OVERNIGHT MARKETS ROUND UP – 10/04/14

Asian markets rallied last night as the release of the FOMC minutes gave global markets a well needed lift. The key piece of information that was taken from the minutes was that interest rates are set to stay low for considerable time, put clearly in the minutes in a move to counteract the mistake Janet Yellen made when she put a six-month time frame on the matter at a conference last month. 

Asian stocks weren’t the only ones to jump on the positive sentiment released after the FOMC minutes – US stocks surged with the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 regaining a significant amount of their losses from the previous few trading sessions. 

The Aussie dollar rallied against its counterparts throughout the night as employment change came in at 18.1k and unemployment rate came in at 5.8%, both significantly better than originally expected.  

We have a fairly busy economic calendar for the day ahead with European industrial production figures due out this morning. Key pieces of information investors will be looking out for will be GBP Asset Purchase Facility and the Official Bank Rate which are set to be released at 12:00pm, shortly followed by the American Unemployment Claims at 13:30pm.