Merrill Lynch Earnings up 24%

Elena
19 Apr, 2007
New York City

Merrill Lynch said it earned $2.16 billion, or $2.26 a share, compared with $475 million, or 44 cents a share a year ago, topping estimates of $1.97 a share. Kraft Foods Inc. posted a 30% profit decline in Q1, its last under the control of Altria Group Inc. Net income for Q1 was $702 million, or 43 cents per share, down from $1 billion, or 61 cents per share a year ago. Excluding certain items, the company

[R]8:15AM Merrill Lynch posted 24% profit increase in Q1.[/R]
Merrill Lynch ((MER)) announced Thursday Q1 earnings increase of 24%, exceeding analyst expectations. The company said it earned $2.16 billion, or $2.26 a share, compared with $475 million, or 44 cents a share a year ago, topping estimates of $1.97 a share. In the year-ago Q1, Merrill said it had one-time compensation costs of $1.2 billion. Revenue at the firm rose 24%, to $9.85 billion from $7.97 billion.

Kraft Foods Inc. ((KFT)), the U.S. biggest food and beverage company, posted a 30% profit decline for the first quarter, its last under the control of Altria Group Inc. Net income for Q1 was $702 million, or 43 cents per share, down from $1 billion, or 61 cents per share a year ago. Excluding certain items, the company’s profit was 44 cents per share, 2 cents higher than the average analyst estimates. Revenue rose 5.7% to $8.6 billion, from $8.1 billion a year earlier, topping forecast of $8.41 billion.


[R]8:00AM NY-7:00PM Mumbai Sensex ends lower, banks, select large-caps advance.[/R]
The Sensex on BSE finished 52.49 points, or 0.38%, lower at 13,619.70.

The session was highly volatile as the index traded withing a range of 235 points. The market-breadth was weak as 1,358 stocks declined, 1,151 advanced and 84 stocks were unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 14 advanced, while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 3,642 crore, lower than Rs 3,977.99 crore on Wednesday. On NSE, the turnover was Rs 8,194.26 crore, also lower than Rs 8,600.37 crore on Wednesday.

Economic news

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Kamal Nath announced today that exports of India have touched a record figure of $125 billion during 2006-07. The Minister also said that merchandise exports had almost doubled in three years – from $63.84 billion in 2004 to $125 billion, representing an annual compounded growth of 25% compared to 12.73% in the previous three years.

The government also announced today the abolition of service tax on all exports. It extended duty concessions to special economic zones and set a target of $160 billion for merchandise exports during 2007-08.

Trading highlights

New issue Advanta was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 503.35 crore followed by Reliance Industries and ICRA.

IPO

Advanta India ended higher at Rs 850.05. It listed on BSE at Rs 640, and had declined sharply to a low of Rs 591, before hitting a high of Rs 992.90. Advanta India is a subsidiary of United Phosphorus, which had fixed Rs 640 per share as the issue price.

Advancers

SBI led the gainers today, advancing 1.7% to Rs 1,053 on a volume of 9.05 lakh shares. The biggest state-run lender had rallied sharply from a low of Rs 1,014, to a high of Rs 1,062.40. ICICI Bank ended 0.9% higher to Rs 905, rebounding from an initial 2.98% decline to Rs 870.10. Reportedly, the Reserve Bank of India will probably permit Temasek and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation to increase their stakes in the private bank to 10% each. Temasek holds 7.41% stake in ICICI Bank and Government of Singapore Investment Corp 2.29%.

Cigarette large-cap ITC advanced 1.2% to Rs 159. Auto maker Hero Honda gained 1.1% to Rs 656 and Maruti Udyog added 0.9% to Rs 775. Larsen & Toubro was 0.4% higher to Rs 1,666, on news that the company had plans for facilities in China for machines, switchgear, valves, tyre-curing and pressing and coal gassification.

Index heavy Reliance Industries gained 0.4% to Rs 1,493. The stock had rebounded from a low of Rs 1462, and surged to a high of Rs 1,499.50, a record high. Relaince has scheduled a meeting of the board of directors on April 26 2007, to consider the unaudited financial results for the quarter and year ended March 2007.

Decliners

ACC led the decliners, plunging 3.5% to Rs 788 despite posting a surge of 54.5% in net profit for Q1 March 2007. The cement company reported an advance in net profit in the March 2007 quarter to Rs 363.75 crore from Rs 235.42 crore in the March 2006 quarter. Net sales grew 26.1% to Rs 1,674.83 crore from Rs 1,327.52 crore a year earlier. Satyam tumbled 3% to Rs 448.

HDFC lost 1.9% to Rs 1,564 ,Bajaj Auto dipped 2.2% to Rs 2,441, BHEL declined 2% to Rs 2,503 and ONGC slipped 1.% to Rs 895.

IT stocks declined on profit-taking. Infosys was down 1.8% to Rs 2,040, Wipro lost 0.4% to Rs 584, Satyam Computers dipped 2.6% to Rs 449.80 and TCS declined 0.2% to Rs 1,244.95.


[R]6:30AM European markets were lower Thursday on interest rate fears.[/R]
European markets declined Thursday. By mid morning, Frankfurt Xetra Dax shed 1.3% to 7,186.14, the CAC 40 in Paris lost 1.1% to 5,774.27 and London FTSE 100 slid 0.8% to 6,396.4. National benchmarks slid in all 17 western European markets that were open.

Advancers

Nokia, the biggest mobile phone maker in the world, gained 1.5% ahead of the Finnish company first-quarter results. Nokia market share is seen increasing to its highest level in 13 quarters, but slipping sales prices were expected to dent profits.

Schneider Electric SA advanced 1.5% after the maker of circuit breakers said first-quarter sales increased 22% to 3.89 billion euros, fueled by acquisitions and increased sales of electrical products. The company said Europe had an excellent start to the year.

Decliners

Among the London-listed miners, Antofagasta fell 2%, while Spanish oil group Repsol shed 1.9%.

German utility RWE dipped 4.6%, while Lufthansa fell 3.2%. Both stocks were trading without the rights to the latest dividend payment.

Logitech International SA dropped 8.2%. Fourth-quarter profit and revenue trailed analysts estimates after the maker of computer mice said sales of Web cameras fell.

Oil and precious metals

Crude oil recovered from early losses to trade for more than $63 a barrel in New York. Crude oil for May delivery rose 2 cents to $63.15 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange in early trade in London.

Gold fell in London on speculation a rally that took the metal to the highest in eleven months was overdone. Silver also dropped. Gold for immediate delivery dropped $3, or 0.4%, to $687.05 an ounce. Silver for immediate delivery declined 6 cents, or 0.6%, to $13.895 an ounce. Among other precious metals for immediate delivery in London, platinum gained $7.50 to $1,302.50 an ounce, while palladium dropped $2 to $380.50 an ounce.

Currencies

The euro traded at around two-year highs Thursday, less than one U.S. cent off its record, after the European Central Bank reiterated that another interest rate increase for the euro zone by June was likely. The euro rose to $1.3616, a level not seen since December 2004, before falling back to $1.3576 in morning European trading.

The pound rose as high as $2.0092, then settled back to $2.0029, down slightly from the $2.0057 it fetched late Wednesday in New York. The dollar also fell against Japanese yen, dropping to 117.93 yen from 118.61 yen late Tuesday.