U.S. Stocks Rebound on Higher Oil, Gold

Bikram Pandey
26 May, 2011
New York City

U.S. stocks closed higher and regained losses of the day. The second day advance after a three-day sell-off was bolstered by a weaker euro and higher commodities prices. Greece was again in focus in Europe after the IMF demanded collateral for additional sovereign debt.

[R]4:10 PM New York – U.S. stocks closed higher and regained losses of the day. The second day advance after a three-day sell-off was bolstered by a weaker euro and higher commodities prices. Greece was again in focus in Europe after the IMF demanded collateral for additional sovereign debt.[/R]

U.S. stocks turned around and closed higher after technology and consumer discretionary stocks advanced. Weekly unemployment claims increased and first quarter GDP estimate was left unchanged at 1.8%.

Market sentiment weakened after the GDP data was not revised higher but recovered in the afternoon.

Tiffany gained on better than expected earnings and Big Lots estimated lower than expected quarterly earnings. Big Lots first quarter net income fell 4.3% to $52.4 million. Guess first quarter net income fell 15% to $42.7 million. Heinz fourth quarter net income soared 16.4% to $224 million. NetApp fourth quarter net income rose to $160.6 million. TD Bank second quarter net income rose to $1.33 billion.

European markets traded flat as commodities increased and crude oil hovered near $100 price. Talks of Greek default dominated trading sentiment. European automakers declined. Austria based Reiffeisen Bank reported a slight increase in quarterly earnings.

Stocks in Tokyo advanced tracking the gains in the U.S. markets in overnight trading. Canon Inc soared after it proposed to buy back 1.2% of its shares. Ricoh plans to eliminate 10,000 staff in the next three years.

Stocks in Mumbai trading closed higher after struggling for the last five days. Tata Steel swung to profit on higher sales and estimated higher global steel prices in the current year. Coal India gained after it reported higher than expected annual net. Dish TV India cut its net loss by 40%.

Australian stocks rebounded after struggling for three days in a row as sentiment improved. The largest Australian grain handler GrainCorp first half net soared 66% and guided higher annual net.

Commodities, Bonds and Currencies

The 10-year bond yield decreased to 3.06% and 30-year bond fell to 4.22%.

The U.S. dollar decreased to $1.416 to a euro and fell against the Japanese yen to 81.34 yen.

Immediate delivery futures of Texas crude oil decreased $1.07 to $100.25 a barrel, of natural gas decreased 0.05 cents to $4.32 per mbtu and gasoline prices increased 3.70 cents to 305.37 cents a gallon.

In metals trading, copper prices decreased 5.40 cents to $4.118 per pound, gold increased $5.40 to $1,522.40 per ounce and silver decreased $0.45 to $37.17.