It was a short week for the UK in terms of trading. Markets opened on Tuesday and proceeded to clock up losses for three solid days. Friday was the only day of gains, leaving the FTSE 100 with an overall loss of 0.7% and the FTSE TechMARK with an overall loss of 2.5% for the week. The Bank of England left interest rate alone, which was as expected.
It was also a short week for much of Europe in terms of trading. There was good news from Europe's Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index but losses outdid gains throughout the week. Again it was oil, drug, pharmaceuticals, technology and telecommunication stocks that dominated the fallers and gainers. The news from the European Central Bank was that interest rates would be left alone.
The week in the US started off with mixed news although the Institute of Supply Management came out with great news for the manufacturing sector on Monday. Other data released was mixed and affected the Dow Jones and Nasdaq in different ways. The Nasdaq was slaughtered mid week with bad earnings news that also affected the Dow Jones. With an increase in unemployment, investors are hoping that the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates alone, thereby boosting an already slow recovery.
It was a short week for some of the Far Eastern markets with national holidays on Friday. The start of the week saw positive and negative news come out of Japan. Monday also saw Taiwan trying to recover from the earthquake on Sunday. The rest of the week was very mixed with oil, technology and telecommunications news dominating the investment trends. Some spectacular gains were seen from two indices, as well as losses.