Japan’s top chipmaker, Toshiba, didn’t perform much better. The company announced that its loss for the previous year will be much bigger than previously expected and the largest loss in its history. Despite this bad news, Japan’s Nikkei index was up about 1.7%.
On a positive note consumer confidence seems to be on the rise. The Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment rose to 61.9, the highest its been since September, and up from 57.3 in March, reports Courtney Schlisserman of Bloomberg. This index has been battered and beaten by the poor performance in the housing and manufacturing sectors. The good news is that the increase in consumer sentiment is indicative that things aren’t getting any worse and the depth of the recession may be bottoming out.
Investor sentiment is somewhat of on a rise as well. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (VIX), fell 1.1% to 35.79. The index measures the cost of using options as insurance against declines in the S&P 500, and is to its lowest levels in the last six months.
Black gold continues to linger around the $50/barrel mark. Despite a slow economy, a surplus in supply, a drop in industrial activity and a fall in immediate expected consumption, many speculators believe that a economic rebound is imminent and the demand for crude oil will rise and outpace supply, making the commodity extremely valuable. Additionally, investors are flocking to crude as a safety net. Crude was trading north of $50/barrel in morning trading. The United States Oil Fund (USO), is up about 0.3% in intraday trading, despite being down about 11.5% year to date.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up about 0.8%, the S&P 500 gained about 0.2% and the Nasdaq dropped about 0.6% in intraday trading.
Kevin Grewal contributed to this article.