U.S. Stocks Open Lower, Oil Declines

123jump.com Staff
30 Oct, 2007
New York City

U.S. stocks open lower ahead of the Fed meeting to decide rate direction by tomorrow. Procter & Gamble reported fourth quarter earnings increased 14% and Colgate Palmolive earnings increased 22%. Liz Claiborne earnings plunged 65%. European markets are on the decline across the region on weaker than expected earnings from Norsk Hydro, Dassault, and Michelin. Asian markets declined. Shanghai soared for the second day of this week.

[R]9:35AM New York – U.S. markets open lower.[/R]

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 38 at the opening to 13,835, Nasdaq declined 6 to 2,811, and S&P 500 lost 4.50 to 1,536.

Investors are cautious as the Fed starts two-day meeting and announce its rate decision. Economists are forecasting that the Fed will cut by either 25 or 50 basis points.

Procter & Gamble ((PG)) fiscal first quarter earnings of 92 cents compared to 79 cents a year ago on revenue increase of 7.5% to $20.2 billion. Earnings in the quarter increased to $3.08 billion from $2.7 billion a year ago. The company revised its earnings outlook for the fiscal 2008 by 2 cents to $3.46 per share on total sales increase between 6% and 8%.

Colgate-Palmolive ((CL)) reported third quarter sales increase of 12% to $3.53 billion on 5.5% growth in volume. Earnings in the quarter increased 22% to $420 million or 77 cents per share compared to $344.1 million or 63 cents per share.

Liz Claiborne Inc. ((LIZ)) reported third quarter sales decline of 3.9% to $1.26 billion and earnings of $33.1 million or 33 cents per share compared to $95.2 million or 94 cents per share. Earnings declined 65%. The company lowered its earnings outlook for the year 2007 between $1.70 and $1.80 a share, lower than its earlier projection by 20 cents.

European markers at mid-day fell ahead of rate decision in the U.S. Norway led the decliners in the region with a fall of 1.1% followed by losses in Switzerland and UK of 0.6%, France and the Netherlands of 0.56%, and Germany of 0.45%.

Weak earnings from Dassault Systems and Michelin in Paris, Norsk Hydro in Oslo, and Continental in Germany hurt the trading sentiment.

Asian markets fell across the region ahead of rate decision from Australia, India, Japan, and the U.S.

Pakistan led the decliners in the region with a loss of 2.5% followed by losses in India of 0.97%, in Thailand of 0.91%, and in Singapore, Korea, Australia, and Taiwan of 0.5%. Shanghai bucked the trend and surged 2.6% on a sharp rise in airlines and banks.

India fell after the Reserve Bank of India said that it will ask banks to increase cash reserve ratio to trim the liquidity.

Kookmin Bank fell 4% after it reported a sharply higher decline in net interest margin.

[R]6:00AM New York, 7:00PM Tokyo – Construction stocks rally. Takeda plunges on drug trial delays. Broader index Topix recovers from a loss of 1%.[/R]

In Tokyo trading Nikkei 225 shed 0.28% or 47.07 to 16,651.01 but the broader Topix Index rose 0.72 to 1,607.21 after dropping nearly 15 points.

In the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange 230 billion shares worth 3.1 trillion yen were traded and 393 million shares worth 8.4 billion yen changed hands.

Of the Nikkei 225 stocks 110 gained, 104 declined, and 11 were unchanged. Daiwa House Industries led advancing realty stocks, rising 13.41%, followed by gains in Toto Industries of 12.82%, in Sekisui House of 11.04%, in Sumitomo Osaka of 9.62% and Obayashi Corp of 8.41%.

The Daily Yomiuri reported that Land Infrastructure and Transport Minister Tetsuzo Fuyushiba may relax the new Building Standards Law implemented four months ago. Housing starts in August fell 43% after the introduction of the new law. The government is likely to allow builders to modify blueprints that have already been submitted for checks as long as it meets safety standards.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication’s Statistics Bureau announced today in the Family Income and Expenditure Survey the average household monthly consumption expenditure in September increased 3% to 281,448 yen or 3.2% in real terms over a year ago. Average monthly household income in the month was 431,793 yen, up 0.6% in nominal terms and 0.8% in real terms over the previous year, while consumption expenditure firmed 5.3% in nominal terms and 5.5% in real terms from a year earlier to 311,311 yen.

The Statistics Bureau also indicated food, housing increased 1.7% and 5.4% respectively, while fuel, light and water charges fell 0.1%. Incomes for worker’s household firmed 0.8% in real terms in September disposable income jumped 0.4% to 362,829 yen.

According to the Laborforce Survey, the number of employed persons in September declined 0.1% or by 90,000 to 64.22 million, while the number of unemployed in the September period fell 3.9% or by 110,000 to 2.69 million. The number of persons not in labor force stood at 43.50 million. The labor participation rate slipped 0.3% to 60.6% and the employment rate declined 0.3% to 58.1%.

The yen also continued to firm against the dollar, rising 114.81 from 114.80 and rose 165.25 from 165.27 against the euro.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company led the decliners in the Nikkei 225 index with a loss of 12.41% followed by losses in Marui Group of 7.93%, in Toagosei of 7%, in Terumo Corp of 6%, and in Shionogi &Company of 4.5%.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requested more clinical data on the cholesterol drug TAK-475. Takeda also advised doctors in the study in U.S, Europe and Japan to suspend tests using 100-milligram doses on concerns it might increase the enzyme transaminase in some patients and cause liver damage according to local newspapers in Osaka, where the company is headquartered.

Extra tests might further delay the approval of the drug and deny the company the opportunity to enter the $28 billion market. Brokerages Shimura and Mitsubishi UFJ Securities also cut the recommendation of the stock.

Takeda is under pressure to find the next mega drug to replace ACTOS, diabetes treatment drug. ACTOS, since its introduction in August 1999, has been prescribed to 70 million times to more than 8 million patients with type 2 diabetes. ACTOS patent is expiring in four years and is expected to face a still competition from generic drug makers.

Eisai Company Limited slumped 3.12% after it reported that it will delay its application for breast cancer drug with the U.S. FDA and a set-back in tests on successor drug to Aricept for the treatment of Alzheimer and experimental drug for the treatment of Parkinson disease.