American stock market continued adding value last week

European shares traded positive during the previous week

European equity markets traded in the green territory over the last week. A gauge of Euro zone executive and consumer economic confidence stayed at a four-year high in November despite an anemic economy. Most survey responses were sent before the Paris terrorist attacks on 13 November. The results are unlikely to dissuade more stimulus action by the European Central Bank when it meets next Thursday.

The Eurostoxx 600 Index advanced as much as 0.87% last week to finish the trading session at 261.83 on Friday, 27 November. All industry groups inched higher, with automobiles & parts shares soaring 3.7% last week. Among individual performers, Volkswagen AG-PREF., a Germany-based automobile manufacturer, rallied the most, by 14.2% to 104.15 euros showing its longest streak in five years. Among other European indices, the German DAX rallied nearly 1.8% on week, as Germany’s Ifo business climate index rose to 109 in November from 108.2 in October. Concerning the losers, Abengoa SA, a Spanish multinational corporation, diminished 68.26% to trade at 15.64 euros, after a potential investor said it would not inject fresh capital into the energy firm, sending its share price tumbling by 60 percent.

In the UK, the FTSE 100 Index added 1.1% to finish the trading week at 6,375.15 points.

American stock market continued adding value last week

The US equity market was unusually calm during this holiday-shortened week, as US economic data were modestly positive and investors seemed unperturbed by the growing expectation of a hike in short-term US interest rates in December. The US gross domestic product grew at an upwardly revised 2.1% annual pace in the third quarter, according to the US Department of Commerce. However, the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell in November to the lowest level in more than a year, dropping to 90.4 from 99.1 in October.

The benchmark S&P500 Index jumped as much as 0.17% last week to close at the 2,090.11. Health care and consumer staples, in turn, jumped as much as 0.9% and 0.7%, respectively. Ross Stores Inc., an American chain of off-price department stores, climbed 13.9% to $52.66 per share, following the company's third-quarter report. Ross beat analyst estimates for both revenue and earnings, posting a rise in comparable-store sales. Among biggest losers, Southwestern Energy Co., an independent energy company engaged in natural gas and oil exploration, development and production, dropped 10.6% to $8.7.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose slightly 0.03% last week to 17,798.49 points, while high-tech index NASDAQ added 0.49% to reach the 5,127.52 mark.

Japanese equities mostly advance during the previous week.

Japanese shares mostly rallied over the last week. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he would raise the country’s minimum wage and invest in childcare and eldercare facilities to promote workforce participation as part of a ¥3 trillion ($24 billion) stimulus package aimed at jump-starting the country’s economy. It’s the second time that Japan has slipped into recession in two years. Abenomics until now has been criticized for focusing on big business, rather than the average Japanese worker.

The broader TOPIX Index advanced 1.46% last week to finish Friday’s trading session at 1,594.45 points with a trading volume of 2.2 billion shares. Only six out of 10 industry groups included in the gauge edged higher with iron & steel adding a much as 5.1% on week, while air transport shares posted the biggest loss of 6.1%. Among individual movers, Hodogaya Chemical Co Ltd., jumped 38.5% over the week to trade at 248 yen at its Friday’s close. Alongside to that, Toho Titanium Co Ltd, the world's leading titanium producer closed off 17.9% over the last week to close at 1,282 yen on Friday.

The Nikkei 225 climbed 2.5% from November 23 to November 27 to end the week at 19,883.94 points.

EXPLANATIONS

Indexes

• Standard & Poor's 500 Index (S&P 500) or (SPX) - U.S. stock market index consisting of the 500 large-cap shares widely traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ.

• Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (INDU) - U.S. stock market index consisting of the 30 large publicly owned U.S. companies , primarily industrials

• NASDAQ Composite Index - U.S. stock market index representing all the stocks that are traded on the Nasdaq stock market, mostly technology and Internet-related

• New Zealand Exchange 50 Gross Index (NZX 50) - stock market index consisting of the top 50 companies listed on the New Zealand Stock exchange

• S&P/ASX 200-a market - capitalization weighted stock market index of stocks listed on the Australian Securities Exchange from Standard and Poor’s

• Hang Seng Index (HI) - Hong Kong’s stock market index consisting of 48 largest companies listed on the Hong Kong Exchange

• Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average (Nikkei 225 Index) or (NKY) - Japanese stock market index consisting of the 225 largest companies listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange

• FTSE 100 Index (UKX) - U.K. stock market index consisting of the 100 most capitalized U.K. companies trading on the London Stock Exchange

• DAX Index (DAX) - German stock market index consisting of the 30 largest and most liquid German companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange

• Eurostoxx 600 - stock market index, derived from the Stoxx Europe Total Market Index, consisting of 600 large, mid – and small-sized companies from 18 European countries

Chart

• Correlation - statistical measure of the linear relationship between two random variables. It is defined as the covariance divided by the standard deviation of two variables.

• Historical price changes - chart reflecting the historical price changes of particular region’s stock indices.

Indicators

• Industry performance - weekly performance of industries within the particular stock market index

• Top performers - companies within a particular stock market index showing the best or worst weekly performance

• Performance - relative historical change of stock market index value

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