U.S. Stocks Meander, Oil Rises; Yandex IPO Soars 55%

Bikram Pandey
24 May, 2011
New York City

The U.S. indexes opened higher but struggled to advance and crude oil and metals prices rose. New home sales increased in April but inventory of unsold homes increased. Russia based search engine Yandex NV soared 55% after it raised $1.3 billion.

[R]4:00 PM New York – The U.S. indexes opened higher but struggled to advance and crude oil and metals prices rose. New home sales increased in April but inventory of unsold homes increased. Russia based search engine Yandex NV soared 55% after it raised $1.3 billion.[/R]

U.S. indexes lost early advance and struggled to stay in positive zone and energy and commodities prices. U.S. new home sales increased 7.3% in April but plunged 23.1% from a year ago. A regional economic survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond showed a weakness in manufacturing following a similar survey in the New York region.

Russian based search engine operator priced its initial public offering of 52.2 million at $25 a share and valued the company at $8 billion. The company originally planned its public offering between $20 and $22 a share. The search engine ((YNDX)) soared 58% to $39.23.

AutoZone third quarter net income increased 12% to $227.4 million. DSW first quarter net income rose to $38.4 million. Medtronic fourth quarter net earnings declined to $776 million. Sanderson Farms reported second quarter net loss of $16.3 million.

European markets traded higher after Spain completed the treasury auction to raise 2.3 billion euros. German left its first quarter economic expansion at 1.5% and a private measure of business confidence index was flat in May. European regulators canceled 200 scheduled flights.

UK stocks inched higher after oil and energy prices advanced and base and precious metals closed higher. Miners and resource linked stocks led the gainers in London. Marks & Spencer’s annual net and revenues increased. Cable & Wireless Worldwide annual sales eased.

The benchmark index in Tokyo closed higher after trading near five-month low. Sony traded higher after estimating third annual loss in a row. Construction machinery stocks rebounded. Shipping lines closed higher after freight rate index gained. Toshiba proposed aggressive capital expansion plan.

Australian stocks edged lower on global economic worries. China and U.S. economic data suggest a slower economic growth and commodities turned lower in Asian trading. Banks led the decliners in Sydney trading. China based Cofco increased its offer for Tully Sugar.

Commodities, Currencies and Yields

Dollar edged lower against euro to $1.41 and gained against the Japanese yen to 81.95. One UK pound fetched $1.619.

Crude oil increased $1.91 to $99.61 a barrel for a front month contract, natural gas edged lower 0.015 cents to $4.32 per mBtu and gasoline increased 6.1 cents to 299.90 cents.

Gold increased $10.50 in New York trading to at $1,525.90 per ounce, silver increased $1.71 to $36.65 per ounce and copper for the front month delivery increased 4.2 cents to $4.03 per pound.

Yield on 10-year U.S. bond increased to 3.12% and on 30-year U.S. bond yield fell to 4.25%.