Wall Street Indexes in Worst Weekly Decline in Four Months

Bikram Pandey
12 Oct, 2012
New York City

Stocks on Wall Street declined in choppy trading on earnings worries and ongoing sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone. For the week, the S&P 500 index declined 2.2% and the Nasdaq Composite index fell 2.9%. U.S. Treasury said fiscal 2012 deficit declined to $1.089 trillion.

[R]5:05 PM New York – Stocks on Wall Street declined in choppy trading on earnings worries and ongoing sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone. For the week, the S&P 500 index declined 2.2% and the Nasdaq Composite index fell 2.9%. U.S. Treasury said fiscal 2012 deficit declined to $1.089 trillion.[/R]

Sentiment on Wall Street was cautious after European markets dropped but consumer confidence rose to the highest since the recession began five years ago.

The Thomson Reuters – University of Michigan preliminary October consumer sentiment index increased 83.1. The index was the highest since September 2007. In addition, wholesale prices rose more than estimated in September on a jump in fuel costs.

The U.S. Treasury said fiscal year 2012 deficit between October and September declined to $1.089 trillion from $1.297 trillion in the previous year. The deficit topped $1 trillion for the fourth consecutive year.

U.S. indexes rose after JPMorgan and Wells Fargo reported upbeat earnings. JP Morgan reported third quarter revenues and earnings were ahead of market expectations on lower provision of loan losses and an increase in mortgage originations. In addition, losses from the derivative trade in April were less than expected.

U.S producer prices rose in September. Ecolab agreed to acquire Champion Technologies for $2.2 billion. Ares Management to acquire majority stake in Smart & Final for $975 million.

Workday ((WDAY)) soared 74% to $48.49 on the first of trading on New York Stock Exchange after the human resource software developer priced its offering at $28 a share and raised $637 million in the largest technology initial public offering since Facebook ((FB)) began trading in May.

The European indexes declined after the euro zone production rose unexpectedly by 0.6% in August from July and UK construction output slumped in August. Spanish and Italian yields fell.

Banco Santader canceled to acquire 318 branches from Royal Bank of Scotland for £1.65 billion.

Telefónica agreed to sell Atento to Bain Capital for €1 billion. Interserve disposes minority stakes in PFI investments. Volkswagen Group China reported an 18.3% increase in deliveries for the first nine months of 2012.

Stocks in Asian markets were weak ahead of economic data from China over the weekend. The benchmark index in Shanghai declined 0.1% and Nikkei index in Japan dropped 0.2%.

Commodities, Bonds and Currencies

U.S. treasury yield on 10-year bond decreased to 1.66% and on 30-year bond declined to 2.83%.

The U.S. dollar inched lower to $1.295 to a euro and increased against the Japanese yen to 78.39 yen.

Immediate delivery futures of Texas crude oil decreased 29 cents to $91.70 a barrel and Brent crude rose 98 cents to $114.70, futures of natural gas decreased 0.04 cents to $3.22 per mbtu and gasoline traded down 6.72 cents to 288.77 cents a gallon.

In metals trading, copper decreased 5.5 cents to $3.69 per pound, gold decreased $14.30 to $1,772.60 per ounce and silver decreased 52 cents to $33.55.