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Indices rose Friday, with the S&P closing at 1,065, a 1.7% increase. The DIJA rose by 165 points or 1.7%, ending at 10,561. The Nasdaq Composite also rose by 1.7% that Friday.

Some of our most popular technology stocks, however, have announced important 3rd quarter reports. Intel estimated sales of $11 billion for the third quarter rather than its previous estimate of $11.2 to $12 billion in sales. HP and Dell are both vying over 3Par, a company offering customized storage solutions for mid to large-size companies.

The Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke vowed Friday to do all he can to prevent deflation in the US.
The dollar fell along with oil prices, which ended Tuesday at $72.39 a barrel. Gold ended at $1,233.40 an ounce. Wheat prices continue to rise after Russia declared a moratorium on wheat due to a drought.

The US unemployment rate remained at 9.5% this month, although the private sector added 71,000 jobs.

Home sales in the US sunk 27% in July, to their lowest level in 15 years.

World Markets
China reported a fall in growth in July for the first time in 16 months. This week China is expected to release its GDP growth for the 2nd quarter as well as balance of trade reports, which will give analysts information on future growth and investment or if the fall is a trend. India will also release growth figures. Analysts expect 8% growth to be announced. Analysts predict that India will catch up more to China in terms of growth rate this year.

The European Central Bank will unveil latest interest-rate decision on Thursday. It is likely to leave the rate unchanged, a confirmation that continue with relaxed lending policies until the end of the year.

Carrefour reported this week a net profit of Euro 82 million as it seeks to expand to markets in Brazil and China.
Vivendi, French media and telecom group also reported today a 6.6% rise in profit to 1.26 billion Euros for the first half of the year.

Currencies
The dollar fell to a 15-year low against the Yen. The euro fell to a 9-year low against the yen, and the British pound to 3-month low against the yen. The strength of the yen causes concern for exporters.

Best Month in a Year
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One great way to make binary options work to your advantage is to trade based on monthly and quarterly earnings reports. Options can be predicted to rise or fall shortly before these news releases. If you do the research you can capitalize on these movements in the market. But more on this strategy at a later posting. Now let’s concentrate on our monthly report.
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Stocks did better this month than they have in an entire year. Sixteen of the thirty DOW stocks ended higher at the end of July, including Home Depot (up 1.6% at $28.51) and Boeing (up 1.4% at $68.14). Intel (down 1.7% to $34.46) and Merck (down 1.7% to $34.46) ended lower than expected.

Stock Market Summary

News Events of the Month-

Technology News-

Economic News-

Currencies-
The dollar rose against the British pound and Euro but fell against the yen.

Savings and Consumer Spending-
Consumer sentiment for July rose to 67.8 and not the expected 66.5.

Commodity Market
Oil, gold, and copper all rose in price.
Gold- $13.30 to $1,181.70 per ounce.
Copper- up 2.15 cents to $3.3115 a pound, up 12% for July.
Oil- closed at $78.95, up 4.39% from last month.

Employment
Increased to 9.6% from 9.5% for last month for the US market.
Private employers added 90,000 jobs to the payroll, an improvement since June.

Sales and Manufacturing
Manufacturing activity slowed to its lowest level since December. Reports of Midwest manufacturing rose to 62.3 this month from 59.1 for last month.

Source: Gold Alert

Market analysts speculate that gold could be the next bubble, as large investors continue to buy gold along with other commodities as a safe investment against the rising economic instability in Europe and now Asia.

Developing countries have simultaneously been buying gold as a safe and secure place to store monetary assets.

Both reactions have caused a rise in the price of gold over in the last week of May even though demand has fallen in the first quarter of 2010. But what is more interesting is that gold prices are extremely sensitive to sentiment, or people’s perception of the value of the commodity.

Financial investors are largely responsible for the market price of gold, who decide whether they believe the price of gold will rise, and then invest in gold. This causes the price of gold to rise even further, as investor sentiment rises.

The price of gold has been known to fall in times of wealth and economic prosperity, however.  In times of severe economic hardship, as in ware or economic collapse, it has been known to be a fairly liquid investment which can be easily traded for money.

Gold Prices for Last 10 Years (Google Chart)

In the last 10 years,  gold has risen steadily (see chart on side), breaking an all-time previous high of $1,241 an ounce on May 12. Due to the Greek crisis, foreign investors are cautious about investing in the Euro and prefer to invest in the seemingly more stable commodity of gold.

The price of gold, like other commodities is affected by demand and supply. However, since the total amount of gold in the world is already mined and currently in existence, the price of gold is affected more by demand than other commodities. For the right price, market suppliers can sell gold in the marketplace.

But the sudden growth in demand for gold could also contribute to global inflation, especially in light of the current global crisis and the European Central’s bank’s surprising decision to buy bonds of weak government economies. Investors are currently speculating as to whether gold will continue to rise, or if it truly did hit the breaking point on Wednesday.

Gold and other commodities are offered as investment options on our binary options platform.