U.S. Jobless Claims Drops to 6-Year Low, China's International Trade Improve

Nichole Harper
08 Aug, 2013
New York City

U.S. weekly jobless claims drop to the lowest since 2007. China reported improving trade data. Tesla sold more than expected electric car sales. Rio Tinto net plunges after mining industry boom wanes. T-Mobile unit of Deutsche Telekom adds more than expected new customers.

[R]11:40 AM New York – U.S. weekly jobless claims drop to the lowest since 2007 and China reported improving exports and imports data. Tesla soared after the electric car maker reported better than expected unit sales. Groupon, the daily deals site appointed controversial billionaire as permanent chief executive.[/R]

Stocks on Wall Street opened higher but quickly dropped below flat line after jobless claims rose last week and China reported improving exports and imports.

S&P 500 index declined 0.5 to 1,690.38 and the Nasdaq Composite Index increased 5.67 to 3,660.05.

Weekly jobless claims increased to 333,000 in the last week and in the four weeks ending on August 3 claims declined to 335,500 on average.

The claims were at the low since November 2007 and compared to previous week, initial jobless claims increased 5,000.

European Markets

In London, FTSE 100 index increased 0.4% and in Frankfurt the DAX index gained 0.7%. In Paris, CAC 40 index added 0.5%.

Deutsche Telekom AG soared 6.1% to €9.60 after the Germany based phone company said net revenue in the second quarter climbed 5.4% to €15.16 billion from €14.38 billion. Net profit for the quarter surged 10% to €530 million compared to €530 million.

Asian Markets

China’s General Administration of Customs reported imports surged 10.9% and exports increased 5.1% resulting in a trade surplus of $17.8 billion in July.

Markets in Asia traded higher except volatility in Japan dragged the Nikkei lower 1.6%.

Nikkei has fluctuated more than 2% in more than 30 trading sessions compared to less than 10 in the entire 2012 as investors struggle to build on 37% surge in the index in the year so far.

The CSI 300 index declined 0.2% and Hang Seng gained 0.3% after China reported better than expected trade data for July.

In India, Reserve Bank took additional steps to shore up struggling rupee and drained financial system liquidity and two reference rates. The Sensex index gained less than 0.1%. Tata Motor reported less than expected earnings and net fell 23% to $282 million or 22.2 billion rupees.

Domestic deliveries of cars and trucks declined 19% in the quarter and profit at Jaguar Land Rover unit increased 29% to 304 million pounds.

Market indexes in Thailand increased 1.2% and in Seoul gained 0.2% and in Australia gained 1% on the back of Chinese trade data and jobless rate held at 5.7% in July.

Rio Tinto Plc gained 1.4% to 2,994.50 after the UK based mining company reported revenue in the first-half ending in June dropped 3.2% to $24.5 billion from $25.3 billion a year earlier. Net income for the period tumbled 71% to $1.72 billion compared to $5.88 billion and diluted earnings per share declined 92.6 cents from 315.7 cents a year ago period.

U.S. Stocks in Review

Mining and materials stocks closed higher after China reported better than expected trade data.

Cliffs Natural Resources increased 4% and Mosaic Corp and Potash of Saskatchewan increased more than 2%.

Groupon soared 25% after the daily-deals site operator reported a second quarter loss of $7.57 million or 1 cent a share, lower than at least 3 cent a share loss estimated by analysts.

Prudential Financial Inc increased 2% after the second largest U.S. life insurer reported improved financial results and the company reported results including a recent purchase of a unit from Hartford Financial Services Group.

Tesla soared 13% after the electric car maker reported second quarter operating profit increased to 20 cents a share that included 15 cents linked to leasing contracts.