Jobs Data Anticipation Boosts Stocks; Gold at Two-Week Low; Dollar Rises on European Central Bank Comments

Jobs Data Anticipation Boosts Stocks (Bloomberg)

Stocks rose today in advance of tomorrow’s release of jobs data. As a result, benchmark indices achieved their longest rally in more than a month. “Most people are looking at Friday’s jobs number as the determining factor whether or not the Fed will start tapering in September,” Steven Bulko, the New York-based chief investment officer of Lombard Odier’s long/short 1798 Fundamental Strategies Fund, said. “We are definitely starting to see incremental gains in the U.S. economy, which will provide positive data that hopefully mitigates some of the negative, short-term headwinds.”

Gold at Two-Week Low (CNBC)

Good data in the United States led investors to believe that the Federal Reserve will begin tapering its stimulus efforts soon. This in turn triggered an exodus from gold, as the yellow metal fell nearly two percent to reach a two-week low.

Dollar Rises on European Central Bank Comments (Reuters)

After the European Central Bank (ECB) announced that it expected its key interest rates to remain at present levels or lower for the foreseeable future, the U.S. dollar rose to a seven-week high against the euro. “ECB President Draghi toed the line that relatively higher interest rates could threaten the recovery, and that the central bank remains ‘prepared to act’ should the conditions justify a response,” said Christopher Vecchio, currency analyst at DailyFX in New York.