Financial markets were dominated with fresh sentiments and new hopes on Friday, after European leaders agreed to toughen budget rules, lend the IMF bilateral loans up to 200 billion euros to help debt-laden nations and boost the capacity of the ESM to 500 billion euros.
The measures were considered credible though EU leaders failed to get approval of all 27-euro members to a change treaty, anyhow, the newly-born intergovernmental treaty, which will include the 17 euro-area nations besides to any EU country that would like to join, is now the key vaccine to cure debt crisis.
The decisions made by European leaders in addition to the ECB cut to interest rate by another 25 basis points to 1.00 percent, and the adopt of non-standard measures to give access to liquidity to banks improved the sentiment so far and enhanced risk appetite before weekend.
While jumping to the world’s largest economy, gains were triggered following the European debt accord and quite cheerful economic reports as well, as both consumer confidence and the U.S trade balance beat median estimates, adding to hopes the economic momentum will support the overall global economic recovery.
U.S consumer confidence exceeded forecasts as reported this morning, rising to 67.7 in its preliminary reading for December from 65.8 in November, according to University of Michigan survey, while also the U.S Department of Commerce U.S reported earlier the U.S trade deficit narrowed 1.6 percent to $43.5 billion from $44.2 billion is September.
The U.S. dollar fell slightly after rebounding to the upside against a basket of major currencies on Friday, where the U.S. dollar index was trading at 78.77, compared with the opening level at 78.85. The Euro rose faintly following a two-day low against the Dollar, where the EUR/USD pair traded at $1.3376, compared with the opening level at $1.3345.
Moreover, the British Pound edged up a little bit against the Dollar, where the GBP/USD pair traded around $1.5651, compared with the opening level at $1.5635, and the U.S. dollar was little changed against the Japanese Yen, where the USD/JPY pair was trading near 77.54, compared with the opening level at 77.68.
Stocks in the United States were higher by opening on Friday, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by nearly 1.3% to trade around 12,158, while the S&P 500 index added nearly 1.4% to trade around 1,251. European stock indexes were also higher before closing on Friday, where FTSE 100 was up by nearly 0.8% to trade at 5528 and the DAX was rose nearly 1.9% to close around 5986.
Gold prices inclined today to trade now around $1715 after opening at level of $1709 an ounce and crude oil prices were merely changed after opening at $98.19 level to steady up around $98.45 a barrel.
Originally posted here
