Bernard Hickey details the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am in association with Bank of New Zealand, including news the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 418 points or 3.9% and the S&P 500 ended up 4.6% after US jobless claims figures were better than expected.
See more here at Bloomberg on the market's stunning late rally.
US unemployment claims last week fell unexpectedly to a four month low, Bloomberg reported.
European and British stocks rallied sharply in late trade on rumours Italy and France may ban short selling of stocks, where funds are able to lend their stocks to traders who then sell those shares with the hope of buying them later at a lower price. See more here at Citywire.
Short selling is widely seen as increasing the volatility of markets.
Australia's stock market temporarily banned short selling of financial stocks during the crisis of late 2008 and early 2009.
However, the FT.com reported after the Dow closed that European authorities are divided on the issue of a short selling ban. France announced a 15 day ban on short selling of financial stocks late on Thursday European time. See more here at Reuters.
The New Zealand dollar spurted over 83 USc. It often rallies when stock markets jump globally as investors buy assets seen as riskier such as the New Zealand and Australian dollars.
Meanwhile Chinese authorities have let the yuan/renminbi strengthen beyond 6.4 yuan per dollar for the first time in 17 years. This is signficant because it signals China's willingness to let its currency do some of the work of slowing its export sector and reducing inflation.
In the past China has fixed or pegged its currency to the US dollar and built up foreign reserves through big export and current account surpluses. It now has a crawling peg and signs it is letting its currency rise vs the US dollar will be welcomed by many worried about the imbalances in the global trading and capital system caused by an undervalued Chinese yuan. See more here at Businessweek.
The Swiss franc weakened against the US dollar and Euro after the Swiss National Bank President said the central bank was considering imposing a peg for the currrency against the Euro.
Switzerland is desperate to avoid its safe haven status driving up its currency and destroying its export sector. See more here at Bloomberg.
US bond markets fell for the first time in days. The 30 year Treasury bond yield rose 27 basis points to 3.79%. See more here on US Treasuries.
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(Updated with chart, detail, links)
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