekly events news.