U.S., World Stocks Rebound on Greek Bailout

123jump.com Staff
12 Apr, 2010
New York City

U.S. stocks advanced in the early morning ahead of earnings season. The EU-IMF led bailout offered 45 billion euros of loans for three years to Greece. The euro edged higher. ConocoPhillips is in discussions with Sinopec of China to sell Syncrude Canada for $4 billion.

[R]11:00 AM New York – U.S. stocks advanced in the early morning ahead of earnings season. The EU-IMF led bailout offered 45 billion euros of loans for three years to Greece. The euro edged higher. ConocoPhillips is in discussions with Sinopec of China to sell Syncrude Canada for $4 billion.[/R]

U.S. stocks traded higher and the euro advanced after the Euro zone finance ministers offered 30 billion in emergency aid to Greece at a below market rate. Alcoa is expected kick-off earnings season with the release of earnings this evening.

China Petroleum and Chemical Corp is expected to announce the purchase of Syncrude Canada from ConocoPhillips for close to $4 billion according to sources contacted by 123jump.com in Beijing and Hong Kong. The news was first reported by Bloomberg.

Spokesman for both companies were not available for comments.

ConocoPhillips acquired Burlington Resources in December 2005 for $36 billion and the company chief executive Jim Mulva has stated earlier in the year to complete the sale of Syncrude by the third quarter this year and raise $10 billion in asset sale.

The euro rebounded after Euro zone finance ministers agreed to offer 30 billion euros in an emergency assistance at a rate near 5%, substantially lower than the market rate and the IMF will provide additional 15 billion euros. The details of debt terms are still not clear but the loan is for three years and additional loans may be provided in 2011 and 2012.

Greece has 11.6 billion of debt maturing by the end of May. The benchmark stock index the ASE Index in Athens surged 3.9%

Greek bonds jumped in trading in Frankfurt and the yield on 2-year bonds declined to 5.807% from 7.158%.

Commodities, Currencies and Yields

Dollar edged lower against euro to $1.3601 and decreased against the Japanese yen to 93.57.

Crude oil decreased 78 cents to $84.44 a barrel for a front month contract, natural gas edged higher $0.02 cent to $4.09 per mBtu and gasoline increased 1.05 cents to 230.00 cents.

Gold increased $3.00 in New York trading to close at $1,163.90 per ounce, silver closed higher $0.154 to $18.50 per ounce and copper for the front month delivery increased 2.70 cents to $3.62 per pound.

Yields on 10-year U.S. bonds increased to 3.90% and on 30-year U.S. bonds traded at 4.76%.

Stock Movers

Bruker Corporation added 3.9% after the maker of laboratory instruments and KIESTRA lab automation announce alliance in microbial identification by MALDI biotyper molecular fingerprinting and microbiology lab automation.

Clean Energy Fuels Corp the provider of natural gas decreased 3.2%.

Devon Energy Corporation rose 0.3% after the Apache Corp. is in final talks to buy Devon’s assets in the Gulf of Mexico for $750 million, Dow Jones reported.

Invesco Ltd advanced 1.9% after the manager of the Aim and PowerShares funds reported preliminary month-end assets under management of $419.6 billion. Average assets under management during the first quarter of 2010 were $417.6 billion, a 0.6% decrease from the fourth quarter 2009.

King Pharmaceuticals, Inc dropped 1.3%.

Earnings Review

Blyth, Inc ((BTH)) the multi-channel company reported fourth quarter sales rose 3% to $322.4 million from $313.4 million a year ago. Net income in the quarter rose 137% to $31.8 million or $3.57 per diluted share compared to net income of $13.4 million or $1.49 per share a year ago.

Constellation Brands, Inc ((STZ)) the producer and marketer of beverage alcohol reported fourth quarter sales fell 7.5% to $893.0 million from $964.9 million a year ago. Net loss in the quarter was $51 million or 23 cents per diluted share compared to net loss of $406.8 million or $1.88 per share a year ago.

UBS AG, the Swiss financial services company expects first quarter pre-tax profit around CHF2.5 billion.

Net asset outflows in the wealth management declined to CHF 8 billion in the quarter from CHF 45.2 billion in the fourth quarter and out flows in the asset management group were CHF 3 billion in the quarter. The bank has suffered total of CHF373 billion in asset outflows during two years of financial crisis to 2009.

UBS first quarter will be published on May 4th 2010.


Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 47.56 or 0.42% to 11,251.90, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong decreased 70.33 or 0.32% to 22,138.17 and CSI 300 index in China lower 27.69 or 0.82% to 3,351.48. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 36.20 or 0.73% to 4,984.30. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia closed higher 5.63 or 0.42% to 1,339.61.

The Kospi Index in South Korea decreased 14.17 or 0.82% to close at 1,710.30. SET index in Thailand closed lower 28.76 or 3.64% to 760.90 and JSE Index in Indonesia increased 36.32 or 1.28% to 2,881.33. The Sensex index in India decreased 80.14 or 0.45% to 17,853.00.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index traded lower 2.24 or 0.04% to 5,768.74, in Paris CAC 40 Index decreased 5.81 or 0.14% to 4,044.73 and in Frankfurt DAX index traded lower 3.50 or 0.06% to 6,246.20. In Zurich trading SMI increased 31.51 or 0.46% to 6,920.48.