Silver Drops 10%, Retailers Rise

123jump.com Staff
15 Aug, 2008
New York City

Commodities fell as dollar gained in the international markets. Silver, wheat, gold soybeab fell sharply. Futures of gold dropped as much as 4.4% and silver lost 14%, largest one-day decline in two years. Crude oil futures dropped as much as 3% as oil fell below $112 a barrel. Autodesk rose after it estimated annual revenue more than expected. Retailers, JC Penney, Kohls and Nordstrom rose after they reported better than expected earnings.

4:30PM New York, 10:30PM Frankfurt, 6:30AM Sydney[R]– Metals, agriculture commodities and crude oil prices fell as dollar rose. U.S. stocks closed higher. European markets closed mixed. In Asia, Hong Kong second quarter economic growth slowed.[/R]

Global Markets Update

Commodities fell sharply in trading after dollar rose and sentiment improves in the favor of the currency. Gold 3% to $772 before recovering to $791 an ounce but silver dropped 11%, platinum declined 9% and crude oil fell 2%. U.S. stocks are expected to open mix as dollar continues to climb from its lows against euro and pound. The pound has lost nearly 5.5% in the last two weeks of trading.

UK stocks declined as weakness in oil and metals prices dragged benchmark index lower. Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto declined between 4% and 6%. Michael Page dropped 5% after it rejected an offer from Adecco SA that valued the company at $2.4 billion or 400 pence a share. The pound dropped for the second week in a row as interest rates are likely to decline on weakening economy. The pound dropped 1% before recovering to close 0.3% lower in the session.

Stocks in Japan rose fractionally and for the week added 1.1%. The cost of non-performing loans disposal rose by 70% at the end of the quarter in June. Shipping companies rebounded for the second day in a row after the freight rate index closed higher. The index had fallen 40% from its peak in May and climbed 6% for the week. Chipmakers rallied on the speculation that Seagate Technology Inc may be interested in SanDisk Corp.

Hong Kong economy expanded at 4.2% in the second quarter after rising at 7.3% in the first quarter. The government maintained the annual growth outlook at between 4% and 5% after expanding at 6.4% in 2007. The economy contracted at 1.4% in the second quarter when compared to the first quarter. U.S. led economic slowdown and a fall in consumer spending on the island dragged the economy to the slowest pace of expansion in the last five years.

North American Markets indexes

Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 43.97 or 0.38% to a close of 11,659.90, S&P 500 Index closed up 5.27 or 0.41% to 1,298.20, and Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 1.15 or 0.05% to close at 2,452.52. In Toronto TSX Composite closed down 251.42 or 1.88% to 13,107.49.

Of the 30 stocks in Dow Jones Industrial Average 22 stocks gained, 8 declined and none was unchanged.

Procter & Gamble led gainers in the Dow Jones Industrial Average with a rise of 2.7% followed by increases in Citigroup Inc of 2.65%, in American Express of 2.20%, in Wal-Mart Stores of 1.96% and in AT&T Inc of 2.45%.

Chevron led decliners in Dow Jones Industrial Average with a loss of 2.70% followed by losses in General Motors of 1.76%, in Microsoft Corp of 0.61%, in Boeing Company of 0.46%, in IBM of 0.42% and in Exxon Mobil of 0.34%.

Of the stocks in S&P 500 index, 344 increased, 155 declined and 1 were unchanged. Of the index stocks, 46 rose more than 3% and 19 fell more than 3%.

Autodesk Inc led the gainers in the S&P 500 index with a rise of 11.7% followed by gains in MGIC Investment Corp of 9.9%, in JC Penney Company of 8.4%, in Kohl’s of 7.29%, in Discovery Financial of 6.70% and in AMD of 6.4%.

Harman International led decliners in the S&P 500 index with a loss of 14% followed by losses in Sigma-Aldrich of 4.2%, in Fannie Mae of 3.9%, in Titanium Metals of 3.8%, in Consol Energy of 3.80%, in Peabody Energy of 3.66% and in Weatherford International of 3.63%.

South American Markets Indexes

Brazil led decliners in the Latin American markets with a fall of 1.62% followed by decreases in Peru of 1.34% and in Argentina of 0.24%.

Venezuela led gainers in the region with a rise of 1.25% followed by increases in Colombia of 0.86%, in Chile of 0.4% and in Mexico of 0.34%.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 42.60 or 0.77% to 5,454.80, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 32.71 or 0.74% to close at 4,453.62 and in Frankfurt DAX index higher 3.81 or 0.06% to close at 6,446.02. In Zurich trading SMI increased 29.47 or 0.41% to close at 7,235.93.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 62.61 or 0.48% to 13,019.41, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong decreased 232.13 or 1.09% closed to 21,160.58. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 0.60 or 0.01% to close 4,981.70. The KL Composite index in Malaysia decreased 14.38 or 1.30% closed to 1,095.05.

SET index in Thailand closed higher 1.88 or 0.27% to 707.48 and JSE Index in Indonesia decreased 21.49 or 1.02% to 2,085.15. Market of South Korea and India were closed today.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil decreased $1.36 to close at $113.65 a barrel for a front month contract, natural gas closed down 6 cents to $8.08 per mBtu and gasoline futures decreased 5.20 cents to close at 285.94 cents per gallon.

Gold decreased $22.10 in New York trading to close at $792.40 per ounce, silver closed down $1.51 cents to $12.85 per ounce and copper for the front month delivery increased 2.70 cent to $3.3250 per pound.

Wheat futures closed down 40.25 cents in Chicago trading and closed at $8.49 a bushel. Sugar decreased 0.27 cent to 13.12 cents a pound. Soybean future closed down 55.00 cents to $12.19 a bushel.

Dollar edged higher and traded near record low against euro to $1.4675 and edged lower against yen to 110.51.

Yields on U.S. bonds decreased to 3.84% with 10 years of maturities and decreased to 4.47% with 30-year of maturities.