U.S. Stocks Struggle; Records in Oil and Gold

123jump.com Staff
03 Mar, 2008
New York City

U.S. stocks recovered in the late afternoon after the markets in Europe closed lower. Resurgent oil, metal, and agriculture commodities lifted select stocks. In the morning, manufacturing index showed a decline in February. ATM Network operator Diebold rejected a hostile offer from United Technologies. Thornburg Mortgage plunged 53% after it failed to meet its margin call on reverse mortgage securities.

[R]10:00PM Frankfurt, 4:00PM New York, 8:00AM Sydney – HSBC reported 21% rise in profit, lower than expected by analysts on higher loan loss reserves. Dollar traded at a record low, oil rebounded, and gold surged to a new three decade high.


European Markets

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 65.70 or 1.12% to 5,818.60, in Paris CAC 40 Index decreased 48.00 or 1.00% to close at 4,742.66 and in Frankfurt DAX index lower 58.18 or 0.86% to close at 6,689.95. In Zurich trading SMI decreased 129.98 or 1.73% to close at 7,403.88.

North American Markets indexes

Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 7.49 or 0.06% to a close of 12,258.90, S&P 500 closed up 0.71 or 0.05% to 1,331.34, and Nasdaq Composite Index traded down 12.88 or 0.57% to a close of 2,258.60. In Toronto TSX Composite closed lower 38.31 or 0.28% to close at 13,544.38.

Of the 30 stocks in Dow Jones Industrial Average, 15 closed higher, 14 closed lower, and one was unchanged.

Citigroup led the decliners in the index with a loss of 2.6% followed by losses in Boeing of 2.6%, in JP Morgan Chase of 2.04%, and in McDonalds of 1.76%. Alcoa led the gainers in the index with a rise of 3.2% followed by increases in Home Depot of 2.03%, and in Caterpillar of 1.2%.

Of the stocks in S&P 500, 276 closed higher, 221 fell, and 3 were unchanged. Of the index stocks, 15 rose more than 3% and 28 stocks fell more than 3%.

Ambac Financial led the decliners in the index with a loss of 10.8% followed by losses in Lennar Corp of 10.1%, in KB Home of 7.8%, and in Washington Mutual of 7.8%. Supervalue led the gainers in the index with a rise of 7% followed by increases in Northrop Grumman of 5.1%, in Express Script of 4.8%, and in Noble Energy of 4.5%.


South American Markets Indexes

In Latin Markets Mexico led the gainers in the region with a rise of 2.10% followed by increases in Brazil of 1.59%, in Peru of 0.49%, and Venezuela of 0.32%. Colombia led the decliners in the region with a loss of 2.4% followed by losses in Chile of 1.6%, and in Argentina of 1.2%.

Asian Markets

In Tokyo Nikkei 225 Index closed lower 610.84 or 4.49% to 12,992.18, in Hong Kong Hang Seng index decreased 746.70 or 3.07% closed to 23,584.97. Australia ASX 200 index decreased 166.30 or 2.98% to close 5,405.80.

In South Korea Kospi Index decreased 39.89 or 2.33% to close at 1,671.73, in Thailand SET index closed lower 2.84 or 0.34% to 842.92 and Indonesia JSE Index edged decreased 69.63 or 2.56% to 2,652.31. Sensex index in India decreased 900.84 or 5.12% to 16,677.88.

Bond Yields increased on 10-year U.S. bonds to 3.55% and on 30-year bonds declined to 4.43%.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil increased $0.67 to close at $102.51 per barrel for a front month contract, natural gas decreased 5 cents to $9.32 per mBtu, and gasoline futures increased 0.21 cents to close at 267.20 cents per gallon.

Gold increased $9.20 in New York trading to close at $984.20 per ounce, silver closed up 26 cents to $20.81 per ounce, and copper for front month delivery increased 7.35 cents to 392.85 per pound.

Wheat futures increased 60.90 cents in Chicago trading and closed at $11.46 per bushel. Sugar increased 40 cent to 15.02 cents per pound. Soybean future closed up 38.50 cents to $15.75 per bushel.

Dollar edged lower and traded at record lows against euro to $1.5206 and edged lower against yen to 103.41.