10 Things You Need To Know This Morning
Good morning! Here's what you need to know:
During a Q+A after his speech in Boston yesterday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke sounded a distinctly dovish tone about the direction of monetary policy. He signaled rates would stay low for a long time, citing an unemployment rate that probably overstates the health of the labor market.
Markets were up big, led by the Shanghai Composite, which gained 3.2% on the day. The Hang Seng ticked +2.55%, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained +1.31%. European markets are higher across the board, led by the DAX at +1.08%.
Gold futures are staging a comeback after Chairman Bernanke's speech, and are now 2.88% higher than they were prior to 4 pm Wednesday. Mike O'Rourke of JonesTrading says gold is best-positioned to take advantage of the dovish Bernanke struck yesterday. Meanwhile the dollar is falling . The DXY dollar index was down -1.32%, and off -1% against the Swiss franc.
Initial jobless claims will be published at 8:30 am. Consensus is for 337,000 against 343,000 prior. Import/export prices and the Bloomberg consumer comfort index also come out this morning.
The Bank of Japan issued its most sunny outlook for the country's economy since 2011, the FT's Jonathan Soble reports, saying the economy was "starting to recover moderately." They cited a 10.5% gain in machinery orders for May as evidence.
Greece's unemployment situation continues to worsen as the April jobless rate hit 26.9%, a 3.8 point rise from last year and a 0.1 point increase from March.
Samsung has topped Apple for mobile web use. They now control 25.47% of that market, ahead of Apple's 25.09%. Nokia clocks in at 22%.
Russia convicted a deceased lawyer who died in police custody while investigating tax fraud. Sergei Magnitsky was found guilty in a Moscow court of tax evasion. Last year, the US passed the Magnitsky Act, which blacklisted 18 Russian officials connected to the case from conducting trade with the U.S.
The Wall Street Journal's William Harless says some passengers from the flight that crashed at San Francisco's airport appear to have been injured by the standard lap-band seat belt. A business class passenger with access to a chest harness emerged relatively unscathed.
Eliot Spitzer came out ahead in a new WSJ poll for NYC comptroller. It showed him leading Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer 42% to 33%.
More From Business Insider
