U.S. Stocks In 6-day Rally; Gold Hits a New High as Dollar Drifts Lower

Bikram Pandey
28 Apr, 2011
New York City

U.S. stocks extended gains for the sixth day in a row but tech stocks and small cap companies rested after rallying to highs not seen in a decade. Earnings drove the trading sentiment but the decline lifted gold, silver and copper.

[R]4:00 PM New York – U.S. stocks extended gains for the sixth day in a row but tech stocks and small cap companies rested after rallying to highs not seen in a decade. Earnings drove the trading sentiment but the decline lifted gold, silver and copper.[/R]

U.S. indexes traded lower after weekly jobless claims unexpectedly rose to a 3-month high to 429,000 and GDP expanded at 1.8% rate, less than estimated in the first quarter. The dollar declined for the fourth day in a row as lawmakers struggle to hammer out a deal to increase government debt ceiling.

Exelon agreed to buy Constellation Energy for $7.9 billion.

Apache first quarter net income rose to $1.11 billion. Colgate-Palmolive first quarter net profit surged 61% to $576 million. eBay first quarter net income rose 20% to $475.9 million. PepsiCo first quarter net income declined 20% to $1.14 billion. Procter & Gamble first quarter net income rose 11% to $2.87 billion.

The European indexes edged higher after Deutsche Bank and Bayer reported better-than-estimated quarterly earnings. SAP plunged 5.7% after earnings missed expectations. German unemployment dropped to the lowest in the last nineteen years.

German jobless rate fell to its lowest level in nineteen years and inflation accelerated in April. French consumer spending dropped unexpectedly but Finnish jobless rate rose in March. Number of mortgage issued in February declined in Spain.

The UK indexes traded sideways after consumer confidence declined to its lowest level since February 2009. Irish retail sales deteriorated in March. AstraZeneca net rose on UK and U.S. tax settlements.

Japan stocks gained after positive earnings. Bank of Japan left key lending rate on hold. The yen traded in a tight range ahead of the Golden Week holiday period. Komatsu gained after it reported quarterly net soared nearly a third and Kyocera advanced on higher office equipment sales.

Stocks in Mumbai closed down after weekly inflation accelerated and precious metals prices soared. The rupee advanced and resource linked stocks edged lower. LIC Housing quarterly net surged 47%. Bank of Baroda quarterly net soared 43%.

Australian stocks were flat as the dollar rose for the second day in a row to a new high of US$1.0921. Crude oil futures increased but metals closed mixed in Asian trading. Goodman Fielder dropped more than 9% after it cut profit outlook by 20%.

Commodities, Bonds and Currencies

The 10-year bond yield decreased to 3.31% and 30-year bond increased to 4.43%.

The U.S. dollar decreased to $1.482 to a euro and fell against the Japanese yen to 81.54 yen.

Immediate delivery futures of Texas crude oil decreased $0.11 to $112.87 a barrel, of natural gas increased 0.001 cents to $4.388 per mbtu and gasoline prices increased 0.13 cents to 342.07 cents a gallon.

In metals trading, copper prices increased 1.60 cents to $4.26 per pound, gold increased $18.00 to $1,535.10 per ounce and silver increased $2.63 to $48.63.