European Central Bank head Mario Draghi says the eurozone's chief monetary authority is willing to 'step up the pressure' and broaden its efforts to stimulate the struggling economy. Newslook
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U.S. stock futures soared Friday as China's central bank cut interest rates and Europe's chief central banker made comments that further stimulus is possible for the eurozone.
The major indexes were poised to rally at the open and jump further into record territory, adding a fifth straight week of stock gains.
Ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street, the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were all up around 0.7%.
Oil markets moved sharply in the wake of Friday's twin developments. Benchmark U.S. crude was up $1.45 at $77.29 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In Asian markets, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index added 0.3% to 17,357.51 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.4% to 23,437.12. The Shanghai Composite surged 1.4% to 2486.79.
China's central bank cut the interest rate on its one-year loans to financial institutions by 0.4 percentage point to 5.6 percent. The surprise reduction comes in the wake of recent figures showing that the country's annual rate of economic growth slowed to a five-year low of 7.3 percent last quarter.
GLOBAL STIMULUS: It's 'risk on' in markets as stimulus reigns supreme
European markets traded higher after China cut rates, but also following comments from European Central Bank head Mario Draghi.
The ECB boss said the chief monetary authority for the eurozone is willing to 'step up the pressure' and broaden its stimulus efforts to help the struggling economy.
'We will continue to meet our responsibility - we will do what we must to raise inflation and inflation expectations as fast as possible, as our price-stability mandate requires of us,' Draghi said, speaking at a banking conference in Frankfurt.
The eurozone grew only 0.2% in the third quarter, and recent economic indicators for future growth have been downbeat. Unemployment is 11.5%.
European markets rallied: Britain's FTSE jumped 1%, Germany's DAX index rallied 2% anmd France's CAC 40 gained 2.1%.
As the dow passes 16,000, David Craig takes a moment to step back and reflect.
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Contributing: Associated Press
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Posted by Unknown on Friday, November 21, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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