U.S. and World Markets Churn on Fed and ECB Fears

Nichole Harper
12 Jun, 2013
New York City

U.S. stocks churn as investors attempt to decipher the next move from the Fed and European Central Bank. The latest market surge has been supported by the accommodative policies of central banks and investors are increasingly focused on the impact of early stimulus withdrawal.

[R]11:10 AM New York – U.S. stocks churn as investors attempt to decipher the next move from the Fed and European Central Bank. The latest market surge has been supported by the accommodative policies of central banks and investors are increasingly focused on the impact of early stimulus withdrawal.[/R]

U.S. stocks opened higher but lost early gains and dipped in the negative territory. Indexes in Europe were under pressure and the yen gained for the second week in a row.

The S&P 500 index declined 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.15%.

Vodafone Group, the UK based telecom operator and Germany based Kabel Deutschland Holding AG discussed merger possibilities but the German cable operator deemed the offer price was too low.

Pfizer finalized its settlement of $2.15 billion for patent infringement related to its acid-reflux drug Protonix with Teva Pharmaceuticals and Sun Pharma.

European Markets

European markets erased morning advance after automakers and construction companies led the decliners.

In London, FTSE 100 index declined 0.3%, in Frankfurt the DAX index fell 0.9% and in Paris the CAC 40 index edged down 0.2%.

Euro zone factory production increased 0.4% in April from March, the eurostat said in Luxembourg today.

The unexpected rebound in production offered yet another evidence that the euro zone economy is stabilizing and showing early signs of muted recovery.

Asian Markets

Market indexes in Tokyo continued to slide and the yen gained nearly 3% as corporate Japan take wait-and-see approach on Abenomics.

The yen gained after the Bank of Japan failed to offer more measures to stabilize the bond market and the latest machinery orders were weaker than expected.

Machinery orders declined 8.8% in April from March, Cabinet Office said today. The weakness in the orders only highlighted the corporate Japan to wait and see how the latest monetary and government stimulus works out in the quarters to come.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slid 28.30 to 13,289.32 and Topix index fell 4.61 to 1,096.54.

The Sensex index in Mumbai declined and consumer price index declined to 9.31% in May, third monthly decline in a row. Factory production in April increased less than expected at 2% rate and the rupee edged up 0.8% from its record low of 57.85 in yesterday’s close.

Stocks in Review

Cooper Tire & Rubber ((CTB)) surged more than 40% after the India based Apollo Tyres agreed to acquire the compay for $35 a share.

First Solar ((FSLR)) decreased 3% after the company said it plans to sell 10% of its outstanding share in a public offering or 8.5 million shares to finance daily operations.

Rambus ((RMBS)) increased 6% after the fables chip maker settled its dispute with the South Korea based SK Hynix and signed a license agreement for the use of its technology.

Spectra Energy Corp ((SE)) soared 10% after the company said it plans to increase its dividend from 12 cents a share from 8 cents after it plans to sell its transmission and storage assets to Spectra Energy Partners before the year-end.