By Chris Becker
Stock markets ended the week on a positive note with US and European bourses rallying on Friday night amid a disappointing GDP print in the States, although the closely watched personal consumption expenditure – the orgy of buying stuff that we all don’t need – clipped in at over 4% per annum. Combined with the 1% plus “growth” rate, this is enough to give the Fed some pause in its rate rise agenda, which saw the US dollar sold off swiftly against the majors. Friday also saw the BOJ pause firing up the helicopters, with another “modest” stimulus package failing to excite the punters, putting the focus back on a new round of Abenomics. Commodities were mixed with oil continuing its fall, while industrial metals like copper rallied, as did gold on the back of the weaker USD.
As usual for Monday’s, I’ll take a longer term look at markets and charts.