Hi Sonny,
So far Europe looks good. I am off to play 18 holes under the rain. Have to keep the grips dry.
RGDS.
Yaacov
LONDON (Reuters) - European stocks posted
early gains Tuesday, boosting bourses in
Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Paris and Zurich.
On the back of a 50 basis point cut in Spain's
money market rate, the Madrid general index
climbed 2.57% or 16.51 points to 658.8. Like
other markets, Spain was also encouraged by
gains posted in Tokyo.
London's FTSE 100 climbed 1.59 percent
early on, adding 74.1 points to 4722.8.
Better-than-expected third quarter earnings from
Motorola on Monday helped sentiment. Value
was seen in leading UK shares after the FTSE
100 index dropped 400 points in the last three
sessions and Lehman Brothers forecast a rally
into the year-end.
Frankfurt's Xetra Dax index gained 2.28
percent, inching back 90.34 points to 4061.33. It
closed below the 4,000 point support level
Monday. Deutsche Bank shares were the most
heavily traded, recovering 1.36 percent to 84.61
marks from earlier losses after a third-quarter
profit warning as bargain-hunters moved in.
Bayer led early advancers.
France's CAC 40 gained 2.11% early on,
adding 62.86 points to bounce back through the
3000 point barrier at 3042.75. In Zurich the SMI
rose 2.31 percent, adding 118.4 points to
5244.9.
The dollar was weak, plumbing fresh
20-month lows against the mark at 1.6308 and
below 133 yen. It was weakened by concerns of
a global credit crunch, which raised the chances
of a further U.S. rate easing.
"A lot of the dollar's weakness is down to
expectations of further cuts in U.S. interest rates;
we've not seen the end of it yet," said Jeff
Woodruff, currency exchange strategist at
BankBoston in London.
Though the weekend G7 meeting did not yield
any signs that coordinated rate cuts were planned,
last week's easing by the United States and
Canada, speculation of a UK rate cut this week
and the Bundesbank's more conciliatory tone on
Monday for lower rates suggests some
coordination is emerging by default, said
Woodruff.
However, a German rate cut soon is seen as
remote, keeping the balance of risk towards a
softer dollar and stronger mark.
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