Facebook continues to climb Traders surprised by Fed minutes

And The euro remains strong against a weak US dollar

Lets see whats happening in the global markets now

In the global equities market: Stocks rose after better-than-expected corporate

results boosted sentiment on the outlook for first-quarter earnings, while the dollar gained

on optimism the U.S. economy will show growth as it shrugs off the effects of a bitter winter.

U.S. stocks rose for a second session, after Alcoa late Tuesday reported quarterly results

that topped analysts' expectations, even though the company's adjusted profit fell due to

declining aluminum prices. Shares of Alcoa gained 3.5 percent to $12.97 and at one point

were the best performer among components of the benchmark S&P 500 index. Stocks pulled

sharply higher in afternoon trading after the Federal Reserve released the minutes from

its latest policy meeting, with the Dow Jones up 155 points. Dow component Disney rose nearly

1% to maintain its recent run. A partial recovery in social networks and

other high growth, "momentum" tech stocks led the gains. Facebook was among the biggest.

Shares of the leading social network climbed more than 4.6% amid news that Facebook would

tweak privacy settings and had reached the 100 million-user mark in India. It traded

just below 87 dollars-per-share midday. Many investors called for it to hit even higher.

The NASDAQ was up 20.37 points. European markets closed higher Wednesday.

Most Asian markets also managed gains, led by Hong Kong's Hang Seng with a 1.1% rise.

Japan's Nikkei continued its decline, falling 2.1%, as hopes fade of more central bank stimulus.

In the foreign exchange market the dollar dropped to more than two week-lows against

the euro and Swiss franc after minutes of the latest Federal Reserve monetary policy

meeting suggested that the U.S. central bank may not raise interest rates anytime soon.

The minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee in March showed that the Fed would wait for

a considerable time after ending a bond-buying program before finally raising rates. Fed

Chair Janet Yellen, at a press conference after the FOMC meeting defined "considerable

time" as "around six months" depending on the economy. Analysts said the latest minutes

showed that the Fed seemed to back away from that six-month gap. The euro rose as high

as $1.38-56 against the dollar, its strongest level since March 24th. The dollar was flat

against the yen, falling following the Fed minutes, after trading higher for most of

the session. In the commodities space WTI and Brent Crude

traded lower, as reports of easing tensions between Ukraine and Russia, together with

a large build in API crude oil inventories released yesterday weighed on prices. However

heading into the North American open, prices have since reversed and both WTI and Brent

crude futures are seen little changed. Gold ended lower, as investors remained focused

on the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve policy meet held earlier in March, with the

dollar slipping against some major currencies. Traders also remained apprehensive over developments

in Ukraine, with global equity markets wavering. Gold edged higher early on in the session

amid tensions over Ukraine, but buying interest declined as stocks rebounded on hopes of more

stimulus announcements from China. Gold dropped 0.2 percent to close at $13-05.90

This is Amy Anderson from OptionRally signing off; The Optionrally News Team will be taking

their spring vacation from April 13th and will return on the 1st of May with a new and

exciting format... Have a great weekend