Stocks rebounded strongly on Thursday. From Reuters:
The euro staged a broad rally and U.S. stocks jumped about 3 percent on Thursday, after China said Europe remains a key investment market for its foreign-exchange reserves.
The People's Bank of China said a Financial Times report that Beijing was concerned about its euro-zone bond holdings due to the European debt crisis was groundless...
At the close of trade, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 284.54 points, or 2.85 percent, to 10,258.99. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 35.11 points, or 3.29 percent, to 1,103.06. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 81.80 points, or 3.73 percent, at 2,277.68...
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index closed up 2.9 percent at 1,000.46 points. The index remains down around 10 percent from a mid-April peak on worries about Europe's debt crisis. MSCI's all-country world stock index also rose 2.9 percent.
The euro gained 1.67 percent at $1.237 while the dollar fell against a basket of major trading-partner currencies, with the U.S. dollar index falling 1.05 percent at 86.208.
In pushing stocks up, investors shrugged off a downward revision to US first quarter growth. From Bloomberg:
The U.S. economy grew in the first quarter at a slower pace than previously calculated, reflecting smaller gains in consumer and business spending and highlighting the risks to the recovery posed by the European debt crisis.
The 3 percent increase at an annual rate in gross domestic product was less than the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News and compares with an advance estimate of 3.2 percent issued last month, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. Corporate profits grew and incomes were revised down...
More Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, indicating firings persist even as the economy rebounds, figures from the Labor Department also showed today. Jobless claims fell by 14,000 to 460,000 in the week ended May 22. Economists forecast claims would drop to 455,000, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
Recent Japanese economic data have also been mixed.
On Thursday, AFP/CNA reported that Japan's trade surplus had jumped in April.
Japan's trade surplus soared in April, data showed Thursday, as exports led by the auto sector continued to drive a tentative recovery in the world's second largest economy...
Exports surged 40.4 per cent from a year ago to 5.89 trillion yen, marking the fifth straight month of growth and meeting analysts' expectations.
Today's reports, however, show that deflation remains a threat to Japan's recovery. From Bloomberg:
Japan’s unemployment rate unexpectedly increased in April and the decline in consumer prices deepened, signaling that domestic demand is restraining the nation’s recovery from its deepest postwar recession.
The jobless rate rose to 5.1 percent from 5 percent, the statistics bureau said today in Tokyo. The median forecast of 23 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for no change. Prices excluding fresh food slid 1.5 percent from a year earlier after dropping 1.2 percent in March...
Household spending dropped 0.7 percent in April from a year earlier, the bureau said. The median estimate of economists surveyed was for a 2.5 percent increase. Retail sales rose 4.9 percent from a year earlier, led by gas stations and auto showrooms.
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