Apologies for not posting yesterday - we had a electricity cut for the morning and electronic devices don't work that well without power
Very interesting day yesterday in the world and a lot of things came up that may well impact stock markets over the next few months.
European markets were largely flat overnight with the UK market up after UK-US talks.
The FTSE rose 53 points (.61%), the DAX rose by less than 1 point (.002%) and the CAC rose 9 points (.11%).
The FTSE rose after a potential deal between the US ad UK on tariffs.
French President Macron stated that the EU will retaliate against the proposed US 25% tariff on the EU.
US markets responded very positively to the latest PCE data.
The DOW rose 601 points (1.39%), the NBI rose 59 points (1.34%), the NASDAQ Composite rose 302 points (1.63%) and the Russell small cap index rose 23 points (1.09%).
US PCE data for January was at 2.6% - a decrease from the 2.9% in December.
US new jobless claim rose to 242k - increase of 22k over previous week.
US GDP grew by 2.3% in Q4 2024.
Big news was the blow up in the meeting between Zelenski and Trump in the oval office - voices raised. This resulted in Zelenski leaving the US early and no mineral agreement was signed.
Lots of news on the tariff front and we could be heading to a serious trade war - won't be good for share markets.
Trump stated that tariffs on Canada and Mexico will come into effect on 4th March and an additional 10% tariff on China on 2nd April.
US Treasury 10 year bond yield fell to 4.227%
Oil price rose - Brent crude is at US$73.15 per barrel.
Precious metal prices fell - gold is at US$2,854 per oz.
BITCOIN is down to US$84,344.
(20min delay)