A weekly review of the markets, supplied and sponsored by Spreadex.
For this week's review see Spread Betting Weekly.
Weekly Market Review: 15 Feb 2010
Indices
International issues continued to influence currency, commodities and equities markets last week.
Tightening of monetary policy in China and further worries over sovereign debt in Greece dominated over mixed economic data in the US.
The S&P 500 traded in a range between 1060 and 1080, but added 0.8% on the week to 1075.5.
The Dow hovered around 10,000, closing up 0.8% at 10,099. The FTSE 100 also traded sideways for most of the week but added 1.6% to 5142.
Commodities
Crude oil finished the week with a small sell-off as the news China was hiking bank reserve requirements sparked concerns there would be a drop in its economic growth and demand for commodities.
WTI Crude still managed to eke out a 3.2% gain to $74.2.
Gold had a solid week, gaining 2.4% to $1,092. Silver halted its slump, gaining 3.7% to $15.56.
Forex
The Dollar reached an eight-month high versus the Euro on Friday, following weak data on Europe's economy and the continued lack of clarity over Greece rescue plans.
This was combined with the surprise Chinese reserve-ratio hike mentioned previously.
The Euro fell to $1.3619 from $1.3662. It had earlier touched $1.3531, its worst level since May.
Cable traded in a very tight range and finished almost unchanged at $1.5655. GBP/EUR added 0.6% to €1.1502.
The Week Ahead
US markets are closed for President's Day on Monday.
On Tuesday we have earnings from Barclays and Kraft, as well as UK CPI.
Wednesday sees UK Unemployment, US Housing Starts and Industrial Production, as well as earnings from Legal and General and HP.
Thursday has US Jobless Claims and PPI and earnings from easyJet, Ladbrokes, SocGen and Wal-Mart.
On Friday we have UK Retail Sales and US CPI, earnings from Anglo American and Rentokil.
The above comments do not constitute investment advice and neither Spreadex nor Clean Financial accept any responsibility for any use that may be made of them.
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Article provided / approved by Spreadex Ltd which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), FSA Register number 190941.
'Weekly Spread Trading Review' edited by DB, updated 15-Feb-10
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