American blue chip companies jumped to a 3 year high recently as encouraging growth got the second-quarter off to a robust start for world shares. This came as a Federal Reserve official gave a sceptical view on the economic outlook, which hurt the US dollar.

Wall Street’s DJIA stock market index reached its highest mark since June 2008, as the government announced a 2nd straight month of job gains for March.

American employment increased firmly for a 2nd month in March & the jobless rate reached a two year low at 8.8 per cent. Non-farm payrolls increased 216,000 last month, the biggest climb since May 2010, the Labor Department said in a recent announcement. The increase built on a 194,000 gain in February.

The accelerating rate of jobs growth has taken the unemployment rate a full percentage point lower since November 2010, the biggest four month decrease since February ‘84. The jobs figures confirmed that the labour market was growing despite indicators that the economy had struggled earlier this year due to poor weather & increasing oil prices.

Nonetheless, the statement is unlikely to be strong enough to force the Fed off its ultra easy monetary policy. The financial markets have been receiving mixed signals from Federal Reserve officials recently.

Crude Oil Could Enjoy another Upswing

Looking at the Crude Oil markets, a recent report from CityIndex suggested, “Oil also had a bullish week & the chart pattern currently suggests that there’s room for more up-side moves. But, to do this, momentum would have to be sustained. The coming week ought to be interesting, as the both the indices and the commodities markets have hit key price level levels.

“The $97 price support for the May futures contract helped to push crude upwards & looks set to see the commodity add additional gains. With $108 as a swing-high & $97 as the swing-low, an Extension-pattern might see crude oil reach towards $111 fairly quickly. Upwards levels of $117-$121 are also a possibility if we see price spikes”.

Short-term, the commodities analysis suggests that speculators will have to see Crude oil stay above the $104 level, or a retest of $97 might be on the cards. Higher highs & higher lows indicate an optimistic outlook for the intermediate-term.

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