Eleven U.S. jail systems will receive millions of dollars in grants to overhaul operations in order to reduce their overall inmate populations – some by as much as one third, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur.
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Earlier in Asia Chinese stocks.SSEC added 1.4 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei.N225 rose 2.8 percent for its biggest daily gain in six weeks.
Investors also gave a thumbs up to JP Morgan’s first quarter earnings.
Data out of China helped to support the regional rally, with the nation’s exports increasing significantly more than expected. “Today, we’ve got better export and import figures so a lot of the fundamental factors driving concerns earlier this year seem to have faded”. “If earnings disappoint, morale can go down really quickly, but so far it looks good”.
The trade data revealed the first gain since June, which beat all expectations. European stocks rose for a fourth day, shares in emerging markets climbed to the highest since November, and China’s equities traded in Hong Kong gained the most worldwide.
New Zealand shares returned to their record breaking form, with the S&P/NZX 50 rising 0.8% to a new all-time high of 6,777.92.
Premier Foods Plc tumbled 27 per cent, the most since October 2011, after McCormick & Co abandoned plans to make a takeover bid for it, saying the United Kingdom company’s board wants too high a price.
The Dow jumped 187.03 points or 1.1 percent to 17,908.28, while the NASDAQ soared 75.33 points or 1.6 percent to 4,947.42 and the S&P 500 surged 20.70 points or 1 percent to 2,082.42. The S&P 500 energy sector jumped 2.8 per cent.
“China’s foreign trade sector will likely improve from past year due to low comparables, but the improvement will not be dramatic, as the trends in external markets are not great”, said Wang Tie Shi, economist with Industrial Securities. “While JPMorgan had a tough quarter, they still beat estimates”.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 2.1 per cent, heading for its longest winning streak in more than a month.
“With oil prices higher, U.S. financial institutions and energy companies’ credit issues can take a breather for now, and stock selling from oil-producing countries can be avoided”. The U.K. market, rich in miners, advanced, with the FTSE 100 Index turning positive for the year. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan.MIAPJ0000PUS added 0.5 percent and Australia gained 0.9 percent. That helped the dollar index (.DXY) climb back above 94.258, from a near eight-month low of 93.627. Futures contracts indicate traders assign about a 51 per cent chance that the Fed will raise interest rates this year after liftoff from near zero in December.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.79 percent.
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The Brent Crude slipped to $44.16 per barrel, after a 4 percent gain on Tuesday. In economic data out Wednesday, retail sales for March fell 0.3% from no change reported between February and January, revised from a 0.1% decline previously reported.
