Energy Stocks Rise; Halliburton Drops; Gold, Silver Rally

Devan Biswas
28 Oct, 2010
New York City

U.S. stocks edged higher as the dollar declined. Earnings lifted trading sentiment in the U.S. and Europe. First Wind Holdings Inc canceled its public offering. Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil reported higher earnings. Futures of gold and silver rallied.

[R]4:00 PM New York – U.S. stocks edged higher as the dollar declined. Earnings lifted trading sentiment in the U.S. and Europe. First Wind Holdings Inc canceled its public offering. Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil reported higher earnings. Futures of gold and silver rallied.[/R]

U.S. stocks traded higher after weekly jobless claims declined and companies reported better than expected earnings. Motorola earnings rose on new smartphone sales using Android software. Halliburton Co declined as much as 10% after the lead lawyer from the U.S. presidential commission focused on the cement sealing work supplied by the company. The company is expected to offer an explanation next week.

Visa Inc Sales surged. Las Vegas Sands Corp reported better than expected adjusted earnings. PMI Group dropped 9% on larger than expected loss. Symantec Corp gained on higher sales forecast. Teradyne dropped 8% after earnings missed expectations.

The European indexes rose after strong earnings. Euro-zone economic confidence rose in October. German jobless rate fell in the month and wholesale turnover rose in the third quarter. French PPI rose in September. Daimler AG earnings surged driven by higher unit sales.

The UK indexes gained after high street sales rose and home prices fell more than expected in October. UBM priced $350 million bond offering. AstraZeneca net fell 27% as generic competition dragged performance. Shell earnings rose 7% as revenues grew on improving energy demand.

Stocks fell for the fourth day in Tokyo on the weakness in resource stocks. Bank of Japan said it will consider asset purchase expansion if the economy situation warrants. Retail sale increased 1.2% in September.

Stocks in Shanghai remained little changed after banks reported sharply higher prices. Bank of China earnings rose 29% and AgBank earnings gained 30%. Most airlines passed on recently revised higher fuel prices to consumers. Home buyers in Shanghai and other larger cities are deterred by elevated prices.

Stocks in Mumbai seesawed to drop below threshold of 20,000. India signs the international convention for nuclear materials commerce. Qualcomm decides to exit BWA spectrum in India. India plans to start rare earth production in 2011 in Orissa.

Stock in Mumbai fell. Bank of Baroda rose 3% on net profit. Cummins India surged 4.8% after net profit increased 91.4%. Kirloskar Brothers slumped 3.7% after net tumbled 89%. Steel Authority of India Limited declined 4.6% and profit tumbled 34.5%.

Shares in Sydney rallied after ANZ Bank reported lower loan loss provisions. More lawmakers voiced their opposition to the acquisition of ASX Ltd. Senate vote clears to appointment of committee to investigate banking sector competition.

Commodities, Currencies and Yields

Dollar edged down against euro to $1.39 and fell against the Japanese yen to 81.03. One UK pound fetched $1.572.

Crude oil increased $0.04 to $81.98 a barrel for a front month contract, natural gas edged higher 0.15 cent to $3.91 per mBtu and gasoline increased 0.49 cents to 210.69 cents.

Gold increased $12.60 in New York trading to close at $1,326.80 per ounce, silver increased $0.48 to $23.88 per ounce and copper for the front month delivery increased 0.95 cents to $3.78 per pound.

Yield on 10-year U.S. bond decreased to 2.65% and on 30-year U.S. bond yield unchanged to 4.05%.