23rd April - Economic and Global Market Review

April 23, 2014 - PRLog -- Stock Port Associates is one of the world’s largest and most established offshore investment firms operating within a tax-favorable jurisdiction. Whether it’s dealing with new regulations, setting up an offshore presence, attracting new investors or identifying independent directors, we have the expertise to assist you.

23rd April - Economic and Global Market Review

Global Market Data as of 23rd April 2014

Europe

FTSE 100          6,681.76 (+0.85%)          Dax         9,600.09 (2.02%)

CAC 40          4,484.21 (+1.18%)          BEL 20   3,145.54 (+1.06%)

Madrid IBEX         10,437.80 (+1.41%)          Zurich SMI 8,461.30 (+1.03%)

Asia

Moscow MCIEX   1,336.81 (-0.59%)          Sydney ASX 5,498.70 (+0.58%)

Nikkei 225          14,503.36 (+0.80%)          Hang Seng 22,536.62 (0.85%)

Shang SSE Comp  2,072.83 (+0.34%)

United States

Dow Jones          16,514.37 (+0.40%)          NASDAQ 4,161.46 (+0.97%)

S&P 500 1,879.55 (+0.41%)

European markets returned yesterday after the long weekend and continued their run of late last week. The majority European indexes posted strong gains and held the momentum carried by the US and their positive earnings reports.

Preliminary data out of HSBC showed that the Chinese PMI contracted again for the fourth month in a row. At 48.3 it was still better than Marches figures but still showed a slowdown in manufacturing bolstering claims that the Chinese economy is still struggling to prove it is returning to stability. Also of concern to investors was the news earlier in the week that the Japanese trade deficit had quadrupled to over  ¥1.45tn, 4 times the ¥3.5bn last reported. The rise in energy imports was seen as the main culprit with an increase in LPG up almost 8% but with a cost increase of 18%.

As stated, Europe was in positive territory on its return yesterday. Spurred on by good earnings reports and several announcements by pharmaceutical companies confirming that some large scale mergers and acquisitions could be on the cards, in the very near future. GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis are in talks to trade off some of their core businesses. GSK will purchase Novartis's vaccines program, minus the flu division for $7.1bn and Novartis will get GSK cancer drugs business for $16bn. In a separate deal Lilly has agreed the purchase of Novartis's animal health division for $5.4bn. This was seen as both companies looking forward and concentrating on their core businesses. Further rumors helped push the market and the mill spread news that  AstraZeneca and Pfizer were also in talks. Weak data out of China held back the open in Europe and markets were slightly down at the start of trading despite positive EU data showing that manufacturing was indeed on the increase.

In the US, Earnings Season continues to drive the markets as all three of the major indexes posted 6 day winning streaks. With a whole host of S&P 500 companies reporting better than expected earnings the NASDAQ, DOW and S&P all ended up in the green. Yesterday saw some poor data on existing homes yet today it is expected that New Homes data should be more positive after construction managed to return to normality after the bleak weather the US saw over winter. There are some big hitters reporting today and no doubt the markets will be keen to see what the score is. Ones to watch will be Apple Inc, The Boeing Company and Qualcomm Inc.

Stock Port Associates (SPA) is one of the world’s largest and most established offshore investment firms operating solely within a tax-favorable jurisdiction. SPA employs seasoned market professionals with expertise in all asset classes with access to all major markets. To find out more please visit http://www.stockportassociates.com for more information or contact info@stockportassociates.com to be contacted by one of our representatives.

DISCLAIMER  The views, opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed on this service are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Stock Port Associates.All market data within this release is for your general information and enjoys indicative status only. Stock Port Associates does not accept any responsibility for its accuracy or for any use to which it may be put. All share prices and market indexes delayed at least 15 minutes. 52 week high and low values are calculated from close price data.