Records in Gold, Silver; Supreme Court to Hear Gender-Bias Wal-Mart Suit

Bikram Pandey
06 Dec, 2010
New York City

U.S. stocks traded sideways as investors digested Fed Chairman Bernanke comments. Gold closed at a new high. U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review gender bias class-action lawsuit appeal against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. France found Continental Airlines guilty for its role in 2000 air crash.

[R]4:00 PM New York – U.S. stocks traded sideways as investors digested Fed Chairman Bernanke comments. U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review gender bias class-action lawsuit appeal against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. France found Continental Airlines guilty for its role in 2000 air crash that killed 113 people.[/R]

U.S. stocks and indexes were on the declined after comments from Fed Chairman were viewed negatively by the market observers. The dollar traded higher after European leaders haggled to increase the size of the bailout fund to 1 trillion euros. Sara Lee sold two businesses to Unilever for €1.21 billion.

Dollar General third quarter net sales grew 10% to $3.22 billion. 3M to acquire Winterthur Technologies AG. Kraft Foods is seek preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court against Starbucks. MetLife estimated fourth quarter net income to be between $170 million and $570 million.

U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review appeals court decision involving gender-bias suits that may involve as many as 1 million Wal-Mart Stores Inc workers.

Nineteen companies including Microsoft, Costco Wholesale Corp, Altria, Bank of America and Microsoft urged the nation’s highest court to take up the Wal-Mart case and curb the ease with which lawyers can secure class-action status involving employment practices and extract settlements.

The European indexes traded sideways after euro area investor confidence fell in December. German construction activity improved in November. Swiss foreign currency reserves rose in November. Hungary debt rating lowered. Russia based X5 Retail agreed to acquire Kopeyka for $1.64 billion.

French Court found Continental Airlines guilty for its role in 2000 air crash of Air France Concorde jet that killed 113 people. The court ordered the U.S. based airline to pay $1.3 million in civil damages to Air France and a fine of $265,000.

Continental said it will appeal the ruling and said that any crime was committed in the accident is “absurd.”

The UK indexes gained after manufacturing sector forecasted to grow in 2011. Rio Tinto confirmed plans to buy Riversdale for A$15 per share. Rolls-Royce won $110 million in new contracts for energy projects. De La Rue confirmed the receipt of a preliminary bid.

Stocks in Japan edged lower as resource stocks led the gainers. The weaker than expected U.S. jobs report dragged exporters lower. The government expects fiscal 2011 trade surplus of 9.77 trillion yen. Sale of imported cars climbs 34% in November.

China stocks fluctuated but closed higher whereas Hong Kong index edged lower. Central Bank advisor urged China to boost its gold reserves and diversify currency reserves. Grain output in China surges 2.9% till November from a year ago period.

Stocks in Mumbai failed to hold intra-day gains. India and France sign $9.3 billion deal for two nuclear power plants and look for ways to deepen military and energy collaboration. Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd plans to build $1.8 billion solar power park in Patan district.

Japan based Honda Motor dissolves partnership in Hero Honda Motors to pursue on its own auto and motorcycle business in India. Jindal Steel & Power wins preliminary approval for $3 billion expansion project. State Bank of India plans to raise deposit rate as much as 1.5%.

Sydney stocks traded sideways as the miners led the gainers and banks declined. Job ads in Australia rose for the seventh month in a row in November. Rio Tinto may offer $3.5 billion to Riversdale as two companies explore possibilities.

Commodities, Currencies and Yields

Dollar edged up against euro to $1.33 and rose against the Japanese yen to 82.59. One UK pound fetched $1.571.

Crude oil increased $0.14 to $89.34 a barrel for a front month contract, natural gas edged higher 14 cents to $4.49 per mBtu and gasoline decreased 0.81 cents to 234.40 cents.

Gold increased $11.80 in New York trading to close at $1,418.00 per ounce, silver increased $0.74 to $30.01 per ounce and copper for the front month delivery increased 0.80 cents to $4.007 per pound.

Yield on 10-year U.S. bond decreased to 2.94% and on 30-year U.S. bond yield fell to 4.26%.