Wall Strett Climbs Wall of Worries; BATS Cancels IPO on Glitches

Bikram Pandey
23 Mar, 2012
New York City

U.S. stocks traded higher and for the week the S&P 500 index declined for the first time in five weeks. Energy stocks led the gainers in today

[R]4:30 PM New York – U.S. stocks traded higher and for the week the S&P 500 index declined for the first time in five weeks. Energy stocks led the gainers in today’s session. Bats Exchange was forced to cancel its public offering after a system malfunction. Home builders plunged after new home sales declined.[/R]

Stocks on Wall Street closed higher after a steady rebound in the early afternoon despite some investors focused on global economic worries.

The S&P 500 index declined 0.5% in the week after rising for five weeks and the index has jumped 11% in the year so and surged more than 25% since October low.

The global market sentiment has turned cautious as investors fear the 5-month long surge may have extended stocks but the final week in the quarter is expected to bring more gains in the indexes next week.

U.S. new home sales declined 1.6% in February and the median price increased 6.2% from a year ago. Home builders declined and KB Home plunged nearly 9% after reporting wider loss and Beazer Homes USA declined 5%.

Apple stock was halted after a single trade knocked off 9% and recovered at the reopen on the Bats Exchange platform.

Bats, which last evening completed the sale of 6.3 million share in a public offering was to cancel its offering after its computer system malfunction on the first day as a public company and also had erroneous quotes on Apple Inc that showed a loss of more than 9% in one single trade of 100 shares.

In earnings news, Accenture quarterly net increased 9.5% and lifted revenue outlook. Nike quarterly net rose 7% to $560 million and orders increased 15% to $9.4 billion on the strength in emerging markets. Darden Restaurants third quarter net rose to $164.1 million and reaffirmed fiscal 2012 guidance. KB Home first quarter net loss narrowed to $45.8 million.

Zynga, the online games developer said its founder will sell shares in a secondary offering that will raise as much as $220 million and Monster Worldwide Inc said it is prepared to sell all or parts of its businesses.

European indexes fell as the euro zone teeters on a recession but France lifted its economic growth outlook for the current year and business confidence improved in March. The UK confidence and mortgage approvals fell in February. Accenture quarterly profit rose 28%.

Stocks in Tokyo fell as investors avoided adding to net positions after worries of recession in the euro zone added to the soft landing concerns in China. Exporters and China linked stocks declined. Nomura extended 2-day losses to 7%.

Australian stocks declined and the two benchmark indexes closed nearly unchanged. The dollar declined and retailers continued to struggle as investors looked ahead to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s meeting on April 3.

Commodities, Bonds and Currencies

The yields on 10-year U.S. bond decreased to 2.24% and 30-year U.S. bond edged lower to 3.31%.

The U.S. dollar edged down to $1.3262 to one euro and eased against the Japanese yen to 82.48 yen in New York trading.

Immediate delivery futures of Texas crude oil increased $1.52 to $106.87 a barrel and Brent crude futures rose $1.99 to $125.13. Futures of natural gas increased 0.004 cents to $2.27 per mbtu and gasoline price added 4.49 cents to 338.45 cents a gallon.

In metals trading, copper added 3.90 cents to $3.80 per pound, gold surged $21.80 to $1,664.30 per ounce and silver gained 86 cents to $32.21.