Dow Futures

Positive retail sales data helped the Dow finish in the green, while S&P 500 ended almost flat and Apple’s detrimental trend dragged down the Nasdaq. Additionally, concerns related to Spain’s surging borrowing costs remained an overhang, limiti…

Benchmarks’ carried over the strong momentum gained during the first quarter into the second after a strong reading of the US and China manufacturing sectors boosted the markets yesterday. The Dow and S&P 500 hit multi-year highs as investors’ …

The fastest pace of growth in consumer spending in seven months drove the benchmarks higher on Friday. While the Dow & S&P 500 posted their best first-quarterly performance since 1998, the week also witnessed a green finish for the markets. On…

The CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, is a measure of the market’s expectation of volatility (one standard deviation of returns) in the S&P 500 over the next thirty days (as evidenced by the implied volatility of options the S&P 500). It turns …

Comments from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke pushed the markets higher yesterday, as investors grew hopeful that the central bank would support the economy further. A few economic reports, which came in somewhat weak, could hardly impact the Ben…

Energy and basic materials took the benchmarks modestly higher on Friday, snapping a three-day losing streak. However, meager gains failed to prevent the Dow and S&P 500 from suffering their worst weekly performance this year. Global economic conce…

Concerns about softening economic growth in China weighed on US investors and subsequently markets ended their winning streak.  China also upped its oil prices and comments from a BHP Billiton executive about flattening demand for iron ore from China …

On a day devoid of major economic events, tepid housing data could do little to bolster the markets and benchmarks ended the day just slightly higher. It was yet another choppy trading session for the benchmarks, which started on a low note and recover…

By Angela Moon
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Investors are beginning to wonder if this “Energizer Bunny” of a rally can just keep going without taking a break or a fall.
Every Friday for the past couple of months, the question has hu…

Encouraging economic data not only enabled markets to extend their winning streak, the Standard & Poor 500 closed above 1,4 00 for the first time since  the Great Recession. Unemployment claims dropped to a four-year low and producer prices’ pos…

Markets closed flat on Monday as investors remained cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary statement. On a day of listless trading, benchmarks remained unaffected by news that Greece had concluded its debt deal with private creditors. Nonet…

Markets ended modestly higher on Friday buoyed by positive data on the jobs market. On the third anniversary of the stocks’ lowest point during the Great recession, investors drew optimism from reports of an improving economy. However, benchmarks cam…

Benchmarks moved higher following news that Greece was closer to fixing the crisis over its bond-swap deal. With investors sensing that Greece had reduced its chances of defaulting on its debt, financial stocks clocked up strong gains. Cross-Atlantic d…

US benchmarks ended in the negative zone for the second consecutive day as disappointing global cues and concerns about US economic data turned investor sentiment gloomy. Meanwhile, China cut its growth estimate and business activity contracted larger …

The absence of major news and significant domestic economic data meant that Friday’s quiet trading session left the benchmarks languishing in the red zone. Positive housing and jobs data lifted benchmarks to new multi-year highs during the week, culm…

Encouraging domestic economic data and the massive monetary injection by the European Central Bank (:ECB) lifted the benchmarks modestly higher on Thursday. The day was somewhat marred by dismal economic data and news of explosion on an unknown Saudi o…

  Domestic housing data, which came in better-than-expected, combined with a drop in crude prices, helped the markets close narrowly higher on Monday. The S&P 500 hit its highest level since pre-recessionary days in May 2008 as it touched an intr…

The Greek parliament approved the austerity measures and the cheers spread to the US markets with each benchmarks posting modest gains. Markets returned to the positive territory as investors learnt about the improving odds of Greece securing the next …

Benchmarks suffered their worst day of the year so far as Greece encountered another roadblock in its way to secure the next tranche of its bailout package. Investor sentiment was rattled following this development as markets were waiting anxiously for…

On Friday, markets moved lower after a government report showed that GDP grew slower than expected in the last quarter of 2011. While corporate earnings failed to limit the losses, the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its first weekly fall this ye…