Weekly Market Summary

by Raymond Chatlani

On Monday, Asian stockmarkets fell broadly except for China and Taiwan following Friday's sharp drop on Wall Street as anti-government rioting in Egypt prompted investors to flee to less risky assets to ride out the turmoil. European markets slid on Egyptian unrest. US stocks gained on good earnings and merger activity and as fear on Egypt eased.

On Tuesday, Asian markets rose modestly led by shares in resource companies as strong US factory data offset fears that unrest in Egypt could spread elsewhere in the Middle East. European shares were boosted by upbeat euro zone manufacturing data while strong earnings from ARM and Infineon lifted technology firms. US stockmarkets rose on solid manufacturing data in Europe and the USA as the index of manufacturing activity in America rose to 60.8 which is the highest reading since 2004..

On Wednesday, Asian markets ended higher on solid Wall Street gains buoyed by encouraging earnings and manufacturing data. South Korea, China, Taiwan and Vietnam were closed for the Lunar New Year holidays. European stockmarkets were mixed after a very strong overnight performance on Wall Street, as investors shrugged off an S&P downgrade for Ireland and stubborn concerns over Egypt. US indices ended flat on good corporate earnings and escalation on the Egyptian situation where violent street clashes were reported.

On Thursday, Asian markets were mostly closed for the lunar holidays. While the Nikkei fell, Australia and India closed positive. European stockmarkets fell on weak earnings and intensified violence in Egypt. US stocks fell as investor worries about violent protests in Egypt outweighed relatively positive news on retail sales, but closed positive at the end of the session after Bernanke said that the Fed expects the economy to improve this year and inflation to remain low despite the jump in commodity prices.

This morning, Asian markets rose except for India. European stock markets closed modestly up on good corporate earnings. US stocks are flat as investors weigh that the US jobless rate fell to 9 percent from 9.4 percent against protests in Egypt.

Global stocks inched higher this week as data from the US is showing signs of a pick up in the economy although gains have been muted due to the Egyptian crisis and fears that this may spread to other countries in the Middle East.