Traders-Blog.com

U.S. stocks ended sharply higher today, after a government report raised the pressure on China to revalue the yan. The U.S Treasury said that China must stop pegging its currency to the dollar or “risk being accused of manipulating exchange rates. After this report, investors concluded that Congress might not introduce trade sanctions that could raise companies’ costs.

The Dow rose 79.59 points, to close at 10,331.88. Besides, the Nasdaq, and the S&P posted gains. The Nasdaq rose 9.72 points, to close at 2,004.15. Meanwhile, the S&P closed at 1,173.80, after rising 8.11 points.

Hewlett-Packard Co. announced that its second quarter earnings rose 9 percent. Although, at the same time, it reported a third-quarter earnings forecast that does not meet analysts’ expectations. For the quarter ended April 30, Hewlett-Packard reported net income of $966 million, or 33 cents a share on sales of $21.4 billion. Its shares rose 54 cents to close at $21.55. The company’s most profitable unit has been its printing business, but its profits and stock performance has lagged rivals such as Dell Inc, which reported a 28 percent gain in first-quarter profit, and a 16 percent increase in sales, last week.

According to the Labor Department, the U.S producer price index (PPI) increased a larger-than-expected 0.6 percent in April on higher energy prices. Excluding food and energy prices, the PPI for finished goods increased 0.3 percent on the month. In April, energy prices increased 2.1 percent, food prices rose 0.1 percent, and capital goods prices increased 0.2 percent. Economists expect that the Federal Open Market Committee will rise short-term rates by a quarter of a percentage point at the next two meetings, which means that the federal funds rate would increase to 3.5 percent for this summer.

All the best,
Manuel Jesus-Backus
The Portfolio Crafter
Guaranteed monthly gains of 8% or your money back.