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(CEP News) - U.S. equity markets climbed after U.S. officials revised second-quarter GDP to show a 3.3% annualized gain. Treasuries sold off on the figures, but the U.S. dollar continues to remain under pressure from commodity prices.
The Dow Jones industrial average is up 87 points to 11589, the S&P 500 is up 9 points to 1291 and the Nasdaq is up 13 points to 2395. Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index is up 115 points to 13645. European stock markets are also higher, with the Eurostoxx up 37 points to 2905, the UK FTSE 100 up 65 points to 5593 and the German DAX up 71 points to 6392. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis revised GDP to 3.3% from the 1.9% preliminary estimate. Economists anticipated it would be revised higher because of trade figures, but the media estimate was for a rise to only 2.7%. At the same time, the U.S. Department of Labor said initial claims for jobless benefits were in line with expectations at 425k. U.S. two-year yields are up 9.3 bps to 2.37%, with five-year yields up 5.1 bps to 3.06%, 10-year yields up 3.7 bps to 3.80% and 30-year yields up 2.8 bps to 4.41%. The Eurodollar March 09 contract is down 3.5 ticks to 97.06. The yield curve is flatter, with the 10/2-year spread down 0.5 bps to 147.62 bps. In Canada, the current account surplus grew to $6.8 billion in the second quarter on the strength of higher prices for many exported commodities, particularly energy, but it still fell short of economists' expectations. The consensus forecast for the current account surplus was $8 billion. Yields on two-year Canadian government bonds are flat at 2.76%, with five-year yields up 1.2 bps to 3.05%, 10-year yields up 3.0 bps to 3.56% and 30-year yields up 1.8 bps to 4.03%. The December 08 BAX contract is flat at 97.09. In Germany, returns on two-year German bonds are up 9.8 bps to 4.19%, with five-year yields up 9.0 bps to 4.14%, 10-year yields up 2.4 bps to 4.20% and 30-year yields down 2.0 bps to 4.59%. Yields on UK two-year bonds are up 1.2 bps to 4.53%, with five-year yields flat at 4.46%, 10-year yields down 1.4 bps to 4.49% and 30-year yields up 1.0 bps to 4.41%. The Canadian dollar is up 0.0016 to 0.9572 against the U.S. dollar ( 1.0447 USD/CAD) and down 0.21 to 104.46 against the yen. The U.S. dollar is down 0.37 to 109.13 against the yen and the Dollar Index is down 0.372 to 76.679. The euro is up 0.0052 to 1.4778 against the U.S. dollar, up 0.0033 to 1.5440 against the Canadian dollar, up 0.0023 to 0.8045 against the pound sterling and is higher by 0.01 to 161.26 against the yen. The pound sterling is up 0.0012 to 1.8369 against the U.S. dollar and down 0.0016 to 1.9189 against the Canadian dollar. WTI crude oil is up $1.38 to $119.53. The front month gold contract at the Chicago Board of Trade is up $11.90 to $845.80 per ounce. The U.S. National Hurricane Center expects Tropical Storm Gustav to gain hurricane strength later today and issued warnings for Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. All data taken at 9:41 a.m. EDT. By Adam Button,
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, edited by Sarah Sussman,
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