The Asian stock markets have recorded index rises this morning due to the security situation calming down in Korea, as well as the positive trend on Wall Street. As such, Singapore's stock exchange strengthened by 0.3%, the Hong Kong stock exchange rose by 1.2%, the Seoul stock exchange climbed 0.9%, Taiwan grew by 0.5%, the Shanghai exchange advanced by 0.8%, whereas the Tokyo exchange increased by 1.3% after the Japanese central bank announced, as expected, that it will leave the interest rate unchanged, continuing to supply liquidity to the Japanese economy.
In the American macroeconomic sphere, the ICSC and Goldman-Sachs have reported yesterday that retail sales in the United States rose last week by 4.2% as compared to the parallel week in 2009. We will note that today no major data is expected to be published.
Oil closed on a two-year high, having climbed by 0.5% to 89.92 United States dollars per barrel of oil at the New York Commodities Exchange, the highest locking price since October 2008. Since the beginning of the year, oil prices have climbed by 13%.
Moody's credit rating agency announced yesterday that it is considering a possible downgrading of Portugal's credit rating. The agency stated that is may lower the rating, currently standing at A1, by a level or two, this due to concerns regarding Portugal's ability to raise money in the markets, as well as the uncertainty regarding economic growth due to its austerity plans.
