During the previous week, activities on financial markets slowed down in view of the aftereffects of Hurricane Sandy that devastated the East Coast of the US. In particular, there was no trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Monday and Tuesday, 29 and 30 October.

Markets registered a rapid rally on Thursday, 1 November, when data on the US labor market arrived. There was a significant decline in the number of initial jobless claims submitted during the week that ended on 27 October. Also, a pleasant surprise was growth of the US ISM Manufacturing Index in October, whereas analysts expected this index to drop. Finally, the Consumer Confidence Index grew record-high in October since 2008, which, in the opinion of experts, was the result of shrinking unemployment and growing real estate prices.

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