Your Weekly Trading Review by UFX.com – Sunday, February 11th, 2018
Here are some of this past week’s leading economic news and events that affected the financial markets:
The S&P 500 Is Back on Top
The S&P 500 ended the week with a 4.3 percent growth, posting its best weekly performance in five years. Last week’s positive reports on consumer prices and retail sales left investors at ease, sending the stock market on an upward trend. The Dow rose 4.25 percent for the week, its strongest weekly gain since November 2016. The NASDAQ rose 5.31 percent for the week, a new record since December 2011. Volume on US exchanges was 7.1 billion shares, below the 8.5 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
Silvio Berlusconi’s Leads Italy’s Election Polls
The Italian general election is set for the 4th of March 2018. Italy’s parliament is made up of two houses: The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The Chamber of Deputies has 630 members, and only Italian citizens aged over 25 can stand for election. The Senate has 315 elected members, who must be at least 40 years old to stand. Polls published on Friday show that Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing coalition is leading the electoral race. Berlusconi is predicted to get 36 percent of the vote. The Democratic Party is at around 28 percent. Forza Italia is predicted to get 16.8 percent of the vote. The anti-immigration Northern League is estimated to receive 13.2 percent and the far-right Fratelli d’Italia 4.7 percent.
The Weekly Market Round Up
The EUR/USD fell by 0.80%, closing at $1.2406. The GBP/USD increased by 0.08%, ending the week at a £1.2406 exchange rate. Gold rose by 0.07% as of last week’s market close, closing at $1,356.20. Crude Oil rose by 0.34%, closing at $61.68 a barrel. The Dow Jones ended the week with an increase of 0.08%, closing at a value of 25,219.38. The S&P 500 rose by 0.04%, closing at a value of 2,732.22. And lastly, the NASDAQ decreased by 1.44%, ending the week at a value point of 7,239.47.
That’s our summary of the financial headlines from the past week. Good luck with this week’s trading and stay tuned for the next review from UFX.com.