Wall Street Strongly Rises, Asian Markets Decline

On Wall Street, stock indices rose sharply on Monday, recovering most of the losses from the previous week, as investors were encouraged by progress in Congressional negotiations regarding the funding of federal services.

The Dow Jones increased by 0.81 percent, to 47,368 points, while the S&P 500 rose by 1.54 percent, to 6,832 points, and the Nasdaq index by 2.27 percent, to 23,527 points.

A good start to the week in the markets is attributed to progress in negotiations between Republicans and Democrats in the Senate regarding the funding of federal services.

It is expected that the Senate, followed by the House of Representatives, will approve a proposal for further funding in the coming days, thus ending the longest shutdown of federal services to date, which lasted more than 40 days.

This should help avoid further damage to the economy, and services will again, after almost a month and a half, begin to publish macroeconomic reports that will show investors the state of the economy.

Thanks to this, investors are once again inclined towards riskier investments, leading to a significant rise in stock prices in the technology sector yesterday.

Thus, this sector has recovered most of the losses from last week, when it fell by more than 4 percent due to investors’ fears that prices in this sector were too high.

Market support is also provided by better-than-expected quarterly business results from companies and banks.

So far, more than 440 companies from the S&P 500 index have reported, with about 83 percent achieving higher earnings than expected.

As a result, analysts in a Reuters survey now estimate that corporate earnings in the third quarter have risen by nearly 17 percent compared to the same period last year, while at the beginning of the financial reporting season, they expected an increase of 8.8 percent.

European stock prices also rose yesterday. The London FTSE index increased by 1.08 percent, to 9,787 points, while the Frankfurt DAX rose by 1.65 percent, to 23,959 points, and the Paris CAC by 1.3 percent, to 8,055 points.

Asian Markets Decline, Dollar Slightly Weakens

On Asian markets, stock prices fell on Tuesday, following yesterday’s strong growth, as investors were not impressed by Wall Street’s recovery, while the dollar slightly weakened against a basket of currencies.

The MSCI Asia-Pacific index, excluding Japan, was down 0.2 percent around 7:00 AM, after having significantly risen yesterday.

This morning, stock prices in India, Australia, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Japan slid between 0.2 and 0.5 percent, while in South Korea, they rose by 0.5 percent.

At the very beginning of trading, most indices were in the positive as investors were encouraged by yesterday’s strong rise on Wall Street, fueled by hopes that the shutdown of U.S. federal services would soon end.

The Dow Jones index rose by 0.8 percent yesterday, while the S&P 500 increased by 1.5, and the Nasdaq index by 2.3 percent.

However, enthusiasm quickly faded on Asian markets as good news from the U.S. had already been priced in yesterday, leading to most indices currently being in the negative.

Moreover, analysts say that the markets did not fall significantly when the work of U.S. federal services was blocked, so no euphoria is expected when they resume operations.

However, with the end of the longest shutdown of federal services to date, which lasted more than 40 days, further damage to the U.S. economy should be avoided, and services will again, after almost a month and a half, begin to publish macroeconomic reports that will show investors the state of the economy.

Dollar Weakens, Oil Prices Fall

On the currency markets, the value of the dollar against a basket of currencies has slightly fallen.

The dollar index, which shows the value of the U.S. dollar against the other six major world currencies, is around 99.60 points this morning, while it was 99.64 points at the same time yesterday.

At the same time, the exchange rate of the dollar against the Japanese currency rose from yesterday’s 153.95 to 154.15 yen, close to the highest level in nine months.

However, the U.S. currency is stagnating against the European currency, with the euro priced around 1.1565 dollars, the same as yesterday at this time.

Oil prices, on the other hand, have fallen. On the London market, the price of a barrel has slipped by 0.52 percent, to 63.75 dollars, while on the U.S. market, a barrel has decreased by 0.55 percent, to 59.80 dollars.