Indexes on Wall Street Rebound, Jobless Claims Near 15-Year Low

Nichole Harper
07 May, 2015
New York City

Deals dominated market trading on Wall Street and indexes rebounded in early afternoon from the morning slump. Weekly claims of unemployment hovered near 15-year low last week despite uneven and moderate economic growth.

[R]2:00 PM – Deals dominated market trading on Wall Street and indexes rebounded in early afternoon from the morning slump. Weekly claims of unemployment hovered near 15-year low last week despite uneven and moderate economic growth.[/R]

Market indexes on Wall Street traded higher after morning slump and Alexion Pharma agreed to acquire Synageva for about $8 billion and Yelp Inc is exploring company sale.

Seasonally adjusted weekly jobless claims increased 3,000 to 265,000 from the previous week unrevised claims of 265,000, the Department of Labor said.

On Wall Street, Tollbooth Strategy Index jumped 0.5% or 51.30 to 10,639.30.

S&P 500 index gained 11.99 or 0.6% to 2,092.17 and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 34.64 or 0.7% to 4,954.23.

Crude oil in New York slipped $1.24 to $59.69 a barrel and gold dropped $7.40 to $1,182.90 an ounce.

Yelp Inc ((YELP)) soared 15% or $5.82 to $44.04 on speculation that the company is in merger talks with various suitors according to a report published by Wall Street Journal.

U.S. Movers

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc ((ALXN)) climbed 3.3% or $5.04 to $160.05 after the drug-maker agreed to acquire Synageva BioPharma Corp for about $8.4 billion to develop its experimental early-stage treatment for rare metabolic disease.

Alexion said it will pay $115 in cash and a portion of its stock for each of Synageva share, a premium of about 136% to Synageva''s closing price of $95.87 on May 6.

The transaction is expected to close in the middle of the year.

Shares of Synageva Biopharma Corp jumped 2.7% to $208.90.

European Markets

In London trading, FTSE 100 index slipped 0.7% or 48.60 to 6,885.14 and in Frankfurt the DAX index gained 0.5% or 53.83 to 11,403.98.

In Paris, CAC 40 index fell 0.4% or 19.08 to 4,962.51.

ArcelorMittal SA declined 2.8% to €9.31 after the Luxembourg-based steel maker reported sales in the first-quarter ending in March declined 13.5% to $17.12 billion from $19.79 billion in a year ago period.

Net loss in the quarter widened from a year ago to $728 million compared to $205 million and diluted loss per share increased to 41 cents from 12 cents.

The company said total steel shipments in the quarter jumped 3% to 21.6 million metric tons from a year ago period.

The company said sales in the Europe segment climbed 5.9% to €7.6 billion and operating profit of €281 million from €58 million in a year ago period.

Depreciation in the quarter dropped to $807 million compared to $982 million in the fourth-quarter. Impairment charges in the fourth-quarter were $264 million.

Continental AG gained 1.2% to €209.20 after the Germany-based tire maker said revenues in the first-quarter ending in March soared 14% to €9.57 billion form €8.39 billion in a year ago period.

Net profit in the quarter climbed 11.6% from a year ago to €656.7 million compared to €588.3 million and earnings per share jumped to €3.28 from €2.94.

The tire maker forecasted sales for the current fiscal year of about €39 billion from earlier estimate of about 38.5 billion.

E.ON SE jumped 2.2% to €13.97 after the Germany-based energy solutions provider stated revenues in the first-quarter ending in March dropped 2% to €30.55 billion form €31.04 billion in a year ago period.

Net profit in the quarter jumped 29.3% from a year ago to €1.17 billion compared to €905 million and earnings per share increased to €0.55 from €0.40.

E.ON forecasted operating profit for the year may between €1.4 billion and €1.8 billion.

Siemens AG decreased 1.2% to €13.97 after the Germany-based conglomerate stated revenues in the second-quarter ending in March climbed 8% to €18.05 billion form €16.70 billion in a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter surged more than three-fold from a year ago to €3.89 billion compared to €1.12 billion and earnings per share jumped to €4.70 from €1.33.

Asian Markets

Market indexes in Tokyo declined to a one-month low in cautious trading after bond prices in Japan declined following a worldwide selloff and cautious comments from the U.S. Fed Chair Janet Yellen.

Japan’s monetary base at the end of April climbed at a record 35.6% to 305.88 trillion yen or $2.56 trillion from a year earlier, as the Bank of Japan continued to provide more liquidity.

The central bank has targeted to boost the monetary base at an annual pace of about 80 trillion yen.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 239.64 or 1.2% to 19,291.99 and the broader Topix index slumped 10.97 to 1,574.64.

The yen closed at 119.34 against a dollar.

Sensex in Mumbai declined to a 6-1/2 months low as land bill struggles in parliament and foreign investors book profit.

Rupee weakened 69 paisa 64.23.

The Sensex Index slipped 118.26 or 0.4% to close at 26,599.11. The CNX Nifty decreased 39.70 or 0.5% to 8,057.30.

In 2015, the Sensex is down 3.3%.