Dow Climbs 300 points with No End in Sight

(eToro Blog) Equity markets roared to life after the decision by EU leaders at the Brussels summit delivered positive news to the market. The Dow is up 310 points, the Nasdaq is up 75 points and S&P 500 is up 36 points at the time of writing this report. The Dow is set to have its best October since the Dow Jones Industrial average index was created 115 years ago. The Dow is up more than 11% for the month. The S&P 500 had its best month since 1987. Risk appetite is coming back to the markets as EU leaders delivered what they promised at last weekend’s summit. Private investors agreed to take a 50% haircut on Greek bonds and EFSF will be leveraged up to 1.4 trillion Euros. The EFSF will be leveraged through an insurance scheme and a Special Purpose Investment Vehicle. The EUR/USD has rallied over 250 pips once word emerged about the deals reached at the EU summit. The U.S. economy grew at a 2.5% annual rate in the third quarter. This was in line with market expectations and much higher than the 1.3% growth in Q2 and miserable 0.4% seen in Q1. Consumers and businesses increased their spending. While the unemployment rate in the U.S. has been stubbornly high at 9.1%, other economic indicators point to a turnaround in the economy. Consumer sales of durable goods including autos jumped 4.1%. Services spending jumped 3%. Business investments grew by 16.3% and software sales grew by 17.4%. Exports rose by 4%. Government spending was unchanged. The strong GDP growth coupled with positive Non-Farm payrolls last month is giving legs to U.S. investors who have been battered for much of the year. European markets rallied earlier today and set the tone for the U.S. markets. The British FTSE rallied 2.8%, the French CAC rallied a whopping 6.2%, the German DAX rallied 5.3% and the Italian MIB rallied 5.4%. Traders on OpenBook are mixed on Dow (DJ30) with more or less equal ratio of longs and shorts. Support is seen at 11,000 and resistance is seen at 13,000. Copyright 2011 eToro Blog