By FX Empire.com
Hopes remained in markets, speculations that EU leaders will reach a resolution to ease the euro zone debt crisis, strong earnings from the United States, and better than expected growth in Chinese manufacturing activities overshadowed the worse than expected contraction in the euro zone’s services and manufacturing activities, as traders were encouraged to target higher yielding assets.
Traders were focused on Caterpillar Inc earnings on Monday, where the company announced profits in the third quarter of 2011 that topped estimates, while China’s expansion in manufacturing activities, eased concerns over the health of the Chinese economy, and boosted optimism over the outlook for global growth.
As for FOREX markets, traders targeted higher yielding assets, as risk appetite spread across markets, where the U.S. dollar fell against a basket of major currencies on Monday.
The U.S. dollar fell against a basket of major currencies on Monday, where the U.S. dollar index was trading at 76.42, compared with the opening level at 76.51. The Euro gained against the Dollar, where the EUR/USD pair traded around $1.3881, compared with the opening level at $1.3850, the British Pound also received strong momentum against the Dollar, where the GBP/USD pair traded around $1.5955, compared with the opening level at $1.5941, and the U.S. dollar fell against the Japanese Yen, where the USD/JPY pair was trading at 76.12, compared with the opening level at 76.41.
Stocks in the United States were higher by opening on Monday, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by nearly 0.75% to trade around 11,896, while the S&P 500 index was up by nearly 1% to trade around 1250. European stock indexes were also higher before closing on Monday, where FTSE 100 was up by nearly 0.85% to trade at 5535 and the DAX was up by nearly 0.75% to trade around 6016.
Gold prices extended the gains on Monday to trade now around $1653 an ounce and crude oil prices also gained to trade around $89 a barrel.
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