Global Markets Trade to the Upside

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Global markets found the strength to trade in the green on Tuesday morning, extending the rally started in March. The Asian session was relatively flat, but the market experienced a strong pick-up in momentum and volumes in futures market trade ahead of the European open. The gains seen in the equity markets during the European session added strong weight to the currency and commodity markets, sending them to the highest value of the last few days of trading.

European Trade: The European markets added about 1% during the first part of the session, with the emerging markets again slightly outperforming the developed markets. The European blue chip companies gained almost 1%, while the major Eastern-European companies advanced around 1.2%, the strongest performance of the last few days of trading. Helped by Tuesday's surge, the European shares cap the declines seen in Monday trade and approach the high of the current year once again.

S&P Futures: The S&P futures gained 5 points during the European hours, after a relatively flat Asian session. They found the strength to break above the 1065 area, where an intra-day resistance trend line that has been holding the future index for almost four days now came into play. The next target to the upside is the 1070 area, where the index topped during the last few days of trading. A test of the 1070 level would pull the dollar index down to test 75 support, thereby empowering the euro and the rest of the major currencies.

Sector Moves: Every sector advanced in Europe, as the market enjoyed very strong overall momentum. In the German DAX, every company out of the 30 members traded in the green, which is an absolute first for the last few weeks of trading. The best performing companies in Germany were Deutsche Lufthansa, with an impressive 4.2% advance, MunichRe, Daimler(DAI Quote) and Volkswagen. All four companies surged after analysts upgraded their price targets or recommendations. In the U.K., the commodity stocks added strong upside weight on the FTSE index, following the dollar's overnight declines.