Daily Spread Betting and Financial Market Round-up

The recent spike in equity market volatility continued apace on Thursday on both sides of the Atlantic.

In New York, the major indices had wide gyrations, dropping sharply on concerns about the economic outlook and the prospects for inflation in the United States, before recovering to post strong rallies into the close.

A lot of the volatility was down to shifting interpretations of the testimony of the Fed Chairman before the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress. Bernanke's testimony reiterated previous FED statement that US economy faces "roughly balanced" risks, though more time was spent discussing the downside risks. If anything the speech was perceived as slightly dovish.

Over the session, the Dow Jones traded within a range of over 274 spread betting points, trading as low as 13079.48 before recovering to finish the day at 13266.29, down 33.73 points.

The Nasdaq Composite index lost 52.76 points for the day, to end at 2696—1.92% lower. Nevertheless, that closing level still represented a move of about 48 points off the session’s low.

The S&P 500 index finished at 1474.77, down marginally (0.06%; 0.85 points) for the session. Again, as with the other US indices, that close on the Standard and Poor’s leading index represented a move of over 24 points off the intraday price low.

In London, the story was more of the same, with the FTSE100 finishing well off its low for the trading session. The Footsie closed at 6381.9, down 3.2 spreadbetting points. The sharp recovery seen in London was largely driven by the strength in the mining sector where takeover speculation has picked up again. RIO Tinto topped the leader board as news emerged it had turned down an offer from BHP Billiton.

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