Binary Options Analysis – Concerns over European Bailout Weigh on Stocks

[BinaryOptionStrategy]

Binary Options Trading analysis written by Bradley Welcher - BinaryOptionStrategy

Equities

Doubts over the Euro zone’s rescue efforts sent Asian stocks lower. The Nikkei fell 1% to 8682, and the ASX 200 sank 1.6%. Korea’s Kospi slumped 2.7% although heavyweight Samsung Electronics gained 2.4% on news Seagate would purchase Samsung’s hard drive business. In China, the Hang Seng shed 1.8% and the Shanghai Composite dropped 1.9%

Rumors that the European Summit would be delayed sent European markets tumbling, although the report was later denied. The DAX closed down 2.5%, the CAC40 dropped 2.3%, and the FTSE lost 1.2%. The banking sector lost 4%, and resource stocks lost more than 3%.

US stocks closed mixed, as an afternoon rally helped erase early losses. The Dow rose 37 points to 11542, the S&P 500 gained .5%, while the Nasdaq lost .2%.


Dow Closes Higher in Choppy Trading

After the close, Microsoft reported earnings which were inline with analyst expectations of 68 cents per share. Revenue was slightly higher than expected.



Treasuries and Commodities

Bonds closed modestly lower. 10-year notes eased 6/32 to yield 2.18%, and 30-year notes fell 24/32 to yield 3.21%.

Copper tumbled 6% to 3.0575 as weak economic forecasts slammed the industrial metal. Gold slumped 2% to 1612.90m and silver dropped 3.1% to 30.281.

News of Gadhafi’s death had little impact on the energy market. Crude oil closed down .22 to 86.07, while natural gas rallied 1.2% to 3.63.



Currencies

The Swiss Franc rallied 1% to .8938, as expectations that the Swiss National Bank would raise the EURCHF exchange floor from 1.20 to 1.25 weakened. The Euro and Pound both rose .2%, and the Australian Dollar inched up .1% to 1.0244. The Yen closed flat at 76.84.



Economic Outlook

Weekly jobless claims fell to 403K, slightly better than expected. The Philly Fed manufacturing index unexpectedly rose to 8.7 from last month’s -17.5 reading. On a weaker note, existing home sales were slightly weaker than expected at 4.91M, down from last month’s 5.06M.

On Friday, earnings are scheduled for GE, Honeywell, McDonalds, Schlumberger, and Verizon.