The peaks and valleys were hard to count yesterday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average struggled with some bear-like descents and many optimistic inclines. Ultimately, the optimists won as the Dow closed at 9,939.98 up 123.49 points from Monday.
Monday’s announcement by the British Prime Minister that the financial situation in Britain was worse than the country originally thought and that the likely result would be aggressive cuts in spending did little to cheer European markets and as a result they all closed with losses on Tuesday. Asian markets closed up on Tuesday, which may have been as a result of the aggressive change in North Korea’s government along with announcements that the Chinese government would likely increase the country’s minimum wage and improve working conditions for its laborers. While the increase in China’s minimum wage brings good news and cheer to the Chinese economy, it will mean higher prices on imported goods for U.S. consumers and businesses.
The S&P 500 also saw an increase, closing at 1,062 an increase of 11.53. Unfortunately, the Nasdaq was unable to regain Monday’s losses and closed even further down. It settled in at 2,170.57 which is a decrease of 3.33 points.
