U.S. Stocks Rebound from 3-day Decline; Gold, Oil Rise

Bikram Pandey
25 May, 2011
New York City

U.S. stocks gained after falling for three days in a row as commodities and crude oil advanced. U.S. home prices decline. Spirit Airlines Inc cuts its public offering terms and size. In Europe, Greece

[R]5:00 PM New York – U.S. stocks gained after falling for three days in a row as commodities and crude oil advanced. U.S. home prices decline. Spirit Airlines Inc cuts its public offering terms and size. In Europe, Greece’s opposition party rejected the European regulators plan for privatization plan.[/R]

U.S. stocked closed higher as commodities gained and the dollar edged higher. April durable goods orders declined 3.6% and home prices fell 5.5% in the first quarter. Costco Wholesale Corp and Ralph Lauren Corp declined on weaker than expected earnings.

The U.S. Treasury sold 200 million shares at $29 each, at a slight profit from the average price of $28.73 to recover $47.5 billion investment.

Spirit Airlines Inc lowered its public offering price range between $12 and $13 a share and cut its offering size to 15.6 million from 20 million according to initial filing with regulators.

Bank of Montreal second quarter net income increased 7.5% to $800 million. Costco third quarter net income grew to $324 million. Hormel Foods second quarter net earnings surged 41% to $109.6 million. Toll Brothers second quarter net loss narrowed to $20.8 million.

Stocks in London gained as miners and energy linked companies advanced. UK first quarter estimate was unrevised at 0.5%. Mortgage approvals dropped 18% from a year ago and average loan value declined 1.1%. Cupid soared nearly 20% after it made positive comments.

Stocks in Japan declined for the second day this week following the weakness in Asian markets. Semiconductor equipment makers closed lower after Applied Materials reported weaker than expected earnings. Real estate developers declined on negative comments from a broker.

Stocks in Mumbai declined on the global worries and a rise in commodities prices and crude oil price. The rupee hovered near 2-month low. Banks, property developers and Suzlon Energy increased after it won orders for 200 turbines in Africa.

The Australian benchmark indexes declined for the second day this week. Mining and banks led the losers. Lend Lease increased after it guided current year return on equity of 15%. Telstra reaffirmed earnings outlook.

Commodities, Bonds and Currencies

The 10-year bond yield decreased to 3.12% and 30-year bond fell to 4.27%.

The U.S. dollar decreased to $1.406 to a euro and fell against the Japanese yen to 81.97 yen.

Immediate delivery futures of Texas crude oil increased $1.50 to $101.15 a barrel, of natural gas increased 0.02 cents to $4.327 per mbtu and gasoline prices increased 2.90 cents to 302.19 cents a gallon.

In metals trading, copper prices increased 9.30 cents to $4.106 per pound, gold increased $2.40 to $1,525.70 per ounce and silver increased $1.74 to $37.87.