Microsoft Net Jumps; World Markets Jittery

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

Investors remained focused for the second week as Greece negotiates emergency loan terms. The dollar gained against the euro. CenturyTel agreed to acquire Qwest for $10.6 billion. Microsoft net jumps 35% and Amazon.com estimated lower than expected operating earnings.

[R]4:45 PM New York – Investors remained focused for the second week as Greece negotiates emergency loan terms. The dollar gained against the euro. CenturyTel agreed to acquire Qwest for $10.6 billion. Microsoft net jumps 35% and Amazon.com estimated lower than expected operating earnings.[/R]

The U.S. dollar traded higher after the European Union statistics office revised Greek budget deficit estimate higher. The surprised deficit revision dragged the euro lower and raised questions the union’s ability to monitor member nations. eBay revenues up 9% and SanDisk sales surge 65%.

CenturyTel agreed to acquire Qwest for $10.6 billion. The combined telecom companies will serve 17 million land lines and 5 million broadband customers in 37 states. The merged company will have the third largest land line customer base.

Baxter International Inc dropped as much as 14.4%. Novellus swings to quarterly profit of $41.3 million. SanDisk surges after quarterly sales soar 65%. Qualcomm Inc drops after it reported lower than expected sales increase.

The euro and market indexes in Europe declined after a surprised revision in Greek budget deficit. Separately, debt to government deficit in the region soared to 6.3% in 2009 from 2% a year ago. Nokia plunged after sales gained less than expected.

Stocks in London trading closed lower after the government budget soared to record level in six decades. U.K. volume of retail sales in March rose 2.2% from a year ago month. Financial services employment may not meet pre-crisis level for a decade. Essar Energy Ltd. plans to raise $2.5 billion in public offering.

A surge in exports in March lifted Japan’s trade surplus for the month and for the year. The surplus for the fiscal year rose to 5.2 trillion yen from a deficit of 64.8 billion yen last year. Hitachi Ltd quarterly sales surged 42%. Rating agency Moody’s lowered its view on Toyota debt with a negative outlook

Stocks in China region declined as investors fear more lending curbs to stem property prices. China completed the sale of 3-year bills that yielded 2.74% and raised $13 billion. Bank of Communications mortgage loan volume fell. ICBC completes $550 million deal to buy Thailand based lender ACL.

Stocks in Mumbai closed higher despite the latest weekly wholesale inflation index reached near record. Export tax on iron ores may be increased to 20%. ACC Limited quarterly net declined 1.5%.

Stocks in Australia closed lower as interest rates are expected remain high. Newcrest Mining quarterly gold production declines. Coles food and liquor sales in fiscal third quarter ending in March rose 3.9%.

North American Markets

Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 9.37 or 0.08% to close at 11,134.29, S&P 500 Index edged higher 2.73 or 0.3% to 1,208.67 and Nasdaq Composite Index added 14.46 or 0.6% to close at 2,519.09. Toronto TSX Composite Index rose 26.31 or 0.2% to 12,160.87.

Latin American Markets Indexes

Mexico Bolsa Index added 141.19 or 0.4% to 33,658.37 and Brazil Bovespa Stock Index gained 67.97 or 0.1% to 69,386.41.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 52.24 or 0.91% to 5,671.19, in Paris CAC 40 Index decreased 46.94 or 1.18% to close at 3,930.73, in Frankfurt DAX index lower 56.52 or 0.91% to close at 6,173.86. In Zurich trading SMI decreased 93.34 or 1.37% to close at 6,721.37.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 140.96 or 1.27% to 10,949.09, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong decreased 55.99 or 0.26% to 21,454.94 and CSI 300 index in China lower 35.14 or 1.09% to 3,201.54. ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 46.90 or 0.95% to 4,907.40. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia closed higher 3.37 or 0.25% to 1,337.01.

The Kospi Index in South Korea decreased 8.06 or 0.46% to close at 1,739.52. SET index in Thailand closed higher 3.33 or 0.44% to 761.18 and JSE Index in Indonesia increased 13.71 or 0.47% to 2,926.53. The Sensex index in India increased 101.43 or 0.58% to 17,573.99.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil increased $0.06 to $83.74 a barrel for a front month contract, natural gas edged up 16 cent to $4.12 per mBtu and gasoline increased 2.17 cents to 230.44 cents.

Soybean future closed up 9.00 cent to $10.15 a bushel. Wheat futures increased 11.25 cents in Chicago trading to $5.11 a bushel. Sugar closed down 0.55 cents at 16.14 cents per pound.

Gold decreased $6.10 in New York trading to close at $1,142.70 per ounce, silver closed up $0.08 to $17.99 per ounce and copper for the front month delivery decreased 3.35 cents to $3.53 per pound.

Dollar edged higher against euro to $1.329 and increased against the Japanese yen to 93.58.

Yield on 10-year U.S. bonds declined to 3.77% and with 30-year maturities increased to 4.64%.