November Rally Extends

Elena
25 Nov, 2005
New York City

Following Thanksgiving, light volume trading is expected as stock and bond markets will close early and commodities remained closed. Retailers are the major market driver, boosted by sales growth after hectic holiday shopping started. In corporate news, three U.S. telecom companies are buying a collection of local telephone access lines from wireless carrier Alltel Corp. for as much as $10 billion.

U.S. MARKET AVERAGES

U.S. stock markets opened slightly higher but have since then moved sideways. Stock and bond markets resumed trading after holiday, but volume is expected to be light as they will close early. Commodities markets remained closed.

The averages advanced on the large-scale holiday shopping, which boosted retailers. Since late October gains in retailers have helped the S&P’s retail index rise 12% higher. Retreating oil prices and anticipation that the Fed Reserve is approaching the end of its rate-rising cycle, also provided support.

In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 33.62, or 0.31%.The Standard & Poor''s 500 index was up 2.45, or 0.19%, and the Nasdaq composite index climbed 1.36, or 0.06%.

Bonds advanced, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note sliding to 4.44 percent from 4.47 percent late Wednesday.

The retail sector advanced on the start of hectic holiday shopping with electronics like Apple Computer’s iPod media player expected to be the best-sellers. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. rose 9 cents to $50.66, and electronics retailer Best Buy Co. added $1.32 to $$50.32. Apple gained 60 cents to $67.71.

Semiconductor stocks are posting gains in the early going. Teradyne ((TER)) is leading the group higher, climbing by nearly 2.2%. AMD ((AMD)) and Intel ((INTC)) are strong as well, each with gains of about 1.3%.

Following three sessions of sharp advance, the gaming sector is suffering some weakness on mild profit taking in the early going.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Taser International Inc has been notified by the Nasdaq Stock Market that its shares could be delisted because the stun-gun maker failed to submit its third-quarter financial report on time. The stock dropped 10.1% to $6.65.

INTERNATIONAL MARKET NEWS

Asian-Pacific benchmarks ended the session mixed with the Nikkei rising for the seventh consecutive session, extending rally to 14,784,29, or 0.3% on economic and corporate news. Across the region, bourses in Hong Kong and Australia closed unchanged, South Korea’s Kospi added 0.1%, while Singapore Straits Times dropped 0.4%.

European markets traded a little higher at mid-day with support coming from strong resource stocks and their record-high prices. A market drag was supermarket Tesco which declined 0.9% after reporting quarterly sales. The German DAX 30 was little changed at 0.01%, the French CAC 40 added 0.1%, and London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.2%.

OIL, METALS, CURRENCIES

European gold prices hit an 18-year high, rising close to $500 on building inflation concerns. In London gold traded at $497.35 per troy ounce, up from $493.90.

The U.S. dollar advanced against all major currencies on weak German data and Japanese inflation figures. The euro was quoted at $1.1749, down from $1.1783. The dollar bought 119.36 yen, down from 118.83. The British pound traded at $1.7184, down from $1.7226.