NY Stocks Decline, Lennar Drops

123jump.com Staff
27 Mar, 2007
New York City

Market averages in NY trading at mid-day trading fell on the worries related to slowdown in economic growth and housing sector profits. The consumer confidence index fell in March as well. Stocks in housing sector came under renewed pressures on lower than expected profit from Lennar. The company reported 73% fall in profit on revenue decline of 14%.

[R]12:30PM NY – US stocks fall on housing index fall and larger than expected fall in consumer confidence[/R]

Market averages fell at mid-day trading led by a sharp fall in stocks in housing and construction industry. The S&P Case-Shiller composite index dropped 0.7% in January from a year ago. The index tracks prices of homes in 10 metropolitan markets and index that tracks prices in 20 metros fell 0.2%.

Home builder Lennar Inc ((LEN)) fell $1.02 or 2% at mid-day trading on the report that its first quarter profit fell 73% on revenue decline of 14%. The company reported earnings per share of 43 cents compared to $1.58 a year ago. The company also said that it is not likely to meet the earnings guidance for the year 2007. In the last one year the stock has traded between $62.38 and $38.66. The news dragged the entire housing sector down.

The Conference Board in New York reported consumer confidence in March fell to 107.2, down from the revised February level of 111.2.

[R]9:30AM The FTSE 100 was edges higher Tuesday on bid talk involving Next.[/R]

The UK market was slightly higher on Tuesday. By mid-day, the FTSE 100 added 0.17%, to 6,302.

Advancers

Next led the advancers with a gain of 3.6% on a report that a leading investment bank has joined forces with a private equity group to work on an leveraged buyout of the retailer.

Miners were higher, helped by stronger commodity prices and hopes for further consolidation in the sector. Kazakhmys added 0.6%, after Citigroup upgraded its recommendation from hold to buy.

Xstrata was up 1.3% on the announcement on Monday that it was to acquire Canadian nickel and gold miner LionOre Mining International. Other miners trading strongly included Rio Tinto, up 1%, Anglo American, up 1.2%, and BHP Billiton, higher by 1.4%.

Signet led the mid-cap advancers with an increase of 3.6%, after Morgan Stanley upgraded the jewllery retailer from equal weight to overweight and raised its price target. Emap rose 2.6% as the media group confirmed it was considering its options relating to its radio operations in the Republic of Ireland. GCap Media added 3.7% after the radio company said advertising revenues had improved steadily over the last six months

Decliners

Cairn Energy, off 2%, is to pay for 70% of a new pipeline to transport oil from its fields in Rajahstan, India. Indian state-oil group ONGC will fund the rest. Oil services group John Wood says chairman Ian Wood and associated family trusts are to sell 50 million shares in the company.

Reportedly, Persimmon could gatecrash the proposed 5.4 billion pounds merger between housebuilders Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey. Persimmon edged 0.9% lower and John Wood Group fell 4.2%. George Wimpey fell 1.7%.

[R]9:00AM Asian markets finish mostly lower on Tuesday on export-related stocks.[/R]
Asian markets finished mostly lower on Tuesday. The Nikkei 225 average was down 0.9% to 17,365.05, as about 90% of Nikkei 225 constituents were to go ex-dividend from Tuesday, accounting for about 90 points of the decline in the Japanese benchmark. Among higher-yielding issues to go ex-dividend Tuesday, NTT DoCoMo fell 1.4%, while NEC Electronics fell 1.2%. Canon fell 0.5%. Japanese automotive issues traded weaker, with Toyota Motor Corp ending 1.2% lower while Nissan Motors shed 2.4%.

Hong Kong Hang Seng Index ended 0.3% lower at 19,706.79. The China Enterprises Index, a gauge of Hong Kong-listed mainland shares, rose 0.2% to 9,573.62, as energy-related stocks tracked gains in crude-oil prices. Also in the region, Australia S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.4%, while Taiwan Weighted Price Index lost 0.4% and Thailand SET Index fell 0.2%.

Of the gainers, Singapore Straits Times Index was up 0.9%, as well as New Zealand NZSX-50, which ended the session up 0.5%, and Indonesia JSX Composite, up 0.3%. South Korea Kospi index rose 0.2%, as did Malaysian KLSE Composite. China Shanghai Composite Index swung from a hesitant start to set an intraday record of 3135.23, boosted by gains in banking and utility shares.

[R]7:00AM European stocks were higher on Tuesday on Porsche stake in VW.[/R]
European markets were higher on Tuesday. By mid morning, Frankfurt Xetra Dax added 0.8% to 6,880.21, the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.6% to 5,609.87 and London FTSE 100 climbed 0.6% to 6,327.9.

Advancers

Porsche shares gained 3.4% after the sports car manufacturer exercised an option on Monday to lift its voting stake in Volkswagen to 30.9%, above the 30% threshold that should trigger a takeover bid.

DaimlerChrysler climbed 2.8% as speculation that it was poised to announce a sale of its US Chrysler unit prompted a number of upgrades. Morgan Stanley lifted its price target on the stock.

German sportswear maker Adidas was up 3% as it received broker upgrades in response to takeover speculation. Merrill Lynch raised its rating to buy and its price target.

Decliners

Barclays, the third-largest U.K. bank, dropped 1.4%. Its President Robert Diamond announced he is very confident about the U.K. company talks to buy ABN Amro Holding NV, the biggest Dutch bank. Volkswagen, the region largest carmaker, lost 2.7%. France Telecom SA, the second-largest phone company in the region, slid 1.9%.

Oil and gold

Crude oil traded near its highest price this year as the U.K. demanded that Iran release 15 of its servicemen, increasing concerns the dispute will escalate and disrupt crude supplies from the Middle East. Crude oil for May delivery was at $62.55 a barrel, down 36 cents, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange in early trade in London. Brent crude for May settlement was 25 cents lower at $64.16 a barrel, on the London- based ICE Futures exchange.

Gold for immediate delivery was little changed at $664.10 an ounce in London. Silver dropped 1.5 cents to $13.365 an ounce. Platinum was unchanged at $1,236.50 and palladium gained $1.50 to $354. Copper declined in London, erasing earlier gains. Copper for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange declined $16, or 0.2%, to $6,835 a metric ton.

Currencies

The euro rose after a stronger-than-forecast German business confidence index. The euro traded at $1.3347, up from $1.3331 Monday in New York. The British pound traded at $1.9640, down from $1.9698. The dollar fetched 118.14 Japanese yen, up from 118.04.

[R]5:00AM Copper reached a high Monday, gold and silver advanced.[/R]
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the most-active May copper contract gained 6.95 cents to end at $3.1385 per pound. April gold climbed $6.60 to settle at $663.90 an ounce on the Nymex, while May silver advanced 18.3 cents to close at $13.41 an ounce. April platinum rose $3.10 to end at $1,236.50 an ounce, but June palladium ended 50 cents lower at $359 an ounce.

The May crude oil contract surged as high as $63.30 a barrel before ending 63 cents higher at $62.91 a barrel. April gasoline futures soared 6.94 cents to $2.0677 a gallon after hitting an intraday high of $2.07 a gallon. April heating oil gained 6.5 cents to $1.7761 a gallon, while natural gas futures for April delivery settled 1.5 cents lower at $7.254 a million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, Arabica coffee futures hit three-week highs. The May contracts ended up a penny at $1.1435 a pound, while July futures finished a cent higher at $1.1715 a pound. The May raw sugar contract closed 0.20 cent lower at 10.00 cents a pound, while July futures settled down at 10.05 cents a pound. In other trading, most-active May cocoa added $6 to settle at $1,926 a metric ton.