DOWJONES 12453.46 + 186.71 (+1.52%)

S&P 500 1330.36 + 17.74 (+1.35%)

NASDAQ 2802.51 + 57.54 (+2.1%)

FTSE 6022.26 + 125.39 (+2.13%)   

GOLD $1498.20 USD + 3.10 (+0.21%)

SILVER $44.785 USD + 0.872 (+1.97%)

COPPER $4.3395 USD + 0.11 (+2.57%)

US markets opened strong, with both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones showing gains. Leading the charge was chip manufacturer Intel.The FTSE 100 was flat after pushing through to the 6000 level, and floated around 6020 for most of yesterday's trading.

Australian Market 

The Aussie market hit back strongly today, crushing losses posted yesterday on the back of US credit rating fears. After a steady start, the market pushed further through the day to close with a 66 (+1.4%) gain at 4859.

Gains were distributed across the market, with early running encouraged by the energy and mining sectors, until investors crushed financials in late afternoon trade.

Wesfarmers (WES) also reported quarterly sales, The WES data was more impressive than those reported by industry rival Woolworths on Monday. WES shares saw a (+1.4%) jump, highlighted by steady sales numbers from the Coles supermarkets business.

Banking stocks started the day with level headed gains, but finished strong winners. All big four banks jumped between (+1%) and +2% yesterday.

Mining giant BHP Billiton (BHP) reported its third quarter results. Rio Tinto (RIO) and BHP each finished the session up (+1.2%). Iron ore was strong, but coal production struggled due to the Queensland floods.

Looking at commodities, Gold continued to gain momentum reaching the US$1500 level for the first time amid worrying euro-zone debt fears.  

Bullion added (+0.1%) to $1496 an ounce by late afternoon. Crude for May delivery rose (+1%) to $108.15 a barrel. 

With recent losses, Base metals recovered today with aluminium and copper logging the strong gains.

Overseas Markets

US markets recovered overnight, as sovereign concerns receded and investors focused on strong company profits. The Dow, S&P500, and Nasdaq added (+0.5%) each.

The FTSE advanced 27 points (+0.5%), settling at 5897. overnight gains from fashion house, Burberry, saw a surge in quarterly sales, the end of session saw the FTSE closed 125 points (+2.13%) up. 

Asian markets were stronger today, The Nikkei broke a three day losing streak, up (+1.76%) to finish above 9600. The Hang Seng was up 1.% in late afternoon trade closing at 375.48 points (+1.6%). While the Shanghai Composite ended the session +0.2% up.

DOWJONES: 12266.75 USD + 65.16 points (+0.53%)   

S&P 500: 1312.62 USD + 7.48 points (+0.57%)

NASDAQ: 2744.97 USD + 9.59 points (+0.35%) 

FTSE: 5896.87 GBP + 26.79 points (+0.46%)   

GOLD: $1497.70 USD + 5.00 (+0.33%)

SILVER: $44.155 USD + 1.179 (+2.76%)  

COPPER: $4.2395 USD + 0.041 (+0.98%) 

US equities saw a light recovery last night following the turmoil the day before, as investors’ risk appetite grew once more. The market saw a general recovery in commodities (aside from oil) and strong growth in US housing restoring confidence with investors. 

Goldman Sachs saw good results showing signs of optimism about the outlook of the US economy. Problems do remain in relation to the eurozone debt crisis.

Local Market

The Aussie market experienced a sharp fall yesterday after S&P’s announcement to cut the outlook of US debt to negative. The market dropped 69 points (-1.4%), closing the day at 4793.

Losses were extensive, with resource stocks accumulating the heaviest falls on the back of weak commodity prices.

Mining stocks were the main focus of today’s losses, with Rio Tinto (RIO) losing -2.3% and BHP Billiton (BHP) falling -1.7%.

Woodside Petroleum (WPL) dropped -1.5% after indicating a fall in quarterly production. (WPL) also has confirmed a -12% drop in production standings from the prior quarter.  Sales revenues also saw a -6% loss on-quarter to $998 million.

WPL blamed the drop in output to tropical cyclone activity, impacting on sales revenues as a result. Higher commodity prices did balance some of the damage.

WPL shed -1.5% today. Santos (STO) was off -2.2%.

The financial sector was disappointing, with the big four banks all falling. ANZ Bank (ANZ) dropped 1.4% and the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) shed 1%.

Industrials saw Qantas (QAN) fall -0.5% after yet again raising the cost of its airfares.  Industry rival Virgin Blue ended -1.7% lower.

QAN will raise the price of domestic flights by 5% after April 28, and consumers that purchase tickets throug frequent flyer redemptions will also suffer a fuel surcharge. The Industry giant will spend $2 billion on fuel, which represents a $300 million increase over the previous half. QAN fell- 0.5% at close.

The RBA’s minutes for April showed the central bank continued to look positive about the medium-term outlook despite climbing oil prices, European debt fears and the Japanese earthquake.

RBA growth stood strong in Asia and indicated Australian export prices were expected to stay high. The labour market outlook also looked positive and business investment gained momentum. The RBA was anticipating a high inflation push for the March quarter.

In commodities global equity weakness saw investors rush to gold, which saw another record high at yesterdays close.  Bullion added 0.3%, to US$1496 an ounce.

Oil dropped after Saudi Arabia said the market has enough oil to meet the demand consumers. Crude for May delivery fell 2.3%, to US$107.12 per barrel.

Base metals were disappointing, with zinc the worst affected, down -3.8%.

The NCM cash costs rose for the quarter from $440 to $497 per ounce. NCM also stated they would downgrade full year gold production guidance to 2.82 million ounces. Down from previous guidance of 2.85 million and 2.95 million ounces. NCM ended the day 0.8% lower after its output data.

Copper production was left at 75,000 – 80,000 tonnes, with cash cost guidance also remaining unchanged.

Overseas Markets

The FTSE fell 2.1%. due to concerns amid euro-zone members, Portugal and Greece heading towards default, despite the drop earlier the FTSE ended the day 26.79 points (+0.46%) up. 

The S&P500, Nasdaq and The Dow, all slumped -1.1% after ratings agency S&P changed its long-term outlook on US government debt to negative from stable. 

The Nasdaq finished the day 9.59 (+0.35) points up, followed closely behind by the S&P 500 ending with gains of 7.48 (+0.57%)

Asian markets ended the day disappointing with The Nikkei falling 1.2%, the Hang Seng is down -1.3% and the Shanghai Composite declined by -1.9%.

DOWJONES: 12,201.59, -140.24 points (-1.14%)   

S&P 500: 1305.14, -14.54 points (-1.11%) 

NASDAQ: 2735.38, -29.27 points (-1.06%) 

FTSE: 5870.08, -125.93 points (-2.1%)   

GOLD: $1496.40 USD, + 3.80 (+0.25%)

SILVER:  $43.31 USD, + 0.354 (+0.82%)

COPPER: $4.2155 USD, + 0.0175 (+0.42%)

Global markets were in shock last night after ratings agency Standard & Poor's gave the US a negative credit outlook. 

The information prompted the government to move quickly on Monday, downplaying the rating agencies downgrade of its U.S. credit outlook, calling the decision a political judgment that should not be taken too seriously. 

Although S&P reaffirmed its 'AAA/A-1+' rating for the country, Standard & Poor's said that there was now a material danger that the countries policymakers would fail to address budgetary issues by 2013.

Local Market,

The Aussie market overcame a lethargic beginning to end the day slightly stronger. Financials and Consumer stocks helped fuel the session, offsetting weakness among resource stocks, which battled amid flat commodity prices. the market advanced 10 points (+0.2%), closing at 4862.

Mining giants BHP Billiton (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RIO) ended a touch softer, with BHP down 0.1% and RIO losing 0.2%.

The major banks strengthened seeing the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) and Westpac Bank (WBC) put on 0.6% each. 

Uranium miners had mixed reactions, with Energy Resources Australia (ERA) falling 4.1% and Paladin Energy (PDN) gaining 4.4%.

Woodside Petroleum (WPL) defeated energy sector failing, jumping 0.3%. Santos (STO) also shed another 0.7% at the end of Mondays close. 

Wooloworths (WOW) added 0.7% driving the staples sector higher after reaffirming complete year earnings guidance, Coles owners Wesfarmers (WES) jumped up 0.1% and are due to report 3rd quarter sales this week.

In commodities, Oil prices spiked following the current unrest in the Middle East, but have recently dropped due to reassuring movements from other oil producers. Light Crude dropped 2.29% to $107.37 per barrel and Brent Crude fell 1.61% to $121.84 per barrel, with the S&P move also hurting standings towards oil. 

Gold and silver reached record figures, as investors rushed to buy up these historical stores of wealth. Silver cracked past $43 per ounce and gold came within a hair of $1500 per ounce,

Overseas Markets, 

An already bleak looking day on the markets was made worse, with US capital showing heavy losses proceeding a downgrade of the US' credit outlook, with US bank stocks struggling, The Bank of America fell 3.2% to $12.40. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley all declined by at least 1.3%. 

Goldman Sachs will be the next banking and securities firm to report, publishing results by the end of week. 

Looking at Asian markets the Nikkei was down 34.87 points (0.36%) to 9556.65, the Hang Seng is down 177.76 points (0.74%) to 23830.31 HKD and the Shanghai Composite index is up 6.80 (0.22%) closing at 3057.33 CNY. 

The move was not a surprise with investors anticipating a mild reaction to new Chinese data which indicated a jump in inflation with continued capital inflows dangerously threatening to sustain inflationary pressure highs.

The Australian market ended the week on a low note among fears China may need to move aggressively to deter inflation. The dollar was lightly minor on Friday against the US dollar trading at 105.23 US cents down from 105.27 US cents at the end of Thursday’s close, mainly due to the decline on Asian equity markets.

The ASX 200 fell 32 points -0.7%, closing at 4852. The UK market lost momentum as banks were sold off due to debt worries, seeing the FTSE drop 47 points -0.8% to level out at 5964. The Nasdaq was up 1 point (+0.1%), the Dow up 14 points +0.1%, and the S&P 500 was decumbent.

The end of the week did see the market settle a 1.8% lower. Financials, Miners and Industrials where among the decliners and depleted base metal prices saw mining giants, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton drop around 1% each by Friday.

The energy sector was disappointing despite oil prices gaining overnight, Oil Search and Woodside Petroleum both falling below half a percent.

Looking at commodities Gold propelled higher due to inflation fears and June bullion jumped to $7.30 (+0.5%) to settle at $1479.70, Sliver at least in the short term shows to be a stronger investment than gold, with Silver jumping 17.4% in 2011 bettering its counter part Gold only up 2%. 

Silver Wheaton one of the market leaders within the metal industry has recently indicated seeing Silver prices jump around the $50/oz US within the next few years and will not consider hedging until such time, with the Deutsche bank appearing to concur suggesting that Silver could climb to $43.75 by 4Q 2011.

Crude accelerated on the back of a falling dollar. Crude for May delivery saw a gain of $1 (+0.9%) to settle at $108.11. Base metals were weaker, with lead down 2.5%.