U.S. Indexes Gain on Industrial Production

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

U.S. indexes closed higher after industrial production gained in March and surged in the first quarter. Positive outlook from Intel, UPS and First Solar lifted trading sentiment. REITs declined after three companies sold additional shares.

[R]6:00 PM New York – U.S. indexes closed higher after industrial production gained in March and surged in the first quarter. Positive outlook from Intel, UPS and First Solar lifted trading sentiment. REITs declined after three companies sold additional shares.[/R]

U.S. indexes traded higher after weekly jobless claims increased and industrial production gained in March. Industrial production increased 0.9% and increased at annual rate of 7.8% in the first quarter.

United Parcel Service, Inc led gainers in the S&P 500 index. YUM! Brands, Inc comparable same-store sales increased 4%. Mariner Energy soars 41% on a merger with Apache Corp.

Real estate investment trusts led the decliners in trading after three large companies sold additional shares. Macerich Co. declined 6.5% after it sold 30 million shares and Kilroy Realty Corp and Medical Property Trust Inc also sold new shares.

Mumbai stocks declined after wholesale inflation hovered near record. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee indicated said inflation will remain elevated till June. Essar Oil quarterly sales dropped 53% and net plunged 73%.

North American Markets

Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 21.46 or 0.2% to close at 11,144.57, S&P 500 Index edged higher 1.02 or 0.08% to 1,211.67 and Nasdaq Composite Index added 10.83 or 0.4% to close at 2,515.69. Toronto TSX Composite Index increased 7.11 or 0.06% to 12,211.52.

Latin American Markets Indexes

Mexico Bolsa Index added 20.30 or 0.06% to 34,134.23 and Brazil Bovespa Stock Index decreased 510.50 or 0.7% to 70,524.35.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 28.95 or 0.50% to 5,825.20, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 15.55 or 0.38% to close at 4,073.25, in Frankfurt DAX index higher 19.39 or 0.31% to close at 6,297.79. In Zurich trading SMI increased 42.69 or 0.62% to close at 6,959.28.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 68.89 or 0.61% to 11,273.79, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 36.39 or 0.16% to 22,157.82 and CSI 300 index in China lower 9.13 or 0.27% to 3,394.57. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 7.20 or 0.14% to 5,001.90. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia closed higher 2.94 or 0.22% to 1,338.83.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 8.58 or 0.49% to close at 1,743.91, JSE Index in Indonesia increased 15.52 or 0.54% to 2,900.53. The Sensex index in India decreased 182.70 or 1.03% to 17,639.26 and The Markets of Thailand were closed today.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil decreased $0.21 to $85.30 a barrel for a front month contract, natural gas edged up 2 cents to $4.01 per mBtu and gasoline decreased 0.65 cents to 232.62 cents.

Soybean future closed up 16.00 cent to $9.93 a bushel. Wheat futures increased 5.50 cents in Chicago trading to $4.92 a bushel. Sugar closed down 0.60 cents at 17.08 cents per pound.

Gold increased $0.70 in New York trading to close at $1,160.30 per ounce, silver closed down $0.018 to $18.41 per ounce and copper for the front month delivery decreased 0.90 cents to $3.612 per pound.

Dollar edged lower against euro to $1.3579 and decreased against the Japanese yen to 93.09.

Yield on 10-year U.S. bonds closed lower at 3.83% and with 30-year maturities closed lower at 4.71%.