Citigroup Leads Stock Futures Slightly Up

Elena
16 May, 2007
New York City

U.S. stock futures moved slightly higher on Wednesday. Pre-market sentiment was supported by Citigroup which rose 1.7% after a hedge-fund manager bought the stock, but a cautious outlook at chip-equipment maker Applied Materials weighed, sending the stock down 4.2%. The Commerce Department posted mixed housing data, as U.S. home builders pulled back on filing for permits to build homes in April, but housing starts advanced.

[R]9:00AM Stock futures traded slightly higher.[/R]
U.S. stock futures moved slightly higher on Wednesday. Pre-market sentiment was supported by Citigroup ((C)) which rose 1.7% after a hedge-fund manager bought the stock, but a cautious outlook at chip-equipment maker Applied Materials ((AMAT)) weighed, sending the stock down 4.2%. Among earnings-telarted movers, Jack in The Box ((JBX)) rose 5.6% after it reported a better-than-forecast 25% profit rise. Federated department Stores ((FD)) gained 0.8% although the retailer cut its Q2 earnings outloo. Deere & Co ((DE)) said its profit dropped 16%, though it beat analyst expectations. Company's stock gained 1.4%.

On the economic news front, the Commerce Department posted mixed housing data, as U.S. home builders pulled back on filing for permits to build homes in April, but the construction of new houses advanced. The government said building permits fell 8.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.429 million, coming in much lower than the 1.51 million pace expected by economists. The number of new houses started increased by 2.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.528 million, higher than the 1.48 million pace expected. S&P 500 futures rose 1.6 points at 1,501.00 and Nasdaq 100 futures improved 3.75 points at 1,887.25. Dow industrial futures rose 17 points.


[R]8:45AM Asian markets closed higher on Wednesday with Japan up despite weak building sector.[/R]

Asian markets ended higher on Wednesday. Japanese Nikkei 225 ended 0.1% higher at 17,529.00. Kajima, the largest contractor in Japan, finished almost 10% lower after announcing this fiscal year profit will fall 23%. However, other companies including Hitachi, up 2%, Nippon Oil, up 3.2%, and engineering firm JGC, up 12%, buoyed the Japanese market as a two-day Bank of Japan meeting got under way.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong closed up 0.3% at 20,937.26, and the Shanghai Composite ended 2.2% higher at 3,986.04 after losses on Tuesday. Among the large-caps powering the market advance was China Mobile, the second-biggest stock in the benchmark index by market capitalization, which gained 1%.

Financials and alcohol-makers were strong in China on expectations of robust quarterly results. China Merchants Bank gained 1.4%. Shanghai Pudong Development Bank advanced 1.1%, and China Life increased 2.4%. Kweichow Moutai added 2.9% and Wuliangye Yibin soared 8.1%.

Other indices also gained. The Australia All Ordinaries rose 0.1% at 6,301.10, the South Korean Kospi advanced 0.7% at 1,600.60 and the Singapore Strait Times index settled 0.5% higher at 3,494.00.


[R]8:30AM Bausch & Lomb agreed to be acquired for $4.5 billion.[/R]
Bausch & Lomb ((BOL)), eye-care company, announced on Wednesday that it agreed to be acquired by affiliates of private equity firm Warburg Pincus in a deal worth $4.5 billion. The acquisition deal includes about $830 million in debt. The offer represents a 26% premium to the average price of the stock over a 30-day period of deal speculations. The firm will take on about $830 million in debt.

Under the terms of agreement, affiliates of Warburg Pincus will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Bausch & Lomb common stock for $65 a share in cash. The company was recently hit by a massive product recall when some of its contact lens solution was linked to an eye disease and, in some cases, blindness. Morgan Stanley advised Bausch & Lomb, while Banc of America, Citi, Credit Suisse and JP Morgan were the financial advisors of Warburg Pincus. The stock jumped 9.5% in pre-market trading.


[R]8:00AM NY-7:00PM Mumbai Sensex rallies Wednesday on SBI, Reliance Industries.[/R]

The Sensex on BSE finished Wednesday 197.98 points, or 1.42%, higher at 14,127.31.

The market-breadth was very strong as there were almost two advancers for each decliner. For 1,628 stocks that advanced, 987 declined and only 66 stocks remained unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 20 advanced, while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 5,151 crore compared to Rs 4,154 crore on Tuesday. On NSE, the turnover was Rs 10,684.34 crore, much higher than Rs 9,135.04 crore on Tuesday.

Economic and corporate news

Liquor billionaire Vijay Mallya through his company United Spirits announced Wednesday he had bought Scottish whiskey maker Whyte & Mackay for 595 million pounds, nearly Rs 4,819 crore. United Spirits informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it had acquired 100% of Whyte & Mackay. United Spirits gained today almost 8% to Rs 904.

Arcelor-Mittal, the largest steelmaker in the world, posted on Wednesday a 41% rise in first-quarter profit and added that higher prices would boost earnings in the second quarter.

The prime minister''''s economic adviser stated on Wednesday that Indian economy should expand by at least 8.5% in 2007/08, but high growth power demanded that shortages be coped with fast. He added that India had suffered major power shortages for years, and also poor infrastructure stood in the way of the fourth-largest economy in Asia to sustain even higher growth.

Trading highlights

Unitech was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 225 crore followed by HDFC Bank and SBI.

Advancers

SBI soared nearly 5% to Rs 1,284. The bank gained for the second day in a row today, as the Lok Sabha, on Tuesday, May 15 2007, passed the State Bank of India, or Subsidiary Bank Laws Amendment Bill, 2006. The amendment bill will help SBI to reduce its stake in subsidiary banks to 51%, from the existing 55%. Other banks also rallied. ICICI Bank rallied over 3% to Rs 919, and HDFC Bank added 2% to Rs 1,031.

Index heavy Reliance Industries surged 2.2% to Rs 1,634. Reliance announced yesterday it had made two gas discoveries in separate blocks off the east and west coasts of the country. The likely commercial potential of the above discoveries is currently under evaluation.

Tata Motors gained 2.8% to Rs 735 ahead of its Q4 results. It releases Q4 March 2007 results on Friday May 18 2007. Bajaj Auto advanced nearly 2% to Rs 2,686 ahead its board meet on Thursday, May 17 2007, to consider proposal to split the company into two and Q4 March 2007 results. Hindalco ended up 2.5% to Rs 149 and Bharti Airtel was up nearly 2% at Rs 848

Decliners

Hero Honda tumbled nearly 3% to Rs 678. Infosys and TCS slipped 1% each to Rs 1,952 and Rs 1,224, respectively. Other decliners included Cipla,down 0.8% to Rs 210, Tata Steel, off 0.5% to Rs 588 and Reliance Energy, also 0.5% lower at Rs 506.


[R]6:30AM European markets decline Wednesday on weak banking stocks.[/R]

European markets declined on Wednesday. In mid morning trade, Frankfurt Xetra Dax lost 0.2% to 7,494.37, the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.2% to 6,037.78 and London FTSE 100 was flat at 6,567.6. National benchmarks fell in nine of 17 markets in western Europe.

Advancers

Oil stocks were higher, with Spanish Repsol up 0.9% and Royal Dutch Shell 0.6% higher. Shares in Volkswagen, which experienced an over sales decline of 0.2%, were up 2.2% thanks to strength at Audi, its luxury brand, whose sales rose 7.8%.

Julius Baer, Swiss private bank, rose 3.9% on speculation that Deutsche Bank was interested in mounting a takeover.

Zurich Financial, the Swiss insurer, climbed 2.2% after reporting a 71% rise in first-quarter net profit, beating expectations, thanks to strong gains in emerging markets such as China.

Decliners

Credit Agricole slumped 4.3%. The bank said first-quarter net income rose 92% to 2.66 billion euros after a gain from reducing its stake in the Intesa Sanpaolo of Italy. That missed the 2.74 billion-euro median estimate.

Shares of Air France-KLM, the biggest airline in Europe, slipped 2.4% after UBS AG cut its recommendation to neutral from buy.

EasyJet fell 2.4% after Goldman, Sachs & Co. put the carrier shares on its Pan-Europe Sell List, cutting its recommendation to sell from neutral.

Commodities

Crude oil traded near $63 a barrel in New York after unrest disrupted production in Nigeria. Crude oil for June delivery fell 9 cents to $63.08 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold for immediate delivery rose as much as $1.50, or 0.2%, to $673.55 an ounce and traded at $673.35. Silver for immediate delivery was unchanged at $13.20 an ounce at the same time.

Currencies

The U.S. dollar was mostly higher against other major currencies in European trading Wednesday morning. The euro traded at $1.3594, up from $1.3592 late Monday in New York. The British pound traded at $1.9834, down from $1.9853. The dollar fetched 120.48 Japanese yen, up from 120.26.