Weak Retail Outlook Drag U.S. Stocks

123jump.com Staff
08 Jan, 2009
New York City

U.S. stocks edged lower after weaker than expected retail sales and profit warnings from retailers. Wal-Mart sales missed estimates and indicated weaker than expected sales rise in January. The Bank of England lowered the rates to the lowest level in 34 years. Stocks in Japan and China dropped.

Australia trade surplus declined 51% to A$1.45 billion in November from A$2.96 billion the previous month as exports declined 4% to A$26.9 billion in the period. Seasonally adjusted total dwelling units approved in November fell 12.8% from a month ago and 34.7% from a year earlier to 9,581.

U.S. Markets Reviews

Dow Jones Industrial Average edged lower by 27.24 or 0.31% to a close of 8,742.46, S&P 500 increased 3.08 or 0.34% to 1,507.34, and Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 17.95 or 1.12% to a close of 1,7617.01. In Toronto TSX Composite increased 100.26 or 1.10% to close at 9,221.58.

U.S. Stock Movers

Of the stocks in S&P 500 index, 190 declined, 304 increased and 6 were unchanged.

Manitowoc Company led decliners in the S&P 500 index followed by losses in Sun Microsystems of 8.3%, in Wal-Mart Stores of 7.5%, in Nasdaq OMX Group of 7.4%, in CIT Group Inc 7.2%, in Limited Brands of 6.5%, in Intuitive Surgical of 6.2%, in Lincoln National Corp of 5.4%.

Sears Holdings led the gainers in S&P 500 index with a rise of 23% followed by increase in Whole Foods Market of 22.3%, in GameStop of Corp of 13%, in MBIA Inc of 11.5% and in AK Steel Holdings of 11%.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 362.82 or 3.93% to 8,876.42, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong decreased 571.55 or 3.81% closed to 14,415.91 CSI 300 index in China lower 43.19 or 2.24% closed to 1,887.99. ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 85.40 or 2.26% to close 3,694.30. The KL Composite index in Malaysia lower 17.10 or 1.84% closed to 910.52.

The Kospi Index in South Korea decreased 22.47 or 1.83% to close at 1,205.70. SET index in Thailand closed higher 2.07 or 0.45% to 465.03 and JSE Index in Indonesia decreased 18.81 or 1.32% closed to 1,402.66. Markets of India were closed today.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 2.14 or 0.05% to 4,505.37, in Paris CAC 40 Index decreased 21.76 or 0.65% to close at 3,324.33 and in Frankfurt DAX index lower 57.56 or 1.17% to close at 4,879.91. In Zurich trading SMI decreased 10.62 or 0.18% to close at 5,751.07.

Commodities, Bonds and Currencies

Yields on 10-year bond declined to 2.45% and on 30-year bonds dropped to 2.99%.

The U.S. dollar declined to $1.37 to a euro and against the Japanese yen fell to 91.142 yen.

Immediate futures prices of Texas crude oil rose $0.41 to $42.41 a barrel, for natural gas increase 0.6 cents to $5.583 per mbtu and gasoline prices increased 0.93 cents to 109.75 cents a gallon.

Futures of corn increased 9.75 cent to $4.06, soybean increased 0.55 cents to $9.89, sugar increased 0.05 cents to 12.03 a pound and wheat rose 3.75 to $6.335 a bushel.

In metals trading, copper prices rose 0.05 cents to $1.48 per pound, gold increased $2.60 to $857.10 per ounce and silver decreased 2 cents to $11.09.