Financial Market Review for January 03 2018 Asian stocks struck a range of new peaks on Wednesday as risk appetites were whetted by a feast of upbeat manufacturing surveys that confirmed a synchronized upturn in the world economy was well under way. MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.4 percent, having jumped 1.4 percent on Tuesday in its best performance since last March. At 579.46 the index is creeping ever closer to the all-time peak of 591.50 reached in late 2007. Chinese blue chips gained for the fourth session running, while Japan's Nikkei was closed for holidays. As for the US equity markets, U.S. stocks kicked off 2018 on a positive note Tuesday, with major indexes rallying to record levels in a broad rally that saw five of the 11 primary sectors gaining more than 1% on the day. The energy sector was a particular outperformer, jumping 1.8%, while both consumer discretionary and material names were up 1.5%. Technology stocks, the best-performing sector of 2017, extended their advance by rising 1.4%, a rally that helped give the NASDAQ its biggest one-day percentage rise since Nov. 16. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.42% rose 105 points, or 0.4%, to 24,824. The S&P 500 SPX, +0.83% rose 22 points, or 0.8%, to 2,696. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +1.50% gained 103.5 points, or 1.5%, to 7,007. Both the S&P and the NASDAQ hit intraday records in the final minutes of trading. They also ended at closing records, with the NASDAQ finishing above 7,000 for the first time in its history. The Dow is less than half a percentage point below its own record. The three indexes are coming off strong gains in 2017; the S&P 500 rose 19.4% for the year, the Dow gained 25.1% and the NASDAQ added 28.2%. All three posted their best year since 2013, and they continue to trade within 1 percentage point of records. In the currency market, The dollar slumped on Tuesday, the first full trading day of 2018, with a key dollar index falling for a fifth-straight session to trade at a more than three-month low as traders pondered what’s next for interest rates and the economy. The euro EURUSD, -0.1907% rose to $1.2060 on Tuesday, up from $1.2006 late Monday in New York. Although the shared currency slipped back from session highs, it traded around a level not seen since September. Elsewhere in Europe, the British pound GBPUSD, +0.0515% climbed to $1.3600 from $1.3502 on Monday, also trading at a multi month high. In fact, sterling has not been above $1.36 since Britain’s vote to leave the E.U. in summer 2016. Against the Japanese yen USDJPY, +0.02% the dollar fell to ¥112.25 compared with ¥112.67 on Monday.
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