U.S. Markets Surge 3%

123jump.com Staff
28 Nov, 2007
New York City

U.S. stocks rallied sharply in after the comments from the Fed Vice Chairman were interpreted as a possible rate cut in the next Fed meeting. Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq jumped 1.5% by mid-morning trading. Finacial stocks led the rally. European markets closed higher by 3% across the region.

[R]11:00AM New York – U.S. Stocks jumped sharply higher after comments from the Fed Vice Chairman indicated a possible rate decline.[/R]

U.S. stocks rallied after market interpreted comments from the Fed Vice Chairman as a possible rate cut in the upcoming meeting.

Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 280 to 13,228, Nasdaq surged 72 to 2,652, and S&P 500 jumped 33 to 1,461.

Existing homes fell 1.2% from September to 4.97 million, a decline of 21% form a year ago and median home prices fell 5.1% from a year ago to $207,800. Inventory of homes available for sales increased 1.9% to 10.8 month supply of 4.45 million.

October durable goods orders dropped 0.4% to a seasonally adjusted $214.45 billion from the revised decline of 1.4% in September.

U.S. commercial crude inventories at the end of the last week fell 0.4 million barrels but that for gasoline increased by 1.4 million barrels, and distillate inventories declined 0.1%.

Asian markets across the region declined on the weak sentiment and worries related to global credit markets. Korea led the decliners in the region with a fall of 1.4% followed by losses in Taiwan of 1.2%, in India of 1%, in Australia of 0.9%, and in Thailand of 0.3%. Indonesia led the gainers in the region with a rise of 1.7% followed by increases in Hong Kong of 0.6% and 0.4% in Philippines.

Falling oil prices in the region led the energy companies in China, Japan, and India lower. Steel companies in Korea declined as well. Hyundai Steel fell 4% and Posco declined 3%.

European market rallied after the U.S. markets opened sharply higher on the rate cut optimism. Norway led the region with a rise of 3% followed by increases in UK of 2.7%, in Switzerland and Germany of 2.6%, in France of 2.4%, and in Italy of 2%. The Netherlands and Spain jumped 1.7%.

Financial services companies the led the gainers in the region. UBS and Barclays surged 6%, Credit Suisse added 3%, and HSBC increased 2%.

Stork jumped 7% after it received a takeover offer for the company at 1.5 billion euros or 48.40 euros per share from Candover Investments.

Compass Group surged 9.2% after it reported its earnings of 515 million pounds, including one time extra ordinary gain on asset sale. The UK based company reported 42% increase in its full year profit on flat annual revenue of 10.27 billion pounds.

German auto maker Porsche jumped 9% after it said that its four months sales may increase as much as 15% to 2.36 billion euros from a year ago. Unit sales in the four month period are expected to rise 18% to 30,700 from 25,939.

Porsche estimated revenue in the fiscal 2008 to match that in the fiscal 2007 of 7.4 billion euros and unit sale of 97,500.

[R]4:00AM New York, 6:00PM Tokyo - October retail sales in Japan increased 0.8%.[/R]

Stocks in Japan fell on the U.S. sub-prime losses maintained their grip on the market. In Tokyo trading Nikkei 225 slid 0.45% or 69.07 to 15,153.78, while the broader Topix index fell 3.14% to 1,475.64.

In the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange 9.5 billion shares worth 1.1 trillion yen were traded and in the second section 534 million shares worth 9.0 billion yen changed hands.

Of the Nikkei 225 stocks 87 gained, 132 declined and 6 were unchanged. Of the index stocks 26 lost 2% or more.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines led decliners in the index with a fall of 4.67%, followed by losses of 4.61% in Nikon Corp, 4.42% in Toyota Tsusho, 4.41% in Kumagai Gumi Company, and 4.24% in Inpex Holdings.

Shipping lines fell as Goldman, Sachs & Co. cut its rating on metal producers from “attractive” to “neutral” on projected fall in demand for raw materials caused by a slowdown in the U.S. Kawasaki Heavy Industries fell 2.27% as a result.

Oil prices for January delivery fell 3.4% to $94.42 a barrel and Mitsubishi Corp fell 2.35%.

U.S. mortgage lender Wells Fargo & Co. reported a $1.4 billion pretax charge related to increased losses on sub-prime loans as the housing market continues to sour. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group declined 1.55%, Mizuho Financial Group slumped 1.76% and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group retreated 2.44% on the news.

Separately, the private economic consulting company Conference Board announced yesterday that the consumer confidence index fell to a two-year low to 87.3 in November on rising fuel costs and falling home prices.

S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index also showed yesterday that third quarter home prices declined 4.5% from a year earlier. Exporter fell on the news. Komatsu declined 2.87%, Toyota Motor Corporation slipped 1.64%, and Honda Motor Corporation fell 1.37%.

Hitachi Zosen led the advancers in the Nikkei 225 index with a rise of 3.97%, followed by gains in Shin-Etsu Chemicals of 3.88%, in Mitsubishi Rayon Company of 3.40%, in Sumitomo Chemical Company of 3.36%, and in Sony Corporation of 3.30%.

Japan’s Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry reported today in its preliminary report on Current Survey of Commerce that retail sales increased in the fastest pace in more than two years by 0.8% to 11.0 trillion yen in October. Analysts had forecasted a 0.7% gain. Commercial sales firmed 4.3% to 51.3 trillion yen compared to a 1.1% rise or 51.8 trillion in September.

Wholesale sales accelerated by 5.3% to 40.3 trillion yen in November compared to 1.2% or 41.0 trillion yen realised in October, while large-scale retail stores sales fell 0.2% to 1.7 trillion yen in November.

METI also added that fuel sales climbed 2.3%, automobile sales rose 2.5%, while sales of clothing retreated 1.3% as mild weather negatively affected jackets and sweaters.

The Cabinet Office reported yesterday in a monthly economic report that while the economy is recovering corporate profits and business investment have been weak.

However, it observed that improvement in employment markets appear to be on hold and Japan economy may be vulnerable to rising to oil prices and volatility in the global financial markets.

Bloomberg news reported today that Nomura Holdings’ unit Nomura Principal Finance Company has bid 300 billion-yen for ailing Ashikaga Bank, which is currently under state control. Ashikaga Bank reported recently that it has 284 billion yen more debts than assets.

Norinchukin Bank, a credit lender for Japanese farmers and fishermen, said yesterday it had unrealized losses of 53.3 billion yen on 476.7 billion yen of sub-prime related assets in the six months ending in September 07.