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Foreign Markets

Global markets rose again on Tuesday while traders await the results from the Federal Reserve’s “Stress Tests”. After being closed for a holiday, Britain played catch up as the FTSE rose 114.94 points, or 2.7 %, at 4,358.16, while Germany’s DAX rose 17.12 points, or 0.4 %, to 4,919.57. France’s CAC-40 was up 6.86 points, or 0.2 %, at 3,244.83. With a slew of national holidays, trading was subdued in the Far East. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 49.03 points, or 0.3 %, at 16,430.08, while mainland China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.3 % to a nine-month high close of 2,567.34

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Foreign Markets

European markets rose following Wall Street’s gains despite news about the health of the British economy. The Office for National Statistics reported that GDP contracted 1.9% in the 1st quarter from the previous three-month period. That was far more than the 1.6 % decline posted in the fourth quarter of 2008 and above analysts’ expectations for a more modest 1.4 % drop. Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 1.1 % to 4,063.18, Germany’s DAX climbed 1.1 % to 4,585.80, and France’s CAC 40 grew 1 % to 3,039.08.

Asian markets traded lower as Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average lost 139.02 points, or 1.6 %, to 8,707.99, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 44.39 points, or 0.3 %, to 15,258.85. South Korea’s Kospi was off 1.1 % at 1,354.10 as officials reiterated their expectations for a full year economic contraction; the country is Asia’s 4th largest economy.

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