bonds, European Central Bank, greece, investors, sovereign debt, wall street
As the European Central Bank struggles to reach consensus on how it will contribute to the restructuring of Greece’s debt, stocks on Wall Street closed higher than expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 5.75 points to 12,884; the Nasdaq Composite climbed 11.8 points to 2,916; and the Standard & Poor’s 500 rose by 2.9 points to close the day at 1,350. In contrast London’s FTSE dropped by 0.24 percent, with Germany’s DAX closing down 0.08 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1.54 percent, and Japan’s Nikkei Average close 1.1 percent up. Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is...
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federal reserve, interest rates, quantitative easing, us economy, wall street
Following a slow start on Wall Street on Wednesday, US stocks rebounded on news that the Federal Reserve intends to keep interest rates low through to late 2014 – an adjustment of its previous indication that rates would be kept low through to mid-2013. The announcement came as the Fed’s two-day policy meeting drew to a close, and by the end of the day the Dow Jones industrial average had gained 83 points, recovering from its loss of 95 points in the morning trading session. The Standard & Poor’s 500 gained 11 points, after having lost 7 points earlier....
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antitrust, derivatives, deutsche borse, european union, monopoly, nyse euronext, stock exchanges
While a final decision has not been made yet, it has been reported that the European Union has strong reservations about giving the go-ahead to the NYSE Euronext/Deutsche Boerse. Sources in the know have revealed that European Union antitrust regulators have made a recommendation that the deal should not be finalized, citing concerns that this may result in a European monopoly in exchange-traded futures and options. While speculation is rife, the final say on whether the deal can proceed or not lies with the twenty-seven European Union commissioners. They are scheduled to meet on February 1, with their ruling...
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analysts, dow jones, investment portfolio, nasdaq, recession, wall street
As 2011 draws to a close, Europe’s debt problems remain in the spotlight for anxious Wall Street investors, resulting in stocks being down by more than one percent at close of business Wednesday. Trading volumes have been light in this last week of the year, and with few economic and corporate reports due it is doubtful that this light trading trend will change until the New Year. Analysts have noted that recent market movement is likely to have been influenced by investors taking stock of their investment portfolios and taking action to balance these in preparation for 2012. The...
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economic data, euro, eurozone, federal reserve, fiscal
In a meeting on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke reportedly revealed to Republican senators that he is concerned about the unresolved European debt problem, noting that a collapse of European markets would be detrimental to the United States. Despite the so-called ‘fiscal plan’ agreed to by Eurozone members last week, Bernanke is not the only influential figure voicing his concern over the ability of European authorities to put their house in order. Britain is not in agreement with the plan, a key point of which is for Eurozone members to contribute an additional €200 billion...
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facebook, initial public offering, investors, ipo, social media, technology sector
As social media continues to gain ground both in the business world and with private users, speculation continues as to whether Facebook, arguably the most popular social media network at this time, will go public. Following LinkedIn's successful initial public offering in May this year, investors appeared keen to support IPOs by prominent players in the social media segment of the tech sector. So there was a measure of disappointment that Facebook seemed to be dragging its heels with regard to going public, with rumors that if this happened...
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