US Markets ended the First day of trading in New Year on a positive and happy note

New Year brought new and bright goodies to the European equities like the FTSE , CAC and DAX which ended the first day of trading on a very strong note, after gaining more than 7 percent in 2010 as money managers got fresh allocations, with Porsche leading auto shares higher.Trading volumes were seen to be thin as Britain's FTSE 100 was closed for a holiday.Philippe Gijsels, head of research at BNP Paribas Fortis Global Markets said: "Sentiment is positive and that is mainly because of the seasonality. Money managers typically get some new inflows at the
start of a year and they put them to work. I guess this positive mood will continue for the next couple of days,but after that markets will start to look at issues such as economic growth in the United States and inflation rates in China."
US Markets ended the First day of trading in New Year on a positive and happy note New Year has been fantastically good for the Wall Street. It ended the First day of trading in New Year on a positive and happy note, with a rally on Monday as encouraging signs about the outlook for manufacturing around the world prompted
investors to inject new money into the market.Financials led the way higher after underperforming the market last year.Data from the United States, Europe and China set the tone, helping the Dow and S&P reach new two-year highs and the Nasdaq 100 closed at its highest.Stephen Massocca, managing director at Wedbush Morgan in San Francisco said: "There is a lot of money in cash, a lot of money in bonds that would like out of bonds, and it's only natural with the economic improvement it's finding its way to equities."
The dollar ended on a volatile note, with investors gearing up for gains in early 2011 on expectations the US economic recovery was gaining momentum. The euro edged up high against the dollar on Friday on year-end buying by central banks. The dollar was broadly under pressure against the yen.Neil Mellor, currency strategist, at Bank of New York Mellon said: "It is a stop-hunting exercise in these thin trading conditions. Going into 2011, pressure remains on the euro as one can see from the price action in euro/Swissie. The dollar is also under pressure but the euro is the least favored."
The Oil prices ended up the day on a bright note as positive European and US manufacturing data and forecasts for cold weather reinforced optimism about economic and energy demand growth.Manufacturing in the United States and Europe accelerated in December and growth in China and India slowed to a more sustainable level, helping to fuel move by investors into riskier assets.Phil Flynn, analyst at PFGBest Research in Chicago said: "Heating oil strength is on the colder forecasts further out, and on top of that crude is being supported by the strong
manufacturing data."
Gold prices was seen lower on first day of trading in new year as signs of US manufacturing growth prompted selling.Bruce Dunn, vice president of trading at bullion dealer Auramet said: "The stock market is doing very well, and with the dollar still relatively weak, investors tried to run the gold but they just failed." US Gold futures for February delivery settled up $1.50 an ounce to $1,422.90. A report showed manufacturing grew in December at the fastest pace in seven months and construction spending increased in November, so this news had a positive impact on the US Treasury Market,which closed on a positive note.Sean Simko, who oversees $8 billion at SEI Investments Co. in Oaks, Pennsylvania said: “As long as the economy continues to show signs of a self- sustaining recovery and supply is kept under control, yields will move higher, and that’s what we are seeing in the selling pressure. Rates will move high in 2011, but in a choppy
fashion.”
German 10-year bunds closed on a higher note as the fiscal crisis that roiled the euro area’s most-indebted nations drove investors to the safest fixed-income assets in the region.Orlando Green, assistant director of capital-markets strategy at Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank in London said: “There has been a
flight-to-quality and Europe has been divided between the haves and the have-nots. The have-nots are clearly the likes of Greece and Ireland, and they needed to be bailed out. The risk going into next year is that this domino effect could continue.”