New Homes Sales Drive U.S. Indexes Up

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

U.S. stocks closed higher after March new homes sales surged 27% and durable goods orders in the month declined 1.3%. Crude oil closed above $85 a barrel and gold added 1%. Yields on 10-year U.S. bonds increased to 3.8% and 30-year bonds traded at 4.66%. Greek bond yields traded near record 8%.

[R]4:00 PM New York – U.S. stocks closed higher after March new homes sales surged 27% and durable goods orders in the month declined 1.3%. Crude oil closed above $85 a barrel and gold added 1%. Yields on 10-year U.S. bonds increased to 3.8% and 30-year bonds traded at 4.66%. European markets closed higher but jittery investors drove Greek bond yields above 8%.[/R]

U.S. stocks traded higher after new homes sales increased in March and durable goods orders fell in the month. Microsoft and Amazon.com reported higher earnings but some analysts were looking for larger gains. March durable goods orders declined 1.3%.

Seasonally adjusted U.S. new home sales in March increased 26.9% to 411,000 and above 23.8% from a year ago month. The median sale price of new homes sold in the month was $214,000 and average price was $258,600 with 6.7 months of inventory.

Home sales are expected to fall after the one-time tax credit expires.

Xerox Corporation gained 8.1%. Capital One reports quarterly profit of $636.3 million. Microsoft net rises 35% in third quarter. Amazon earnings jump 69% in first quarter. Dover shares surge 10% after earnings. CMS Energy profit rises 21%. Xerox swung to a quarterly loss.

Home builders and energy explorers gained.

Markets in Europe closed higher led by a sharp gain in Germany. Greek Prime Minister Papandreou asked to activate emergency loans of nearly $60 billion from the IMF and the EU. Industrial new orders increased 1.5% in the region. Adidas and Volvo surged 12% after earnings. Ericsson declined.

U.K. stocks traded higher after declines of last two days. GDP rose 0.2% in the first quarter from the previous quarter and fell 0.3% from the quarter a year ago. Carnival declared 10 cents a share quarterly dividend. Wolseley rose 2.5%. Balfour Beatty awarded £65 million estate regeneration project in Kensington.

Stocks in Japan closed lower and fell the most in three weeks at the close of the week. Nissan Motor plans to increase manufacturing capacity by nearly 70% in China by 2012. Rating agency Fitch reaffirmed Japan sovereign debt rating but noted that creditworthiness of the nation is on the decline.

Stocks in Mumbai traded higher on positive earnings and normal monsoon forecast. Wipro quarterly net surged 21%. Ambuja Cement first quarter sales increased 8% and net soared 38%. Rupee edged higher.

The Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens comments suggested that the recent hikes in interest may be passed. Woodside Petroleum first quarter revenues surges 43%. Lihir Gold said its gold production declined 26%.

North American Markets

Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 52.83 or 0.5% to close at 11,187.12, S&P 500 Index edged higher 6.59 or 0.6% to 1,215.26 and Nasdaq Composite Index added 6.06 or 0.3% to close at 2,525.13. Toronto TSX Composite Index rose 74.21 or 0.6% to 12,235.08.

Latin American Markets Indexes

Mexico Bolsa Index added 152.86 or 0.5% to 33,811.23 and Brazil Bovespa Stock Index gained 149.31 or 0.2% to 69,535.72.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 67.61 or 1.19% to 5,732.94, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 35.31 or 0.90% to close at 3,959.96, in Frankfurt DAX index higher 95.56 or 1.55% to close at 6,264.28. In Zurich trading SMI increased 38.96 or 0.58% to close at 6,759.05.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 34.63 or 0.32% to 10,914.46, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong decreased 210.45 or 0.98% to 21,244.49 and CSI 300 index in China lower 11.54 or 0.36% to 3,190.00. ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 25.90 or 0.53% to 4,881.50. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia closed lower 0.23 or 0.02% to 1,336.78.

The Kospi Index in South Korea decreased 2.49 or 0.14% to close at 1,737.03. SET index in Thailand closed lower 6.60 or 0.87% to 754.58 and JSE Index in Indonesia decreased 1.80 or 0.06% to 2,924.73. The Sensex index in India increased 120.21or 0.68% to 17,694.20.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil increased $1.42 to $85.12 a barrel for a front month contract, natural gas edged up 13 cent to $4.26 per mBtu and gasoline increased 5.13 cents to 235.15 cents.

Soybean future closed down 5.00 cent to $10.10 a bushel. Wheat futures decreased 5.50 cents in Chicago trading to $5.05 a bushel. Sugar closed down 0.39 cents at 15.75 cents per pound.

Gold increased $12.60 in New York trading to close at $1,155.50 per ounce, silver closed up $0.22 to $18.26 per ounce and copper for the front month delivery increased 2.70 cents to $3.53 per pound.

Dollar edged lower against euro to $1.3375 and increased against the Japanese yen to 94.06.

Yield on 10-year U.S. bonds increased to 3.81% and with 30-year maturities increased to 4.66%.