German GDP Slows, European Stocks Up

123jump.com Staff
26 Feb, 2008
New York City

Lufthansa AG reported 2007 sales rise of 13% to 22.4 billion euros and operating profit increase of 63% to 1.4 billion euros. For the year number of passengers increased 5.6% to 56.4 million and at Lufthansa and at Swiss International increased 18% to 63 million. Suez in France 2007 profit increased 8.6% to 3.9 billion euros on higher electricity prices. Areva second half profit rose 11% to 448 million euros on higher uranium prices.

10:00PM Frankfurt, 4:00PM New York, 8:00AM Sydney – German GDP growth slowed to 0.3% in the fourth quarter on a decline in export growth and household spending. European stocks closed higher on rising oil and metal prices.[/R]

European Markets

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 87.90 or 1.47% to 6,087.40, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 53.81 or 1.09% to close at 4,973.07 and in Frankfurt DAX index reached higher 103.41 or 1.50% to close at 6,985.97. In Zurich trading SMI increased 127.38 or 1.67% to close at 7,743.17.

North American Markets indexes

Dow Jones Industrial Average added 114.70 or 0.91% to a close of 12,684.92, S&P 500 closed up 9.49 or 0.69% to 1,381.29, and Nasdaq Composite Index traded up 17.51 or 0.75% to a close of 2,344.99. In Toronto TSX Composite closed higher 99.56 or 0.73% to close at 13,585.93.

Of the 30 stocks in Dow Jones Industrial Average, 21 closed higher, 8 closed lower, and one was unchanged.

IBM led the gainers in the Dow Jones Index with a rise of 3.9% followed by increases in Intel of 3.7%, in Hewlett Packard of 2.2%, and in Wal-Mart of 2.1%. Alcoa led the decliners in the index with a fall of 0.9% followed by losses in Merck of 0.85%, in General Electric of 0.8%, and in JP Morgan Chase of 0.7%.

Of the stocks in S&P 500, 359 closed higher, 136 fell, and five were unchanged. Of the index stocks, 46 rose more than 3% and 8 stocks fell more than 3%.

Office Depot led the decliners in the index with a loss of 6% followed by declines in SanDisk of 5.3%, in Eastman Kodak of 4.7%, in Fannie Mae of 4.6%, and in Google Inc of 4.5%. RadioShack led the gainers in the index with a rise of 21% followed by increases in Tenet Healthcare of 14.5%, and in Centex of 9%. Moody’s, Teradyne, and Lennar jumped more than 8%.

South American Markets Indexes

In Latin Markets Peru led the gainers in the region with a rise of 1.8% followed by increases in Argentina of 1.44%, in Mexico of 0.89%, and in Brazil of 0.28%. Chile declined 0.22% and Venezuela fell 0.06%.

Asian Markets

In Tokyo Nikkei 225 Index closed lower 89.85 or 0.65% to 13,824.72, in Hong Kong Hang Seng index increased 445.61 or 1.92% closed to 23,714.75. Australia ASX 200 index increased 44.50 or 0.79% to close 5,666.10.

In South Korea Kospi Index increased 00.00 or 0.00% to close at 1,709.13, in Thailand SET index closed lower 4.07 or 0.49% to 834.67 and Indonesia JSE Index edged decreased 12.99 or 0.47% to 2,738.87. Sensex index in India increased 155.62 or 0.88% to 17,806.19.

Bond Yields increased on 10-year U.S. bonds to 3.81% and on 30-year bonds declined to 4.58%.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude Oil increased $0.34 to close at $101.22 per barrel for a front month contract, natural gas decreased 4 cents to $9.16 per mBtu, and gasoline futures increased 0.04 cents to close at 255.09 cents per gallon.

Gold increased $5.00 in New York trading to close at $953.90 per ounce, silver closed up 16 cents to $19.005 per ounce, and copper for front month delivery increased 1.35 cents to 380.60 per pound and in London copper futures increased $86.00 to $8,315.00.

Wheat futures rose 46.00 cents in Chicago trading and closed at $12.60 per bushel. Sugar increased 32 cents to 14.54 cents per pound. Soybean future closed down 1.250 cents to $14.83 per bushel.

Dollar edged lower and traded near record lows against euro to $1.4872 and edged lower against yen to 107.18.