S&P 500 Struggles on Flat Producer inflation and 3% Drop in Oil

Nichole Harper
11 Sep, 2015
New York City

Market indexes on Wall Street in a slow but steady climb on Friday cross in the positive zone as oil plunged as much as 3%. Producer inflation is expected to remain restrained after the latest report from the government showed benign price pressures.

[R]12:45 PM New York City, New York – Market indexes on Wall Street in a slow but steady climb on Friday cross in the positive zone as oil plunged as much as 3%. Producer inflation is expected to remain restrained after the latest report from the government showed benign price pressures.[/R]

Stocks on Wall Street opened lower but in steady climb jumped back by mid-day trading but oil plunged as much as 3%.

Crude oil futures declined after Goldman Sachs laid out a bear case for the most heavily traded commodity to drop as low as $20 a barrel.

Goldman is late to join others in making a bearish call on crude oil as supply and inventory of oil continues to rise at storage locations.

The seasonally adjusted Producer Price Index in August was unchanged following 0.2% increase in July and 0.4% in June.

On an unadjusted basis, the index for final demand in August declined 0.8% from a year ago month, the U.S. Department of Labor said.

On Wall Street, Tollbooth Strategy Index gained 9.31 to 10,278.24.

S&P 500 index edged up 1.25 to 1,953.36 and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 2.59 to 4,798.80.

Crude oil in New York slid $1.21 to $44.53 a barrel and gold fell $7.80 to $1,101.50 an ounce.

U.S. Movers

General Electric Company fell 14 cents to $24.54 after the industrial conglomerate agreed to sell its transportation finance business of General Electric Co. in the U.S. and Canada to Canada-based BMO Financial Group without disclosing of financial terms.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year.

Kroger Co ((KR)) soared 4.8% or $1.70 to $37.10 after the grocery retailer reported total sales in the second-quarter ending on August 15 rose 0.9% from a year ago to $25.5 billion.

Net in the quarter swung to a loss of $7.7 million or 5 cents per diluted share compared to profit of $17.1 million or 11 cents from the same quarter last year.

For the year, Kroger lifted diluted earnings per share forecast in the range of $1.92 to $1.98 for from the previous guidance between $1.90 and $1.95 and sales growth of 4% to 5% from the earlier estimate between 3.5% and 4.5%.

European Markets

In London trading, FTSE 100 index fell 31.43 or 0.5% to 6,124.28 and in Frankfurt the DAX index decreased 54.48 or 0.5% to 10,155.96.

In Paris, CAC 40 index slipped 38.32 or 0.8% to 4,560.27.

For the week, FTSE 100 index increased 1.4% and the DAX index rose 1.2% and the CAC 40 index gained 0.8%.

Actelion Ltd declined 4.2% to 131.50 Swiss francs after the Switzerland-based biopharmaceutical company is in preliminary talk with the U.S.-based rival ZS Pharma Inc for about $2.5 billion.

ZS Pharma Inc soared 4.8% to $78.30.

J D Wetherspoon Plc slid 0.3% to 717.90 pence after the U.K.-based pubs and hotels operator said revenues in the year ending on July 26jumped 7.4% from a year ago to £1.51 billion form £1.41 billion.

Comparable sales in the year sales increased 3.3%.

Net profit in the year soared 9% from a year ago to £44.8 million compared to £41.1 million and diluted earnings per share increased to 36.7 pence from 32.8 pence.

Asian Markets

Stocks in Tokyo lacked direction and market indexes eased after a volatile week of trading.

Resources linked stocks closed higher and SoftBank was on focus on speculation that the company founder Masayoshi Son is looking to take the company private.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 35.40 or 0.2% to 18,264.22 and the broader Topix index edged down 0.71 to 1,480.23.

For the week, Nikkei 225 jumped 2.6%.

The yen strengthened to 120.70 against a dollar.

SoftBank Group Corp fell 0.6% to 6,513 yen and Bloomberg said that the company founder is in talks with a lender and consider a possible management buyout, according to a report from Bloomberg.

In a lackluster trading session on Friday, stocks in Mumbai closed lower and for the week the Sensex index advanced 1.6%.

Rupee weakened 12 paisa to 66.55 against one U.S. dollar.

The Sensex Index fell 11.96 to close at 25,610.21. The CNX Nifty rose 1.20 to 7,789.30.

For the week, Sensex Index increased 1.6% and CNX Nifty advanced 1.7%.

Industrial production index in India jumped to 4.2% in July from a year ago month.

In July manufacturing index rose 4.7% while mining production grew 1.3% and electricity output rose 3.5%, the Central Statistical Office of India said today.

The capital goods sector soared 10.6% and overall consumer goods grew 1.3%, consumer durables surged 11.4%.

Larsen & Toubro is a step closer to issue bonds worth ₹9,600 crore or nearly $1.55 billion.