It was ups and downs for US markets this week. Whilst the Dow Jones Industrial Average fared much better than the Nasdaq 100, investor confidence seems to have been knocked again. A bag full of economic data was released this week that pushed and pulled investors. It was bad news on the jobs front but certain sectors seem to be expanding. The UK saw a week of local elections and the shutting down of pay channels on ITV Digital. By the end of the week the FTSE 100 showed great resilience and managed an overall gain of around 1%. The FTSE TechMARK fared slightly worse with a loss for the week of around 1.5%. Generally a positive week of trading, amidst elections and worse than expected economic data from the US. European markets this week had a short one with most markets closed for the May Day Bank Holiday. European markets seemed to work against the UK for most of the week which was unusual.
Nevertheless, the markets reacted the same way to disappointing news from the US and most indices ended the week in Europe in the red. Far Eastern markets reacted badly to the economic data that came out of the US this week. Major exporters were hit hard, assuming that lower consumer confidence in the US meant less demand for export. The Yen against the Dollar worked for and against exporters this week. Most markets were closed for at least 1 day of the week and trading was a little disjointed. Nevertheless, losses seemed to be capped and confidence appears to be on the way up.