U.S. Housing Market Data Drag Indexes; Oil, Gold in Choppy Trading

Bikram Pandey
27 Mar, 2012
New York City

U.S. indexes wavered after consumer sentiment edged lower but held near one-year high and metropolitan home prices fell for the fifth month in a row. Prices declined in 17 of the 20 cities tracked. World markets extended gains and crude oil prices edged lower.

[R]4:10 PM New York – U.S. indexes wavered after consumer sentiment edged lower but held near one-year high and metropolitan home prices fell for the fifth month in a row. Prices declined in 17 of the 20 cities tracked. World markets extended gains and crude oil prices edged lower.[/R]

Stocks in New York pared gains after consumer confidence edged lower in March and metropolitan home prices fell in January. Investor sentiment is at the highest in the last six months and expectations of further gains in the market are strong across professional investors.

Metropolitan home price index fell 34% since the housing market collapsed in 2007 and the index is now at 2002 levels. The current price declines are driven by the elevated foreclosures which rose across half of the U.S. last month and are expected to gather more pace after all 50 states reached a $25 billion settlement in February.

In corporate news, Walgreen Co. gained more than 1% after the largest U.S. drugstore chain reported second quarter earnings that were ahead of market expectations.

Opnext Inc soared 46% after it agreed to be acquired by another optical components maker for communications network, Oclaro Inc for $177 million in all stock deal.

Lennar Corp soared after the homebuilder said latest quarterly net fell less than expected to $15 million or 8 cents a share from $27.4 million or 14 cents a share. Pfizer Inc gained more than 2% after Chief Executive Ian Read said the company was looking to restructure or sell animal health or nutrition businesses.

Apollo Group plunged 9% after co-chief said in a conference call that new enrollments are likely to remain “volatile.”

German Chancellor offered a concession to increase the size of bailout funds to 690 billion ahead of the key finance ministers meeting. Spain and Italy sold debt at varying borrowing costs. Retail sales in the UK remained stable in March.

The Nikkei index in Tokyo rebounds to cross the level last seen on March 11 a year ago when triple disaster crippled the nation and left 19,000 missing or dead. The index jumped on the last day to capture dividend from most companies.

Australian benchmark indexes extended gains to a 4-week high. Resource linked stocks, banks and retailers led the gainers. Fertilizer maker Nufarm said first half net income quadrupled.

Commodities, Bonds and Currencies

The yields on 10-year U.S. bond decreased to 2.18% and 30-year U.S. bond edged higher to 3.30%.

The U.S. dollar edged down to $1.3341 to one euro and gained against the Japanese yen to 83.08 yen in New York trading.

Immediate delivery futures of Texas crude oil decreased $1.30 to $106.90 a barrel and Brent crude futures fell 53 cents to $125.12. Futures of natural gas decreased 0.02 cents to $2.223 per mbtu and gasoline price fell 2.70 cents to 338.96 cents a gallon.

In metals trading, copper fell 0.75 cents to $3.88 per pound, gold eased $1.20 to $1,687.00 per ounce and silver fell 4 cents to $32.71.