HEXUS.sharewatch: gains across the board

Last week we reflected on the significance of Japan, Germany and France emerging from recession.  We then detailed some more cautious optimism that was leading to predictions of the end of the recession in the UK and US too.

At the end of last week, the Institute of Chartered Accountants announced that its index of UK business confidence has moved into positive territory for the first time since Q3 2007. This led the Institute to concur that the UK economy is likely to record growth on Q3, and hence no longer be in recession.

Second quarter earnings announcements in the tech sector have generally exceeded expectations and broad-line distributor Tech Data was no exception last week, earning its stock a seven percent improvement over the course of the week.

This general mood of cautious optimism was perfectly exemplified by the rest of our list - all of which showed a small gain. The Dow, FTSE 100 and NASDAQ are all at their highest levels for ten months, but few people are betting on them rising too sharply for a while.