Major U.S. indices moved largely lower last week despite posting better-than-expected economic readings. U.S. retail sales increased 0.26% in February compared to a 0.61% drop in January, signaling that consumers are increasingly willing to spend. Initial claims for unemployment also came in at 315,000 compared to 324,000 during the prior period, suggesting the country's employment situation is still improving.
International markets performed even worse than the major U.S. indices in many cases. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 2.59%; Britain's FTSE 100 fell 2.37%; and Germany's DAX 30 fell 3.56% last week. In Asia, investors are becoming increasingly worried about a slowdown in China after industrial output slowed to 8.6% during the first two months of the year and property sales fell 3.7% compared to last year's 26.3% increase.
Very useful technical analysis of the main indices for the coming week..