Stocks on Wall Street and Europe Rise on Putin Comments

Nichole Harper
14 Aug, 2014
New York City

Stocks on Wall Street traded higher after conciliatory comments from Russian President Putin. On the domestic front, Wal-Mart quarterly sales met expectations but the largest retailer lowered estimates. Cisco Systems to eliminate 6,000 jobs after quarterly net fell 1%.

[R]4:10 PM New York – Stocks on Wall Street traded higher after conciliatory comments from Russian President Putin. On the domestic front, Wal-Mart quarterly sales met expectations but the largest retailer lowered estimates. Cisco Systems to eliminate 6,000 jobs after quarterly net fell 1%.[/R]

Stocks on Wall Street advanced after conciliatory comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin eased tensions over Ukraine crisis.

President Putin reiterated his stance on the escalating confrontation with Ukraine and said Russia would stand for itself but not at the cost of conflict with the rest of the world.

The conciliatory comments were viewed by European markets and investors in New York and market average gained across Atlantic.

Tollbooth Index edged up 0.08% or 7.86 to 9,339.20.

S&P 500 index increased 7.18 or 0.4% to 1,953.91 and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 15.70 or 0.4% to 4,449.76.

Initial claims of jobless benefits at the end of last week to Aug 9 increased 21,000 to 311,000, the highest in six weeks, Labor Department reported today.

The increase in weekly claims interrupted a steady decline in claims to pre-recession low.

Berkshire Hathaway increased 1.5% to close at $202,605 as the company topped $200,000 per share for the first time.

The insurance to railroads to consumer products conglomerate is controlled and managed by Warren Buffett for nearly five decades.

U.S. Movers

Cisco Systems, Inc. ((CSCO)) dropped 2.4% or 61 cents to $24.59 after the network equipment maker said total revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in June were flat at $12.4 billion from a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter fell 1% to $2.2 billion or 43 cents a diluted share compared to $2.3 billion or 42 cents from a same quarter last year.

Cisco met revenues expectations and the networking company announced a plan to eliminate 6,000 jobs.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ((WMT)) slid 1 cent to $74.02 after the retail stores stated net sales in the second-quarter ending in June increased 2.8% to $120 billion from a year ago period. Comparable store sales in the quarter were flat.

Net income in the quarter increased 0.6% to $4.09 billion or $1.26 a diluted share compared to $4.07 billion or $1.24 from a same quarter last year.

Wal-Mart met quarterly earnings and revenues expectations but the largest retailer in the U.S. lowered its estimate for coming quarters.

European Markets

In London trading, FTSE 100 index gained 0.5% or 31 to 6,687.68 and in Frankfurt the DAX index increased 0.3% or 29.53 to 9,228.41.

In Paris, CAC 40 index rose 0.3% or 11.25 to 4,206.04.

On the European corporate front, Denmark based Novozymes said net surged 20% to 1.28 billion kronor.

German utility RWE said profit tumbled 62% to €749 million after revenue declined 10% and plans to decommission further power stations. Rheinmetall net swung to profit of €2 million as sales jumped.

ThyssenKrupp net swung to a loss of €425 million and the technology and industrial products conglomerate continued to she debt, sell assets and cut jobs as the company entered the second year in restructuring.

Asian Markets

In Tokyo trading, the Nikkei 225 Stock Average jumped 100.94 or 0.6% to 15,314.57 and the broader Topix index rose 8.37 to 1,270.50.

The yen closed at 102.49 against one U.S. dollar.

The Cabinet Office said gross domestic product in the second quarter contracted at annual rate of 6.8% from a year earlier and downwardly revised 6.1% increase in the first quarter from initially reported 6.7%.

On an annualized quarterly basis, GDP slumped 1.7% compared to downwardly revised increase of 1.5% in the last quarter from 1.6%.

Consumer spending in the second-quarter tumbled 5.2% after adding 2.1% in the previous quarter.

In Mumbai trading, the Sensex Index jumped 184.28 or 0.7% to close at 26,103.23 The CNX Nifty increased 52.15 to 7,791.70.

The rupee eased to 60.70 against one dollar ahead of 68th Independence Day speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Red Fort and expectations ran high of another round of financial and banking reforms.