U.S. Indexes Close Higher; Metals, Oil Up

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

U.S. indexes closed struggled to retain early gains but most stocks advanced on positive earnings from Coca-Cola, IBM, Goldman Sachs and Harley Davidson. Canadian dollar fetched more than one U.S. dollar. European air travel is expected to improve tomorrow with London airports scheduled to reopen.

[R]4:10 PM New York – U.S. indexes closed struggled to retain early gains but most stocks advanced on positive earnings from Coca-Cola, IBM, Goldman Sachs and Harley Davidson. Canadian dollar fetched more than one U.S. dollar. European air travel is expected to improve tomorrow with London airports scheduled to reopen at 10 pm local time.[/R]

U.S. indexes traded sideways but stocks retained positive bias after a barrage of earnings in the U.S, Europe and UK. Earnings from Goldman Sachs and other smaller banks lifted trading sentiment. Harley Davidson, Bank of New York Mellon, TD Ameritrade IBM and Johnson & Johnson reported higher earnings.

IBM net rises 13% in first quarter but services revenues declined. Marshall & Ilsley loss widens. J&J reports higher first-quarter profit. Coach, Inc third quarter net surged 37%. Coca-Cola first quarter net rose 19% on 5% increase in sales.

Canadian dollar strengthened and rose above $1 and currencies of South Africa and Australia gained more than 0.7%. Crude oil rebounded.

European markets closed higher on positive earnings. Daimler AG surged 7% after it estimated higher profit this year and Novartis AG said first quarter sales rose 25% and net surged 49%. TeliaSonera AB the provider of telecommunications services said first quarter sales fell 4%. Trelleborg AB lifted sales outlook.

Air travel in Europe is slowing getting back to normal with 50% of flights operating at scheduled time. London airports are scheduled to open today at 10 pm local times after regulatory authorities and airlines worked out an agreement.

UK stocks rebounded after rising earnings lifted trading sentiment. AB Foods, SABMiller and Burberry Group were in focus after companies reported better than expected results. March inflation rose to 3.4% and core inflation increased 3%.

The broader Topix index in Japan closed higher on the earnings expectations. Isuzu estimated a return to profit after two-years of losses and estimated net of 13 billion yen. Mitsubishi Motors cuts 2009 profit estimate. Japan is set to make revised money lending rule to be effective as of June 18.

Market indexes in Shanghai and Hong Kong rebounded after falling sharply in the previous session. China tightened property sales rules for developers to increase transparency curb price speculation. China Mobile quarterly net rose 1%.

Reserve Bank of India lifted key rates by 25 basis points, lower than expected. Rupee and stocks closed higher. The RBI estimates inflation to decline to 5.5% by the end of fiscal year from the current rate of 9.9% and estimated fiscal year economic growth rate of 8%. Software services provider, TCS net soars 50%.

Stocks in Australia traded higher after world markets rebounded and commodities prices increased. The RBA in its statement noted stronger “terms of trade” in its minutes of rate setting meeting. ANZ drops out of a bidding race to acquire AXA Asia Pacific. Noble Group shareholders vote down its deal with Macarthur Coal Ltd.

North American Markets

Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 25.01 or 0.2% to close at 11,117.06, S&P 500 Index edged higher 9.65 or 0.8% to 1,207.17 and Nasdaq Composite Index added 20.20 or 0.81% to close at 2,500.31. Toronto TSX Composite Index rose 16.25 or 0.1% to 12,119.22.

Latin American Markets Indexes

Mexico Bolsa Index added 327.58 or 1% to 33,767.35 and Brazil Bovespa Stock Index gained 144.57 or 0.2% to 69,242.15.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 52.05 or 0.91% to 5,779.96, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 45.64 or 1.15% to close at 4,016.11, in Frankfurt DAX index higher 94.52 or 1.53% to close at 6,256.96. In Zurich trading SMI increased 74.05 or 1.09% to close at 6,877.73.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 8.09 or 0.07% to 10,900.68, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 218.21 or 1.02% to 21,623.38 and CSI 300 index in China lower 3.05 or 0.10% to 3,173.37. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 10.70 or 0.22% to 4,925.80. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia closed higher 9.23 or 0.70% to 1,335.90.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 12.73 or 0.75% to close at 1,718.03. SET index in Thailand closed higher 39.47 or 5.43% to 765.76 and JSE Index in Indonesia increased 50.84 or 1.79% to 2,891.27. The Sensex index in India increased 59.90 or 0.34% to 17,460.58.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil increased $2.00 to $83.45 a barrel for a front month contract, natural gas edged up 4 cents to $3.99 per mBtu and gasoline increased 3.01 cents to 228.45 cents.

Soybean future closed up 7.50 cent to $9.94 a bushel. Wheat futures increased 19.00 cents in Chicago trading to $4.98 a bushel. Sugar closed down 0.45 cents at 16.60 cents per pound.

Gold increased $4.30 in New York trading to close at $1,136.10 per ounce, silver closed up $0.13 to $17.86 per ounce and copper for the front month delivery increased 1.65 cents to $3.53 per pound.

Dollar edged higher against euro to $1.344 and increased against the Japanese yen to 93.15.

Yield on 10-year U.S. bonds declined to 3.79% and with 30-year maturities fell to 4.67%.