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STOCK MARKETS in Dublin, Europe and the US went higher on their first day of trading of 2012, boosted by lower-than-expected unemployment figures in Germany and strong manufacturing figures in the US.
On the first day of trading this year, the ISEQ index in Dublin closed up just over 2 per cent, with airlines Ryanair (4.2 per cent) and Aer Lingus (3.9 per cent) helping the gains.
Smurfit Kappa saw its share price raise by almost 4 per cent, while the building materials provider Kingspan saw shares rise by 3 per cent.
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In London, the FTSE 100 index closed up by 2.3 per cent, while France’s CAC 40 index gained by 0.7 per cent.
Frankfurt’s DAX exchange closed up by 1.5 per cent – propelled by the low unemployment numbers – while even the Italian market gained 1.25 per cent.
Spain – which saw its unemployment rate rise to its highest of the current crisis – joined in the fun, seeing the IBEX exchange in Madrid gain by 0.1 per cent.
In the US, the Dow Jones closed up by 1.47 per cent, while the broader S&P 500 index gained 1.5 per cent. The NASDAQ also benefited, up by 1.67 per cent.
Commodities were up – gold by 2.5 per cent, oil by 4.3 per cent – while the dollar fell against the euro, yen and sterling.
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Who gives a sh*t those pricks have made enough of a mess of things. So pardon me if im not filled with excitement at the thought of the markets being up on their first day of trading. Give us a break.
Im sry Peter but most pension funds have been wiped out. Those “experts” who invested my money have been paid many times over; im blo*dy sure of that. They couldnt loose…I did.
Oh seriously who gives a shit (pardon my French) about what the stock markets do on any given day. It will go up one day, down the next, stay the same or do the monthly catastrophic collapse thing that seems pretty popular these days, whatever happens we’re screwed regardless.
I apologies if that sounded glib, but I’m so tired of hearing stories about markets holding sovereign countries hostage because of what they fleetingly speculate might happen on any given day.
And to the gentlemen above, like most I can’t afford to start a pension right now, and even if I did have a pension in stocks, it would more than likely be pissed away and lost, like what happened to so many in 2008. It’s glorified Vegas and is sadly destroying the lives of too many to be any way beneficial, especially the derivatives crap.
The world is over dependent on the markets, rating agencies & a bad capitalist financial system.The economic Sovereignty of a country should not be decided by stock Market gamblers & speculators.I doubt 2012 will be much better than 2011. The government will take from us to pay back private investors, pull back on all important services & they will say it’s for our own good & that there’s nothin they can do ( bull shit )& like sheep the Irish citizens will accept it.
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