Indexes in New York, Europe Fall as Spain Leads List of Worries

Bikram Pandey
20 Jul, 2012
New York City

Wall Street losses accelerated after technology and financial sectors led the decliners. Euro zone worries contributed to weak earnings from financials. Commodities halted two week rally and the oil declined for the first time in nine days.

[R]4:00 PM New York – Wall Street losses accelerated after technology and financial sectors led the decliners. Euro zone worries contributed to weak earnings from financials. Commodities halted two week rally and the oil declined for the first time in nine days.[/R]

U.S. indexes declined as the euro zone worries mounted and commodities declined after China asked local authorities to regulate home prices.

World markets turned gloomy after Spanish prime minister forecasted recession for the second year in a row and Valencia became the first region to seek financial bailout from Madrid. Also, tempers rose after Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti blamed rising borrowing costs on the recent unrests in Spain.

The mood in the euro zone took a turn for worst after a coalition ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel supported the view that Greece may exit the euro. However, euro zone finance ministers approved the plan to offer 100 billion euros to Spanish banks.

In corporate news, eBay trimmed earnings outlook on $3 billion debt offering impact and Microsoft swung to quarterly loss of $492 million on hefty goodwill impairment charges linked to recent Internet linked company purchases.

Regional bank BB&T net surged 66% and General Electric second quarter net climbed 6.7% to $4 billion on revenue growths in emerging markets and Google net surged 17%.

European markets accelerated declines in the late afternoon; indexes in Frankfurt and Paris plunged 2% and in London dropped 1.1%.

In European corporate news, Heineken offered to acquire Fraser & Neave’s interests in Asia Pacific Breweries. Renault-Nissan Alliance planned to invest $160 million in Korea.

German producer price inflation slowed and Danish retail sales decreased in June. The French leading economic index declined for a second straight month and Dutch consumer spending fell in May.

The UK indexes declined after public sector net borrowing rose in June. The home price sentiment index dropped in July. Vodafone declined 2.8% on weak first quarter revenues. London and Singapore exchanges are reported to have discussed merger options.

Stocks in Tokyo dropped on Friday and the Nikkei index closed down 3.9% in the week. Insurance and financial services stocks declined after weak economic data from the U.S. Toshiba gained but Yamato Holdings declined.

Australian stocks closed lower today in choppy trading and resource stocks closed higher after oil increased for the eighth day in a row. For the week the ASX index increased 2.9%. Ten Network was halted ahead of the sale of its outdoor advertising unit.

Commodities, Bonds and Currencies

The yield on 10-year bond traded lower to 1.46% and on 30-year bond increased to 2.55%.

The U.S. dollar inched lower to $1.216 to a euro and decreased against the Japanese yen to 78.49 yen.

Immediate delivery futures of Texas crude oil decreased $1.22 to $91.44 a barrel and Brent crude fell 97 cents to $106.83, futures of natural gas rose 0.08 cents to $3.07 per mbtu and gasoline price increased 0.36 cents to 294.25 cents a gallon.

In metals trading, copper decreased 9.05 cents to $3.44 per pound, gold gained $4.00 at $1,584.40 per ounce and silver added 4 cent to $27.26.