In an effort to strengthen the progress of the country’s economic recovery, the Bank of Japan discussed plans for quantitative easing, which included a $59.7 billion program to increase liquidity in the financial sector by buying assets. In addition, they lowered their overnight rate to between 0 and 0.1 percent today. As a result, Asian markets were up with Japan’s Nikkei gaining 1.47 percent on Tuesday. European markets were also up.
The Institute for Supply Management released their September 2010 Non-Manufacturing ISM Report On Business® report (which you can access here) today and noted that non-manufacturing business activity increased from 51.5 in August to 53.2 in September, beating analysts’ expectations of a rise to 52.
Between Japan’s effort to control economic concern and the ISM report, U.S. investors felt hopeful and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 193.45 points to 10,944.72, putting the Dow at a 5-month high (the Dow closed at 11,151.83 on May 3rd). The Nasdaq gained 55.31 points to 2,399.83. The S&P 500 climbed 23.72 points to 1,160.75. It remains to be seen whether the markets will sustain these gains after the ADP Employment Report is released this week.
Stocks in the news: Harley-Davidson Inc (NYSE: HOG), Iron Mountain Inc (NYSE: IRM), AT&T Inc (NYSE: T).
