02.10.13

Asian markets seem to show that they are expecting a short shutdown of the US government as market indices rose slightly, with the exception of the NIKKEI which was down over 2%, some analysts attribute the Japanese drop to profit taking, although risk aversion may be another factor. Australian data released last night shows exports were up while imports were down month on month, and building permits were granted at a lower than expected rate, with a decrease of 4.7% on July’s figure for August. AUD/USD was trading at 0.9355 with a high of 0.9407 and a low of 0.9350 so far.

The NIKKEI closed at 14170.50 down 314.23 points or minus 2.17%

Former Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, could be coming to an end of his life in politics; that is if his party support current Prime Minister Letta’s confidence motion. European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Olli Rehn, has said that Italy has to regain political stability as soon as possible to return to growth. The Italian youth unemployment rate is over 40% for the first time, while the current overall unemployment rate stands at 12.2%.

The FTSE100 closed at 6460.01 down 2.21 or minus 0.03% while the DAX closed at 8689.14 up 94.74 points, an increase of just 1.10%

As the US comes to terms that their Government once again cannot afford to keep Federal Government departments fully operational, expectations are that the cessation of service could last up to a week, but there is no concrete information as to duration at the present time. Later today Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke will give a press conference as to how the Fed observes the current US economy and the value of USD. Markets are expected to be volatile particularly during the speech.

The DOW closed at 15191.70 up 62.03 points or 0.41%

Have a nice day.