Optimal Financial Management - US Markets Reach Record Closes - 3rd March 2015

March 3, 2015 - PRLog -- Optimal is a partnership of individuals with complementary work experience, networks and skill sets. The Partners bring a wealth of experience in wealth management, asset management, investment banking, private equity as well as risk management.

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Optimal Financial Management  - US Markets Reach Record Closes - 3rd March 2015

The two major indexes in the US reached record closes yesterday and the NASDAQ finished at a 15yr high.

Despite confirmation that the US economy expanded at a slower rate than first thought, US markets has a blazing day yesterday after being buoyed by mergers and acquisitions and China's interest rate cut over the weekend.

With growth for the last quarter of 2014 now confirmed at 2.2% against the 2.6% reported earlier, mainly due to a slower rise in business inventory, rising imports and a reduction in government spending, the news had barely a reaction on the markets.

The Dow Jones closed at 18,288.63, The S&P 500 ended at 2,117.39 and the NASDAQ closed the day at 5,008.10 which has not closed over 5,000 since March 2000.

The main driver behind the NASDAQ's rise is the merger activity from NXP Semiconductors who agreed a buyout of Freescale Semiconductors for $16.7bn and Hewlett Packard who have agreed to buy Aruba Networks for a reported $3bn.

The latest data on the US economy has led many to believe that the Federal Reserve will now look to September for a rate increase and this has seen the USD rise again against a basket of currencies. If the Fed provides any more guidance on a rate increase we can expect the dollar to continue its gains.

The main focus of this week will be employment data due out on Friday. In a Reuters poll of 100 analysts it is forecast that over 240k will have been added in February, continuing the strong push in employment and looking to be the 15th months over 200k jobs had been added to the employment markets.

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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 Optimal Financial Management. All market data within this release is for your general information and enjoys indicative status only. Optimal Financial Management 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.