Earnings Lift World, U.S. Stocks; Oil Nears 32-Month High, Silver Jumps 5%

Bikram Pandey
21 Apr, 2011
New York City

U.S. stocks edged higher after General Electric, Apple, American Express, Capital One and BB&T reported better than expected earnings. Oil gained 0.7% and increased for the second month in a row and extended advance to 25%. Gold stayed above $1,500 and silver jumped nearly 5%.

[R]4:00 PM New York – U.S. stocks edged higher after General Electric, Apple, American Express, Capital One and BB&T reported better than expected earnings. Oil gained 0.7% and increased for the second month in a row and extended advance to 25%. Gold stayed above $1,500 and silver jumped nearly 5%.[/R]

The U.S. indexes traded higher after GE and Apple reported better-than-estimated earnings. American Express, Capital One and BB&T reported higher earnings. Investors took higher earnings in strides as oil gained 0.7% to increase above $112 a barrel and silver jumped nearly 5% to $46.40.

U.S. weekly jobless claims fell 13,000 to 403,000. BP sued Transocean and Cameron seeking damages of $40 billion for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Apple second quarter net income surged 95% to $5.99 billion. American Express first quarter net income rose 33% to $1.16 billion. BlackRock first quarter net income surged 34% to $568 million. General Electric first quarter net earnings surged 77% to $3.43 billion.

Airlines report sharply higher fuel cost in the latest earnings releases. United Continental, Southwest, JetBlue and Alaska reported mixed results. Southwest, Alaska and JetBlue reported net profit but United Continental said quarterly loss widened to $213 million from $183 million a year ago.

German business sentiment fell in April. Dutch jobless rate steadied in March. Greece current account deficit narrowed in February. Spanish trade gap shrunk in February.

The European indexes gained after Akzo Nobel net surged 58%. Portugal raised €1 billion after successful sale of 3-month and 6-month Treasury bills. Fiat raised stake in Chrysler to 46%. Nokia sales rose 9%.

The UK indexes were flat after retail sales rebounded and mortgage approvals climbed in March. UK public sector borrowing declined. Irish trade surplus improved in February. William Hill surged 7% on revenue growth.

The Nikkei benchmark index in Japan increased 0.8% ahead of short week. Apple linked stock gained after the mobile device maker reported sharply higher results. Toshiba and Elpida Memory increased. Yasakawa Electric declined 2.3% after it estimated weak production outlook for the next two months.

The Sensex index in Mumbai trading gained 0.7% after TCS reported 23% increase in the quarter to March. Rupee advanced to a two week high and gold and silver soared to a record high in Mumbai trading. Muthoot Finance attracted strong interest for its initial public offering.

Australian benchmark index increased more than 1% after the dollar advanced to a new high on the rise in energy and gold prices. Stocks gained for the third time in the last four day. Harvey Norman reported weak increase in sales as consumers spend less on furniture and electronics.

Commodities, Bonds and Currencies

The 10-year bond yield increased to 3.40% and 30-year bond gained to 4.47%.

The U.S. dollar decreased to $1.4547 to a euro and fell against the Japanese yen to 81.80 yen.

Immediate delivery futures of Texas crude oil increased $0.90 to $112.35 a barrel, of natural gas increased 0.11 cents to $4.41 per mbtu and gasoline prices increased 3.00 cents to 330.73 cents a gallon.

In metals trading, copper prices increased 4.6 cents to $4.40 per pound, gold increased $8.80 to $1,507.70 per ounce and silver increased $1.96 to $46.42.