Stock Markets Close Up After A Mixed Day

It was yet another weird day with the stock markets. In the early hours the stock markets were generally falling as expected, and after the release of the Non Farm Payroll report we saw a rally at around 2PM. The Non Farm Payroll revealed that 651,000 jobs had lost in February, and this was 1000 more than the 650,000 estimate. I think we all thought it would be a lot worse than the estimate and the fact that it was so close contributed to a mid afternoon rally.

In the late afternoon we saw the markets fall again, and they looked to close at an all time low, but we saw a last minute rally literally caused by a rally in energy stocks. In the US, Wall Street and the S&P500 both rose by 0.5% and 0.13% respectively. In London, the FTSE 100 closed at 0.02% higher and in Frankfurt the German Dax closed at 0.8% down. In Asia, the Nikkei 225 continued to fall and closed down at 3.5% lower than yesterday.

It is hard to see any good news as I keep stressing and this last minute rally really did save the stock markets from closing at some real low levels and 12 year lows. Monday will be interesting, and it will be fascinating to see how the markets do perform after this late rally today.

Enjoy the weekend break, I know I will.

Kind Regards

Robert Stewart