Investors concerns over the possibility of expansion of the European debt crisis have led yesterday to a sharp decline in the prices of Spanish and Portuguese government obligation, as these countries are considered to be next in line to ask for bailout funds after Greece and Ireland, but also a decline in the prices of German and Belgian government obligations – those of the most stable economies on the continent.
Wall Street trading has locked yesterday on index declines after the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 0.4% of its value, closing on a level of 11,006 points, the NASDAQ index fell 1% to a level of 2,498 points, whereas the S&P 500 decreased 0.6% to 1,180 points.
A mixed trend has been recorded this morning on Asia's stock markets based on the publishing of positive U.S. Growth data and index declines on Wall Street. As such, the Tokyo stock exchange recorded light growth of 0.3%, the Seoul exchange rose by 0.8%, whereas the Hong Kong stock exchange declined by 0.4%.
In the macroeconomic sphere, yesterday saw reports that the consumer confidence in the United States has risen to its highest level in five months due to improvements in the employment situation. The index rose to a level of 54.1 points for November, despite economists' predictions for an increase to a level merely 53 points. At the same time, the ISM institute reported that the economic activity index for Chicago rose this month to its highest level since April.
Home prices in America's largest 20 cities rose by 0.6% in September as compared to September the previous year. The rise was more moderate than predicted by analysts, who foresaw a 1% increase. The data is yet another signal that the American real estate market is having difficulties recovering from the crisis.
