Riskier assets were mixed across the equity, commodity and currency spectrum. Even US markets were mixed as diverging earnings results were released Thursday after the bell. IBM and Microsoft’s strong results pushed the Dow higher while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 Index were slightly lower.
The euro recovery stalled just below 1.30. Greek media is reporting that the PSI agreement has been reached, with new bonds to be 30-year maturity with a coupon that starts at 3.1% and could move to as high as 4.75%.
German December PPI decelerated more than expected to 4.0% year over year from 5.2% year over year. In the UK, December retail sales came in near expectations at +0.6% m/m, recovering from November’s 0.5% m/m decline. Asian stocks extended to two-month highs, with the MSCI Asia Pacific index up 1.2%.
Morgan Stanley and many other financial stocks helped the markets move higher for the majority of the week. MS gapped higher on Thursday after better than expected earnings and is poised to test resistance near the 200-day moving average at 19.11. Binary options traders should look to add a call on a close above the 200-day moving average.
