Wall Street Powers Ahead; U.S. Trade Deficit Shrinks, Confident ECB

Nichole Harper
03 Jun, 2015
New York City

Stocks on Wall Street jumped but struggled to hold advances after the U.S. trade deficit in April shrank. ECB reaffirmed its commitment to complete the unprecedented bond purchase program and said economy in the euro zone is healing.

[R]1:15 PM – Stocks on Wall Street jumped but struggled to hold advances after the U.S. trade deficit in April shrank. ECB reaffirmed its commitment to complete the unprecedented bond purchase program and said economy in the euro zone is healing.[/R]

Stocks on Wall Street jumped in the first hour of trading but trimmed in the next hour after the U.S. trade deficit in April shrank and Greece saga pointed to an agreement in the euro zone.

Trade deficit in April narrowed by $9.7 billion to $40.9 billion from the revised deficit of $50.6 billion in March. Exports in April rose by $1.9 billion and imports fell by $7.8 billion from March.

The goods deficit slid $9.3 billion and service surplus grew $0.4 billion. The goods and services deficit increased 0.9%, the Department of Commerce reported.

On Wall Street, Tollbooth Strategy Index gained 0.4% or 44.77 to 10,806.71.

S&P 500 index rose 0.2% or 2.58 to 2,114.33 and the Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 3.99 to 5,087.09.

Crude oil in New York added 81 cents to $61.01 a barrel and gold gained $3.70 to $1,192.40 an ounce.

U.S. Movers

G-III Apparel Group, Ltd ((GIII)) surged 8.8% or $5.29 to $65.38 after the apparel and accessories retailer reported net sales in the first-quarter ending in April climbed 18% to $433 million from a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter soared more than four-fold to $6.8 million or 15 cents per diluted share compared to $1.3 million or 3 cents from the same quarter last year.

The company forecasted net sales for the second-quarter of $470 million from $424 million in a year ago period and net income between $6.9 million and $9.3 million and diluted earnings per share in the range of 15 cents to 20 cents.

The retailer lifted its net sales forecast for the year of about $2.40 billion and net income in the range of $123 million to $128 million and diluted earnings per share between $2.66 and $2.76.

Guess?, Inc ((GES)) gained 1.7% or 31 cents to $18.96 after the apparel and accessories retailer said total net revenues in the first-quarter ending on May 2 declined 8.4% to $478.8 million from a year ago period.

Net in the quarter swung to profit $3.3 million or 4 cents per diluted share compared to a loss of $2.1 million or 3 cents from the same quarter last year.

The retailer forecasted net revenue second-quarter to slump between 13% and 11% and earnings per share in the range of 12 cents to 16 cents.

For the year, the company forecasted net revenues to decline between 8.5% and 6.5% and earnings per share in the range of 86 cents to $1.02.

European Markets

Market indexes in Europe advanced after the European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi reaffirmed the bank’s commitment in completing the 1.1 trillion euro bond purchase program.

Draghi at a press conference after the meeting of policy makers said that the economy is slowly healing and the inflation is building and price increases are still within the target set by the central bank.

Draghi insisted that markets must get used to higher volatility and said “the recovery is on track exactly according to our projection.”

Inflation in the euro zone accelerate to 0.3% in May, first positive reading in six months and core rate, excluding volatile food and energy prices, increased 0.9%, the fastest rate in nine months.

After the announcement, the German 10-year bund yield jumped to the highest this year at 0.8871%.

In April seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Euro-zone fell 11.1% from 11.2% in March and 11.7% from a year ago month. In EU28 unemployment rate stable at 9.7% from March and 10.3% in April 2014, the Statistical Office of the European Communities said.

In a separate report the department added seasonally adjusted retail trade in April rose 0.7% compared to March in euro area and 0.6% in the EU28. In March retail trade decreased 0.6% in the euro area and 0.4% in the EU28.

In London trading, FTSE 100 index jumped 0.7% or 47.42 to 6,975.44 and in Frankfurt the DAX index climbed 0.8% or 81.88 to 11,418.08.

In Paris, CAC 40 index gained 0.5% or 26.52 to 5,031.75.

Voestalpine AG soared 5.5% to €40.47 after the Austria-based flat steel products maker reported revenues in the year ending in March rose 1% to €11.19 billion from €11.08 in a year ago period.

Net profit in the year climbed 18% from a year ago to €594.2 million compared to €503.4 million and diluted earnings per share increased to €3.11 from €2.59.

Voestalpine forecasted net income in the first-quarter of about €90 million and said that the estimate includes revaluation of assets at fair value because of full consolidation of companies.

Ryanair Holdings Plc jumped 1.4% to €11.71 after the Ireland-based low-cost airline company said traffic in May surged 16% to 9.5 million passengers from 8.2 million passengers and load factor climbed to 92% from 85% in the same month a year ago.

Asian Markets

Nikkei in Tokyo edged lower for the second day in a row and the yen traded above the 12-year low as investors booked profits. Traders and investors are looking for more corporations to increase profit sharing and higher dividend pay outs.

Nikkei in Tokyo trading edged down for the second day after the longest rally in more than three decades ended on Monday.

The yen rebounded from the 12-year low and investors remained optimistic about corporate profits in Japan on weakening yen and rising confidence in the domestic economy.

Honda, Komatsu, Toyota and other exporters led the gainers in the 12-day long market index rally.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 26.68 to 20,543.19 and the broader Topix index slid 4.35 to 1,674.21.

The yen closed at 124.50 against a dollar.

Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited gained 0.2% to 2,380 yen after the Nikkei daily said pharmaceuticals company is targeting an operating profit for the year of about 100 billion yen every fiscal year till 2018.

LIXIL Group Corp soared 4.5% to 2,534 yen after the Nikkei news said building material provider lowered its full-year forecast after its China-based German-listed unit Joyou AG is facing loss of 33.2 billion yen and commenced insolvency proceedings.

Earlier, Lixil said loss for the year would be of about 41 billion yen.

Lixil forecasted sales for the year of about 1.67 trillion yen and operating profit of 51.5 billion yen while net income of about 22 billion yen.

Today the company said financial results for the fiscal 2015 and amendments to the financial results of fiscal 2014 will be announced on June 8.

Market indexes in Mumbai extended losses on the delayed-monsoon and cautious stand from the Reserve Bank of India.

Indexes opened lower and in choppy trading drifted down in the session and banks and financial services companies led the decliners.

The Indian Meteorological Department on Tuesday revised its monsoon forecast from “slightly less than normal” to “deficient” and parts of the nation are nearing drought conditions.

Rupee weakened 10 paisa to 63.92 against one U.S. dollar.

The Sensex Index dropped 351.18 or 1.3% to close at 26,837.20. The CNX Nifty slipped 101.35 or 1.2% to 8,135.10.

Life Insurance Corporation of India, won a regulatory approval from Bangladesh to operate the business in the country.