The US stock exchanges spiked at the closing of the trading session on Wednesday which was caused by hopes in the adoption of the fiscal stimulus measures in the near future. However, the statistics on the dynamics of indicators for the month caused a drawback. The major stock indexes traded in the red zone at the end of September, which happened for the first time in the last six months.
Meanwhile, House of Representatives speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin could not reach a consensus on the stimulus package which reflected a slowdown in the growth of the stocks. Investors, on the other hand, hope the establishment of the agreement for the immediate adoption of the stimulus package, since it is the only way to somehow stabilize the country's economy amid the coronavirus crisis. And with the threat of a second wave of the pandemic, this is probably the only way to avoid an even bigger crash.
Aside from the coronavirus crisis, market participants also continue to closely monitor the election campaign. At the end of the first televised US presidential debate, the votes of observers were divided as follows: 41% voted for Trump, 48% for Biden, and 10% considered that there was a draw. However, this is not the last result, and, as often happens, the audience's sympathy will not just go from one side to the other. One thing is clear: observers cannot yet tell which of the candidates will better cope with the current crisis in the country.
Note that according to statistics, the US economy shrank for the second quarter by 31.4% in terms of annual rates. No one expected such a significant drop in the level of GDP, and, of course, this affected the mood of investors.
According to the September jobs report in the US, the private-sector grew quite well in the first month of autumn compared to the pace of the previous three reporting periods. The increase amounted to 749,000, which turned out to be better than the initial estimate of 650,000. Now all the attention of market participants will be directed to the official statistics on the labor market, which will be presented by the US Department of Labor on Friday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2% or 329.04 points at the closing of Wednesday's trading which sent to 27,781.70 points.
The S&P 500 index gained 0.83% or 27.53 points. Its current level was 3,363 points.
The NASDAQ Composite index rose 0.74% or 82.26 points, moving it to 11,167. 51.
At the end of the month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average parted with 2.3%, the S&P 500 sank 3.9%, and the NASDAQ was the leader of the fall losing 5.2%.
Asian stocks, on the other hand, experienced a lull in the market on Thursday. Tokyo stock exchanges were unable to start its work due to a system failure while most of the markets in the region were closed due to public holidays.
The problems that occurred on the trading floor in Tokyo, according to the exchange operator, are not related to the issue of cyber threats. No hacker attacks were recorded, although initially, such assumptions existed. According to the latest news, the whole problem is based on a system that is responsible for distributing data on changes in securities quotes. The exact causes of the problem have not yet been determined, but every effort is being made to detect and fix them as soon as possible. Due to this matter, the Tokyo exchange postponed work on Thursday and will probably resume work on Friday.
In the meantime, market participants are asked to evaluate statistics on the Japanese economy, which continues to appear in the press. As it became known, the Tankan index which assesses the level of business confidence of large companies in the country's manufacturing sector, for the third quarter lost 27 points, which came as a surprise to analysts, who assumed that the fall would not be lower than 23 points.
Trading platforms in Hong Kong and China are closed due to the observation of the Day of the People's Republic of China. South Korea's stock exchanges did not open due to the national holiday of Chuseok.
Meanwhile, official statistics from South Korea were released which showed that exports in the country grew immediately by 7.7% compared to the same indicator recorded a year earlier. This allowed it to reach the level of $ 48 billion in the first month of autumn. This is the first active growth recorded in the last seven months. Initial estimates expected an increase of around 2%.
The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.98%.
