Market Sustains Positive Bias

123jump.com Staff
23 Aug, 2006
New York City

Market averages after opening on a weak note gained a mild momentum in the early trading. Three poplular averages are showing 0.3% rise. Semiconductor stocks are up led by a rise in National Semi and Advanced Micro. Industrial stocks such as Caterpillar and Deere are leading the advancers. Legg Mason and Apple Computer are up in the first 30 min of trading.

[R]9:45AM Market show steady rise from the opening.[/R]
Market averages opened on a weak note only to rise steadily in the first fifteen minutes of trading. Traders are waiting for a reprot on existing home sales and weekly petroleum invenotory report. Industrial stocks are taking the leads in the early opening. Caterpillar is up 40 cents, Deere & Co is 30 cents and Ingersoll Rand is 5 cents at the opening. BHP Billiton is down 25 cents on earnings.

Oil is trading 30 cents lower in the early trading but gold is up $4.40 at the opening in New York.

[R]9:20AM Pre-Market trading averages expect market to open lower.[/R]
Market averages are expected to open lower despite a fall in oil prices in the pre-market trading. Iran has requested for negotiations to respond to the demands of the U.N. to stop the uranium enrichment process. Traders are also awaiting two economic reports this morning. Weekly petroleum report due in the morning at 10:30 AM and existing home sales report at 10:AM.

Weekly Petroleum Report is expected to show a decline in crude oil and gasoline invenotries of at least 1 million barrels. Housing report for the month of July is expected to show that existing home sales have declined in July. Housing market has been steadily declining for the last six months and has become a subject of intense debate. Increasigly the ‘soft landing’ view is revised by analysts to somewhat approaching ‘hard landig’ in the housing market.

Asian markets closed lower with 0.11% decline in Tokyo. Thailand lost 1.12% and India declined 0.83% in a volatile session. At mid-day European markets are trading lower with 0.3% decline in Frankfurt.

BHP Billiton ((BHP)), Anglo-Australian mining giant, lost 3% in the UK trading on the earnings news. The company reported a profit of $10.45 billion compared to $6.43 billion a year ago on revenue of $39.10 compared to $31.15 billion a year ago. The company also stated that it plans to spend $3 billion to buy back stocks in the next eighteen months.