U.S. Stocks Gain, Amazon Surges

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

U.S. stocks closed higher in volatile trading on a rise in holiday Internet sales and an increase in mortgage applications. Amazon.com surged nearly 10%. Auto makers are threatening that they will run out of cash soon. Australia third quarter GDP growth rate fell. Japan considers stimulus package.

5:30PM New York, 11:30PM Frankfurt, 7:30AM Sydney[R]– U.S. stocks edged higher after volatile trading on a rise in holiday Internet sales and an increase in mortgage applications. Australia third quarter GDP growth rate fell. Japan considers stimulus package.[/R]

Global Markets

U.S. stocks came under pressure after service index in November declined to 11-year low. The service industry is shrinking as consumers curtail spending, businesses lay off people and banks tighten lending. Separately private survey tracking jobs in private sector showed job loss of 250,000. Stocks closed higher after online retail sales increased on the first few days of holiday season and a rise in mortgage applications.

Japan government is likely to provide additional 100 trillion yen economic stimulus package. The falling exports and weak domestic economy has dragged economy in Japan to recessionary conditions. Toyota will cut bonuses for senior staff but not for top executives.

China stock indexes gained on a rise in telecom and financial stocks. Telecoms advanced on the hopes that 3G licenses will be allocated before the end of the year. Bank of America increased its stake in China Construction Bank. Property stocks declined on a rise in mortgage rates.

Australian third quarter GDP growth fell to 0.1% and non-farm sector growth declined 0.3%. Weak exports and falling domestic demand weakened the service and construction sector. Babcock & Brown received A$150 million in emergency funding from a syndicate of banks.

Stocks in Mumbai closed up in a volatile session. India is exploring cross border military or commando raid to eliminate terrorist camps if Pakistan fails to reign in local groups. Terrorists are using Karachi to finance their operations. SEBI extended margin facility for cross holdings to all investors.

North American Markets

Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 172.60 or 2.05% to a close of 8,591.69, S&P 500 Index increased 21.90 or 2.6% to 870.74, and Nasdaq Composite Index gained 42.58 or 2.94% to close at 1,492.38. In Toronto, TSX Composite Index dropped 30.85 or 0.37% to 8,296.96.

Of the stocks in Dow Jones Industrial Average 25 increased and 5 declined.

Alcoa Inc led decliners in the Dow with a fall of 4.8% followed by decreases in Chevron Corp of 1.1%, in Merck & Company of 0.8%, in Boeing Company of 0.6% and 3M Company of 0.3%.

Citigroup Inc led gainers in the Dow with a rise of 8.3% followed by increase in JP Morgan Chase of 6.1%, in American Express of 5.4%, in Coca-Cola Company of 5%, in Bank of America of 4.7% and in McDonalds Corp of 4.4%.

Of the stocks in S&P 500 index, 402 increased, 96 decreased and 2 were unchanged. Of the index stocks, 19 fell more than 3%, 211 closed above 3% and 20 surged more than 10%.

Freeport-McMoran led decliners in the S&P 500 index with a fall of 17.3% followed by losses in Smith International Inc of 10%, in Newmont Mining of 9%, in AES Corp of 8.2%, in Fifth Third Bancorp of 7.6% and in Leucadia National of 5.1%.

SanDisk Corp led gainers in the S&P 500 index with a rise of 25% followed by increases in CIT Group Inc of 24%, in LSI Corp of 21%, in XL Capital Ltd of 19% and in Jones Apparel of 16%.

South American Markets Indexes

Colombia led gainers in the region with a rise of 2.1% followed by increases in Argentina of 1.9%, in Mexico of 1.74% and in Brazil of 0.85%.

Peru led decliners in the region with a loss of 1.2% followed by losses in Chile of 0.6% and in Venezuela of 0.5%.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 47.10 or 1.14% to 4,169.96, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 13.75 or 0.44% to close at 3,166.65 and in Frankfurt DAX index higher 35.45 or 0.78% to close at 4,567.24. In Zurich trading SMI increased 66.64 or 1.20% to close at 5,604.23.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 140.41 or 1.79% to 8,004.10, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 182.81 or 1.36% closed to 13,588.66 CSI 300 index in China higher 84.04 or 4.50% closed to 1,952.67. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 5.60 or 0.16% to close 3,533.80. The KL Composite index in Malaysia higher 1.78 or 0.21% closed to 847.53.

The Kospi Index in South Korea decreased 0.53 or 0.05% to close at 1,022.67. SET index in Thailand closed higher 5.60 or 1.45% to 392.92 and JSE Index in Indonesia increased 1.17 or 0.10% to 1,192.53. The Sensex index in India increased 8.19 or 0.09% closed to 8,747.43.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil decreased $0.04 to close at $46.92 a barrel for a front month contract, natural gas decreased 6 cents to $6.37 per mBtu and gasoline futures decreased 1.73 cents to close at 104.10 cents per gallon.

Wheat futures closed down 8.75 cents in Chicago trading and closed at $5.19750 a bushel. Sugar decreased 0.46 cent to 11.16 cents a pound. Soybean future closed up 3 cent to $8.30 a bushel.

Gold decreased $8.40 in New York trading to close at $774.90 per ounce, silver closed up 1.5 cents to $9.63 per ounce and copper for the front month delivery decreased 5.60 cent to $1.5445 per pound.

Dollar edged lower against euro to $1.2724 and rose against yen to 93.39.

Yields on 10-year U.S. bonds dropped to 2.66% and with 30-year maturities decreased to 3.16%.