by Martin Armstrong
Armstrong Economics
China’s trade balance (released overnight) was not great (Est. $40bn but the actual release was $45.56bn and exports contracted 1.8% in April) and had a negative effect on equities from the open. The Nikkei and Hang Seng were heavily influenced by oil’s rally given the very sad news of the Alberta fire incident. Japan and Hong Kong rallied with core indices closing up 0.68% and 0.25% respectively.
Oil was still the main talking point when European equity markets opened, but after a slow start the markets moved ahead. Session highs were seen (as oil turned lower) just after lunch, but it was downhill from there for the markets that were still open. DAX closed up 1.1%, CAC up 0.5%, and then FTSE was down on the day at -0.2%.