U.S Jobless Claims Fall; Trade Gap Narrows

Bikram Pandey
10 Nov, 2010
New York City

U.S. stocks traded sideways and currency traders looked for a direction as the G20 nations meet. The dollar traded volatile with a declining bias. Commodities and crude oil edged lower. U.S. Trade deficit declined to $44 billion and weekly jobless claims fell.

[R]9:45 AM New York – U.S. stocks traded sideways and currency traders looked for a direction as the G20 nations meet. The dollar traded volatile with a declining bias. Commodities and crude oil edged lower. U.S. Trade deficit declined to $44 billion and weekly jobless claims fell.[/R]

U.S. indexes traded lower and commodities traded mixed in the early trading in New York. Ahead of G20 nations meeting markets around the world are focused on the direction of the dollar.

World investors are increasingly convinced that nations will diverge in their approach to the rising imbalances in global financial flows. China and Germany are increasingly united in criticizing the latest $600 billion stimulus from the U.S. Federal Reserve and emerging markets are worried that the new supply will stock inflation.

Trade deficit in September decreased to $44.0 billion from $46.5 billion in August. September exports rose by $0.5 billion and imports decreased by $2.0 billion. The goods deficit increased to $56.9 billion and service surplus increased to $12.9 billion.

Seasonally adjusted weekly jobless claims decreased 24,000 to 435,000 from the revised previous week claims of 459,000. The preliminary insured unemployment rate in the week ending October 30 changed to 3.4% from the prior week''s revised rate of 3.5%.

Markets in Europe traded lower and in Asia China region index fell but indexes in Japan closed at four-month high.

Markets in China region declined on the ongoing worries of inflation, bank tightening and home price increase. China reported trade surplus increased in October to $27.1 billion, second highest monthly surplus after July.

China also tightened bank reserve ratios and asked eleven of its largest banks to raise capital reserve ration between 35 basis points and 50 basis points according to banking sources in Shanghai.

European markets in the early afternoon traded lower as the dollar declined and commodities prices hovered near their recent highs. Gold and silver fell from the record prices yesterday crude oil declined a fraction but copper and sugar traded higher.

Stock Movers

A123 Systems Inc plunged 10% after it reported third quarter loss of 42 cents a share after adjusting for one time items.

Invesco Ltd declined more than 4% after Morgan Stanley said it will sell its stake it bought in the company less than six months ago for $717 million.

Polo Ralph Lauren Corp traded higher after the clothing retailer lifted sales projections in the high teens from its earlier projection of near double digit sales increase.

Starwood Property Trust Inc gained after the commercial real estate investor said core profit in the third quarter increased to 56 cents a share and increased its quarter dividend to 40 cents a share.

Weight Watchers International Inc, the operator of diet centers and diet food seller lifted its full year earnings outlook to a range of $2.47 to $2.52 a share.