ICE to Acquire NYSE Euronext, Stocks Ride Fiscal Cliff Talks Optimisim

Bikram Pandey
20 Dec, 2012
New York City

Stocks seesawed after lawmakers sparred but House Speaker Boehner sounded optimistic. Only 12-years old IntercontinentalExchange Group agreed to acquire NYSE Euronext Group for $8.2 billion and solidify its leadership in derivatives market and extend reach in Europe and challenge CME Group.

[R]4:50 PM, New York – Stocks seesawed for the second day in a row after lawmakers sparred but House Speaker Boehner sounded optimistic. Only 12-years old IntercontinentalExchange Group agreed to acquire NYSE Euronext Group for $8.2 billion and solidify its leadership in derivatives market and extend reach in Europe and challenge CME Group.[/R]

Stocks on Wall Street seesawed on changing expectations on budget negotiations. U.S. House Speaker John Boehner prepared to pass a bill to increase taxes on wealthy taxpayers. However, the tax increase falls short of White House demands.

U.S. jobless claims rose and the economy expanded at a faster rate than in the third quarter than estimated previously.

In corporate news, ARRIS agreed to buy Motorola Home business for $2.35 billion. Knight Capital agreed to be acquired by Getco for $1.4 billion.

IntercontinentalExchange Group agreed to acquire New York Stock Exchange Euronext for $8.2 billion in cash and stock. The deal will create one of the world’s largest exchange groups with trading in stocks, derivatives and futures markets.

ICE, based in Atlanta agreed to pay 38% premium to the closing price on Wednesday. Last year Justice Department blocked the bid from the company with Nasdaq OMX Group Inc on the worries that the merged entity would dominate U.S. stock listings and trading.

The European Commission approved restructuring plans of four Spanish banks. BNP planes to sell its entire 95% stake in BNP Paribas Egypt S.A.E. to Emirates NBD for $500 million.

German producer prices eased to a four-month low in November. Swiss jobless rate rose in the third quarter. Italian retail sales fell in October.

Aegon formed strategic partnership with Banco Santander. UBS to face Hong Kong rate manipulation probe. TeliaSonera agreed to divest NextGenTel to Telio for NOK 601 million.

The UK indexes edged modestly higher after retail sales remained flat in November. Weir Group agreed to acquire engineering company Mathena. Accenture quarterly revenues rose 2% to $7.22 billion. HSBC subsidiary agreed to sell its entire 18% stake in Bao Viet for $340 million.

Investors turned cautious and sold stocks and Bank of Japan expanded its asset purchase program but left it inflation target at 1%. The latest central bank action was widely anticipated.

The benchmark index in Sydney closed higher and extended gains in the year above 12%. Qantas won a preliminary approval for its cooperation with Emirates for sharing passenger and freight transportation across their networks that could save $150 million a year.

Commodities, Bonds and Currencies

U.S. treasury yield on 10-year bond closed at 1.80% and on 30-year bond rose to 2.98%.

The U.S. dollar inched lower to $1.324 to a euro and increased against the Japanese yen to 84.40 yen.

Immediate delivery futures of Texas crude oil decreased 2 cents to $89.51 a barrel and Brent crude fell 21 cents to $110.19, futures of natural gas increased 13 cents to $3.45 per mbtu and gasoline traded up 1.25 cents to 275.54 cents a gallon.

In metals trading, gold decreased $19.40 to $1,648.10 per ounce and silver eased $1.16 to $29.94 and copper closed down 7.00 cents to $3.53 a pound.