U.S. Stocks Recover on Cisco, Ambac

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

U.S. stocks staged a reversal in the last hour of trading after a comment from Cisco and rescue financing for Ambac. Cisco indicated that it expects any economic slowdown to be shallow. Media report suggested that rescue financing for Ambac is on track. The Fed Chairman earlier indicated that banks should be prepared to forgive some of the late mortgage loans. Oil and gold fell ahead the OPEC meeting. Citigroup fell to a 9-year low after comments in Middle East and $18 billion loss estimate.

[R]10:00PM Frankfurt, 4:00PM New York, 8:00AM Sydney – Energy stocks declined on falling commodities. Citigroup fell to a decade low on rising estimates of losses. Cisco forecasted economic slowdown will be shallow.[/R]

European Markets

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 50.90 or 0.87% to 5,767.70, in Paris CAC 40 Index decreased 66.75 or 1.41% to close at 4,675.91 and in Frankfurt DAX index lower 144.91 or 2.17% to close at 6,545.04. In Zurich trading SMI decreased 127.93 or 1.73% to close at 7,275.95.

North American Markets indexes

Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 45.10 or 0.37% to a close of 12,213.80, S&P 500 closed down 4.59 or 0.34% to 1,326.75, and Nasdaq Composite Index traded up 1.68 or 0.07% to a close of 2,260.28. In Toronto TSX Composite closed lower 70.35 or 0.52% to close at 13,474.03.

Of the 30 stocks in Dow Jones Industrial Average, 8 closed higher, 22 closed lower, and none was unchanged.

Citigroup led the decliners in the index with a fall of 4.2% followed by losses in Caterpillar of 2.1%, in AIG of 2%, in Disney of 2%, and in Verizon of 1.7%. Microsoft led the gainers in the index with a rise of 2.3% followed by increases in Hewlett Packard of 1.2% and in American Express of 0.74%.

Of the stocks in S&P 500, 219 closed higher, 276 fell, and 5 were unchanged. Of the index stocks, 15 rose more than 3% and 27 stocks fell more than 3%.

Novell led the decliners in the index with a loss of 9% followed by losses in E*Trade of 4%, in Titanium Metals of 6.4%, and in Monsanto of 5.6%. Ambac Financial led the gainers in the index with a rise of 9% followed by increases in Barr Pharmaceuticals of 8.4%, in Applied Materials of 8%, in Starwood Hotels of 6.8%, and in Amazon.com of 5.6%.

South American Markets Indexes

In Latin Markets Colombia led the decliners in the region with a fall of 4.55% followed by decreases in Peru of 3.36%, in Chile and Brazil of 1.44%, and in Argentina of 0.10%. Mexico lost 0.95% after a sharp selloff in energy and retail companies.

Asian Markets

In Tokyo Nikkei 225 Index closed higher 0.10 or 0.00% to 12,992.28, in Hong Kong Hang Seng index decreased 465.10 or 1.97% closed to 23,119.87. Australia ASX 200 index decreased 25.50 or 0.47% to close 5,380.30.

In South Korea Kospi Index increased 4.45 or 0.27% to close at 1,676.18, in Thailand SET index closed lower 11.51 or 1.37% to 831.41 and Indonesia JSE Index edged decreased 17.56 or 0.66% to 2,634.75. Sensex index in India decreased 337.99 or 2.03% to 16,339.89.


Bond Yields increased on 10-year U.S. bonds to 3.62% and on 30-year bonds declined to 4.52%.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil decreased $2.51 to close at $99.94 per barrel for a front month contract, natural gas increased 1 cent to $9.36 per mBtu, and gasoline futures decreased 12.74 cents to close at 254.46 cents per gallon.

Gold decreased $17.90 in New York trading to close at $966.30 per ounce, silver closed down 34 cents to $19.84 per ounce, and copper for front month delivery decreased 10.70 cents to 382.15 per pound.

Wheat futures decreased 15.00 cents in Chicago trading and closed at $10.87 per bushel. Sugar decreased 82 cent to 14.20 cents per pound. Soybean future closed down 37.50 cents to $15.22 per bushel.

Dollar edged lower and traded near record lows against euro to $1.52101 and edged lower against yen to 103.40.