U.S. Indexes Close at Day's High

Devan Biswas
15 Oct, 2012
New York City

U.S. indexes closed at the high of the day after retail sales were ahead of expectations confirming the slow economic recovery in place. Softbank agreed to pay $20 billion to acquire 70% stake in Sprint Nextel. Latest trade data from China lifted Asian markets.

[R]5:10 PM New York – U.S. indexes closed at the high of the day after retail sales were ahead of expectations confirming the slow economic recovery in place. Softbank agreed to pay $20 billion to acquire 70% stake in Sprint Nextel. Latest trade data from China lifted Asian markets.[/R]

U.S. indexes gained after retail sales rose more than estimated in September and Citigroup reported better than expected core earnings.

Stocks faced selling in the first hour of trading but quickly recovered and scaled higher and closed at the high of the day.

Investors also look ahead tomorrow to earnings from Coca-Cola, Goldman Sachs, United Health, IBM, Intel and CSX.

In addition, U.S. government and the Federal Reserve are scheduled to release industrial production and inflation data tomorrow.

SoftBank agreed to acquire 70% stake in Sprint Nextel in a complex deal that will offer $8 billion investment in the company and $12.1 billion to current shareholders.

Electronic chip makers traded higher on a speculation that Amazon ((AMZN)) is likely to acquire semiconductor components maker Texas Instruments ((TXN)). Advanced Micro Devices ((AMD)) gained a fraction and Sandisk ((SNDK)) jumped 3.4%.

The European indexes rose after investors searched for positive news in overseas markets and China reported improving trade data over the weekend. Greek premier Samaras offered optimistic comments on securing the next tranche of bailout fund soon.

Greek import price inflation rose and Czech current account deficit widened in August. Swiss producer and import price climbed in September.

CNH Global rebuffs Fiat''s buyout proposal as inadequate. H & M September total sales increased 15%. Hydro and Orkla agreed to form the largest aluminum solutions provider. ITT agreed to acquire Bornemann Pumps for €206 million.

The UK indexes advanced after home prices increased in October and gross domestic product is estimated to drop 0.2% this year. Santander UK withdrew out of its agreed purchase of 316 RBS branches valued at £1.7 billion.

Commodities, Bonds and Currencies

U.S. treasury yield on 10-year bond increased to 1.67% and on 30-year bond gained to 2.85%.

The U.S. dollar inched lower to $1.2956 to a euro and increased against the Japanese yen to 78.68 yen.

Immediate delivery futures of Texas crude oil increased 17 cents to $91.69 a barrel and Brent crude added $1.05 to $115.70, futures of natural gas decreased 0.12 cents to $3.48 per mbtu and gasoline traded down 4.22 cents to 285.07 cents a gallon.

In metals trading, copper decreased 0.3 cents to $3.70 per pound, gold decreased $21.10 to $1,738.60 per ounce and silver decreased 90 cents to $32.75.