A Quick Wrap Up Around the Globe to End Tuesday
U.S.
U.S. stock markets gained Tuesday after the consumer confidence index reported a 12-month high and oil prices dipped, helping boost the Dow to its first close above 13,000 since May 2008. The Dow average rose 23.61 points, to 13,005.12. The S&P 500 climbed 4.59 points to 1,372.18, its fourth straight session of gains and the NASDAQ rose 20.60 points, or 0.7%, to 2,986.76.
U.S. home prices fell 1.1% in December to bring the year-over-year fall to 4%, according to the Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday. Also today data showing orders for durable goods sank 4% in January, the U.S. Commerce Department said.
Gold prices continued to soar adding 13.50 to reach 1788.40 a troy ounce.
The US dollar weakened as the euro soared to almost touch the 1.35 level, reaching 1.3473.
Europe
ECB Draghi suggested banks might ask about the same amount, as during the first operation at the end of December. The first LTRO has been considered a huge success. It induced risk appetite, stimulated trading in more risky markets and relieved fears surrounding banks and sovereigns.
The ECB will announce the results of its second, and potentially the last, three-year LTRO on Wednesday. The first such operation in December saw more than 500 banks tap the ECB for EUR489 billion in three-year loans at a rate fixed to the bank’s refi rate, which stands at 1%.
Asia
Today, the World Bank warns that China is headed for collapse. Imagine China crashing. The country holding over a trillion of America’s debt. The same China that’s running all over the world like a 19th century Wild West robber baron, using reserve dollars they got from years of financing America’s costly wars and cheap toys.
Adding insult to injury, China’s now using these reserve dollars to buy and hoard huge land resources, commodity futures and equities worldwide. Yes, China’s rubbing it in: China’s future is being paid for at the cost of America’s future.
“China has now reached a turning point in its development path,” Robert Zoellick, World Bank president, said in Beijing on Monday. “As China’s leaders know, the country’s current growth model is unsustainable.”
Price cuts by mainland Chinese real-estate developers suggest profits will be under increasing pressure this year, according to Tuesday research published by Credit Suisse, which said the consensus view has been too optimistic on the earnings outlook for the property sector.
Japanese retail sales slowed their growth in January, rising 1.9% from a year earlier compared to December’s gain of 2.5%, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Tuesday. Large retailers saw their January sales drop a seasonally adjusted 1.0%, widening from the previous month’s 0.3% fall.
Originally posted here
