Wall Street and Europe Awaits Rate and Stimulus Decisions

Nichole Harper
30 Nov, 2015
New York City

Stocks on Wall Street generally traded higher in listless trading as investors await central bankers decision in Washington and Brussels. Retail stocks were in focus for the second day after several large retailers struggled to cope with a surge in online store traffic.

[R][12:25 PM New York City, New York – Stocks on Wall Street generally traded higher in listless trading as investors await central bankers decision in Washington and Brussels. Retail stocks were in focus for the second day after several large retailers struggled to cope with a surge in online store traffic.[/R]

Stocks on Wall Street lacked direction but retained a positive bias of decision from the central banks in the U.S. and Europe.

U.S. Fed is expected to set the tone for the interest rate hike nearly after a decade and the European Central Bank is expected to announce more measures to increase liquidity in the financial system and lift inflation.

Market indexes traded gained in New York trading ahead of manufacturing data this week and non-farm payroll data and auto sales later in the week.

On Wall Street, Tollbooth Strategy Index slipped 16.93 to 11,034.80.

S&P 500 index edged down 0.86 to 2,089.29 and the Nasdaq Composite Index slid 2.61 to 5,124.45.

Crude oil in New York rose 55 cents to $42.26 a barrel and gold gained $5.59 to $1,063.04 an ounce.

U.S. Movers

NextEra Energy Inc ((NEE)) gained 63 cent to $100 after the renewable energy provider said its subsidiaries, La Frontera Ventures LLC agreed to sell its ownership interest in Forney and Lamar generating assets to an affiliate of Energy Future Holdings for about $1.59 billion.

The transaction is expected to close in the first-quarter of 2016.

Staples, Inc ((SPLS)) slipped 1.6% or 20 cents to $12.11 after the New York Post reported Federal Trade Commission preparing to block specialty retailer’s acquisition of smaller rival Office Depot Inc.

Office Depot Inc stock declined 3.3% to $6.53.

European Markets

In London trading, FTSE 100 index rose 11.06 or 0.2% to 6,386.41 and in Frankfurt the DAX index jumped 125.73 or 1.1% to 11,417.88.

In Paris, CAC 40 index increased 41.14 or 0.8% to 4,971.21.

For the month, FTSE 100 index edged up 0.4% and the DAX index surged 5.2% and the CAC 40 index gained 1.5%.

Aberdeen Asset Management Plc slumped 4.3% to 320.58 pence after the U.K.-based investment manager reported revenues in the first-half ending in September advanced 4.5% from a year ago to £1.17 billion.

Net profit in the period rose 0.6% from a year ago to £309 million compared to £307.1 million and diluted earnings per share fell 21.79 pence from 22.79 pence.

Delta Lloyd NV plunged 11.3% to €6.72after the Netherlands-based financial services provider plans to raise €1 billion or $1.06 billion to meet new regulatory standards through underwritten rights issue after the releasing of full year results on February 24, 2016.

Asian Markets

Nikkei average in Tokyo closed down and trimmed monthly gain to 3.5% and in trading today drug-makers, shippers and insurers led the decliners.

On the economic front, the housing starts in October declined for the first time in eight months to 2.5% compared to 2.6% jump in the previous month, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said.

The seasonally adjusted preliminary industrial output in October rose 1.4%, second monthly gain in a row after increasing 1.1% in September, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said.

Separately, the ministry reported total value of retail sales in October jumped 1.8% following the 0.1% decline in previous month.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, retail sales gained 1.1% followed by 0.8% increase in September.

Automobile production in October decreased 0.5% to 813,110 units and production declined for the 16th consecutive month in a row when compared to the previous year month, Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said today.

Automobile export in the month jumped 3.8% to 416,472 units but decreased from the same month a year ago.

Domestic passenger cars sales in October declined 4% to 315,192 units and truck sales in the month slumped 5% to 63,875 units.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slipped 136.47 or 0.7% to 19,747.47 and the broader Topix index decreased 14.20 to 1,580.25.

For the month, Nikkei 225 soared 3.5%.

The yen weakened to 122.74 against a dollar.

Stocks in Mumbai traded higher ahead of the rate decision from The Reserve Bank of India this week and the GDP report.

Economic growth rate in the fiscal second quarter ending in September increased to 7.4% after 7% rate in the previous quarter.

Economy expanded at an annual pace of 7.3% in the fiscal year ending in March 2015.

The government agency held out for fiscal year March 2016 rate at 7.5% on the hopes of faster industrial production and increase electricity output.

The intermediate goods sector increased at the fastest pace of 16% from the previous quarter and services sector expanded at 8.8%.

Rupee strengthened 10 paisa to 66.66 against one U.S. dollar.

The Sensex Index rose 17.47 to close at 26,145.67. The CNX Nifty slid 7.45 to 7,935.25.

For the month, Sensex Index declined 1.9% and CNX Nifty dropped 1.6%.

GDP growth in India accelerated to 7.4% in the fiscal second quarter.

Bharti Airtel plans to invest $900 million in the next three years to expand coverage in India.