OVERNIGHT MARKETS ROUND UP – 08/04/14

Japanese equities were dragged lower overnight following yesterday’s steep declines. Health-care and technology stocks remained under pressure in Japan whilst Chinese stocks climbed to a six-week high on speculation the government will take steps to bolster economic growth. With speculation the government will introduce measures to stabilize growth; investors will be keeping a very close eye on Chinese data in the coming weeks. 

Global bourses were in free-fall yesterday with the US tech falling to its biggest three-day retreat since 2011 whilst the S&P erased all of yearly gains. It seems we could be entering into a bull market with investors believing stocks are valuated way too high. Technology stocks were hit the hardest as investors decided to take profits and dump stocks. 

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures near-term volatility, rallied over 20 percent yesterday on speculation volatility will remain. In early hours of trading, gold was up $10, finding support above the $1300 level.