Wall Street Flat, ECB Cuts Growth Target; Apple Rebounds 1%

Bikram Pandey
06 Dec, 2012
New York City

U.S. indexes traded higher as the prospect of budget negotiation settlement rose. The number of foreclosure sale continues to drop to 19% of all sales across the nation in the third quarter. European Central Bank left its main rate at 0.75% and cut its estimate of growth to 0.3% in the euro zone.

[R]4:10 PM, New York – U.S. indexes traded higher as the prospect of budget negotiation settlement rose. The number of foreclosure sale continues to drop to 19% of all sales across the nation in the third quarter. European Central Bank left its main rate at 0.75% and cut its estimate of growth to 0.3% in the euro zone.[/R]

U.S. indexes reversed earlier losses and traded higher after lawmakers sounded optimistic in resolving budget differences. Foreclosure sales fell in the third quarter and jobless claims declined 25,000 to 370,000.

Budget negotiations overshadowed market sentiment and 12 Republican lawmakers urged U.S. House leader John Boehner to keep open mind on increasing taxes for highest income earners.

Apple Inc jumped 1% after falling 6.4% in the previous session on the worries that rising competition from Google and Nokia may take bite out of the company’s global market share. Apple also said it plans to spend $100 million next year on manufacturing Mac computers in the U.S.

Akamai surged 10% after the operator of Internet network of server farms operator agreed to offer services to AT&T customers and integrate into AT&T network.

Freeport-McMoran extended losses by 4% after dropping 16% after analysts lowered their views on the recently announced deal of $9 billion to acquire Plains Exploration and McMoRan Exploration.

Central banks in Europe hold key rates. The euro area economy slipped into recession in the third quarter. German factory orders rebound and UK trade deficit widened in October. Greek jobless rate rose to record levels in September.

Air Berlin capacity utilization rose in November. Barclays increased its stake in the Absa Group to 62.3%. Micro Focus first-half net fell 2.7% to $60.65 million. Carl Zeiss Meditec annual revenue climbed 13.6% to €861.9 million.

Commodities, Bonds and Currencies

U.S. treasury yield on 10-year bond was flat at 1.58% and on 30-year bond decreased to 2.76%.

The U.S. dollar inched higher to $1.297 to a euro and increased against the Japanese yen to 82.33 yen.

Immediate delivery futures of Texas crude oil decreased $1.56 to $86.31 a barrel and Brent crude fell $1.96 to $106.85, futures of natural gas decreased 5 cents to $3.65 per mbtu and gasoline traded down 4.14 cents to 259.61 cents a gallon.

In metals trading, gold increased $6.50 to $1,700.30 per ounce and silver increased 9 cents to $33.05 and copper closed down 4.2 cents to $3.64 a pound.