Stocks Fluctuate, Banks in Focus; Gold Eases

Devan Biswas
09 Sep, 2010
New York City

U.S. stocks traded higher on the back of better than expected jobless claims. S&P 500 index has rebounded more than 5% in the month. Crude oil and gold edged lower. Indexes in Europe traded higher after sovereign debt worries eased.

[R]4:00 PM New York – U.S. stocks traded higher on the back of better than expected jobless claims. S&P 500 index has rebounded more than 5% in the month. Crude oil and gold edged lower. Indexes in Europe traded higher after sovereign debt worries eased.[/R]

U.S. stocks trade higher after weekly jobless claims fell 27,000 to 451,000 and trade deficit narrowed in July. Fed noted slowdown in economic growth and OECD reiterated recession is “unlikely.” Airgas rejected $65.50 a share offer from Air Products.

Airgas declined after it rejected revised unsolicited offer from Air Products & Chemicals Inc. Fuqi International Inc plunged after the SEC demanded regulatory statements. Adobe systems Inc surged 10% after Apple relaxed mobile application guidelines.

The European indexes rose after German inflation eased in August. French payroll employment increased in the second quarter. The IMF noted Austria growth outlook challenging. Greek industrial output fell in July and Swedish inflation slackened in August.

The UK indexes gained after the BoE retained key rate and £200 billion bond purchase. The UK trade deficit widened to record high in July. Ireland CPI rose in August. Dana rebuffed KNOC 1,800 per share offer.

Stocks in Japan gained after successful bond auctions in Portugal and Poland eased investor. U.S. Treasury auction of $21 billion also drew a strong interest from foreign central banks. Business sentiment index of large companies in Japan rises in the quarter.

Stocks in China fell after commodity and financial shares declined today. China bought record amount of Japanese government debts in July. Shanghai registers a record residential plot sale in Pudong New Area.]

Stocks in Mumbai gained for the fourth consecutive day to keep the index at a 30-month high. Sale of passenger cars surge 33% in August. India approves stake sale of Manganese Ore (India) Ltd. Tata Power plans to increase power capacity to 25,000 MW by 2017.

Stocks in Australia gained after a report showed unemployment fell to its lowest level since January 2009. Competition authorities once again rejects NAB’s AXA bid. New parliament session will start on September 28.

Commodities, Currencies and Yields

Dollar edged higher against euro to $1.27 and fell against the Japanese yen to 83.88.

Crude oil decreased $0.26 to $74.41 a barrel for a front month contract, natural gas edged higher 0.16 cent to $3.92 per mBtu and gasoline decreased 0.42 cents to 193.57 cents.

Gold decreased $8.40 in New York trading to close at $1,249.10 per ounce, silver declined $0.14 to $19.86 per ounce and copper for the front month delivery fell 5.85 cents to $3.44 per pound.

Yields on 10-year U.S. bonds increased to 2.73% and on 30-year U.S. bonds yields edged up 3.81%.