The US stock exchanges noted a good rise in the main stock indicators on the last day of trading last week. Some of which have almost completely won back their losses at the beginning of the current year. The Dow Jones index coped with the losses associated with the impact of the pandemic and continued its ascent. According to analysts, stock markets are experiencing a great phenomenon. The changes that the market will have to face in the near future have a positive effect on the stock market. This is due to the clear signs of an improvement in the situation in the economy, as well as measures of the new monetary policy of the United States, which will include the next portion of the fiscal stimulus.
Last week, market participants have their attention on the main event which was the speech of the head of the US Federal Reserve System Jerome Powell. According to the latter, the regulator has already adopted a completely new program of monetary policy in the country, which is allowed to exceed the target 2% inflation rate in certain periods of the state's economic development. All major changes in the Fed's strategy are related to inflation targeting. However, its level of 2% remains as an indicator for the long term.
At the same time, it should be noted that an increase in interest rates is unlikely in the near future: the government plans to continue to keep them at an extremely low level until the economic situation moves to stabilization.
According to statistics, the level of income of the population in the second month of summer in the United States has changed upward with a growth rate of 0.4%. The level of expenditures in July also increased significantly by 1.9%. According to preliminary data of analysts, the first indicator should have decreased by about 0.2%, and the second to increase by no more than 1.5%. Neither happened, which was a good sign for investors.
Consumer confidence in America has also strengthened well over the last month of summer. There was a growth of 74.1 points, while the previous level was 72.5 points. Analysts expected the figure to remain unchanged.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average at the close of Friday's trading showed an increase of 0.57% or 161.6 points. Its current level began to consolidate at about 28,653.87 points.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index grew 0.67% or 23.46 points, which allowed it to move to the mark of 3,508.01 points. It is noteworthy that for the first time at the close of trading, the indicator was able to stay above 3,500 points.
The Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.6% or 70.30 points, which moved it to the level of 11 695.63 points.
In general, all US indicators were able to add quite significantly last week. So, the weekly growth of the Dow Jones was 2.6%, which was the third increase in a row. The S&P 500 gained 3.3% to its previous value, and the Nasdaq became the leader of the rally, with its weekly gain of 3.4%. It should be noted that both of the latter indicators have been demonstrating positive dynamics for the past five weeks in a row.
The increase in the Dow Jones over the last month of the summer until today was around 8.4%. The S&P 500 was able to jump 7.2%. And the Nasdaq index turned out to be the leader with an increase of 8.8% over the month.
The Asian stock exchanges, on the other hand, mainly noted positive dynamics Monday morning. This is due to the good statistics on the growth of the Chinese economy and also an increase in certain indicators in other Asian countries.
Japan's Nikkei 225 Index is up 1.4%. Market participants were seriously concerned about the situation around the possible resignation of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which may happen against the background of his deteriorating health.
Meanwhile, the level of retail sales in the country in the second month of summer decreased quite significantly by 3.3%. It should be noted that there was a rapid growth in the previous month which amounted to 13.1%. On a year-over-year basis, Japanese retail sales posted a 2.8% fall, while in the first month of the summer there was a good increase of 3.9%. At the same time, preliminary forecasts of analysts turned out to be even somewhat softer than real figures with an expected reduction of at least 1.7%.
At the same time, the level of industrial production in Japan in the second month of summer became much higher with an increase of 8%.
China's Shanghai Composite Index added 0.7%. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index supported this trend and moved even higher by 1.1%. The PMI index in the manufacturing sector of the PRC over the last month of the summer fell slightly and reached 51 points, while earlier it was 51.1 points. As long as the indicator is above 50 points, everything indicates an increase in activity in this sector, so you should not worry too much about such a slight drop.
South Korea's Kospi index is down 0.8%. The level of retail sales here in the second month of summer increased by 0.5%, which cannot be considered a good result since in the previous month it grew by 6.3%.
The level of industrial production in the state, on the contrary, fell by 2.5% in July, while earlier it noted an increase of 0.5%. At the same time, the current drop turned out to be more significant than the preliminary forecasts of experts, who did not expect a dip below 1.2%.
The Australian S & P / ASX 200 index is also in the negative zone today falling 0.1%.