Home Sales Fall; Jobless Claims Rise

123jump.com Staff
23 Apr, 2009
New York City

U.S. stocks edged lower after unemployment claims rise in the last week. March existing home sales declined at 3% annual rate from February to 4.57 million and fell 7.1% from a year ago month. Median home prices declined 12% from a year ago. Northeast sales decline of 8% led the nation.

[R]10:45AM New York – U.S. stocks edged lower after unemployment claims rise in the last week. March existing home sales declined at 3% annual rate from February to 4.57 million and fell 7.1% from a year ago month.[/R]

U.S. stocks traded lower in the morning after the rise in jobless claims and unemployment rate. Of the stocks in S&P 500 index, 205 declined, 295 increased and4 were unchanged.

Torchmark Corp led decliners in the S&P 500 index with a fall of 12.2% followed by losses at Thermo Fisher of 11.5%, in National Oilwell Varco of 8.5%, in Robert Half International of 8.2% and in Perkin Elmer inc of 7.1%.

Pactiv Corp led gainers in the S&P 500 index stocks with a rise of 24% followed by increase in Consol Energy of 14.2%, in Host Hotels & Resorts of 14%, in RadioShack Corp of 13.9% and in Supervalu Inc of 11.4%.

Jobless Claims Rise

Jobless claims in the week ended on April 18 rose and insured unemployment also increased. The preliminary seasonally adjusted claims for the week increased 27,000 to 640,000 and unemployment rate increased 0.1% to 4.6%.

The actual claims in the week were 591,952, a rise of 18,601 from the previous week and were 328,346 in the week a year ago.

Twenty states are offering extended weekly benefits. Oregon led the nation with the unemployment rate of 7.7% followed by Michigan with 7.6%, Idaho 6.8% and Wisconsin 6.7%. Florida, Pennsylvania and California registered the highest unemployment claims in the last week.

Credit Suisse Returns to Profitability

Credit Suisse reported first quarter income of Sfr 2.01 billion compared with a loss of Sfr 2.15 billion. The core net revenues in the quarter were Sfr 9.6 billion compared to Sfr 2.92 billion in the year ago period. Earnings per share jumped to Sfr 1.60.

Investment bank reported tier 1 capital ratio of 14.1%, an increase from 13.3% at the end of the fourth quarter 2008. The bank also plans to redeem two upper ties 2 issues of 125 million euros and 150 million pounds.

Credit Suisse benefitted in private banking and wealth management while competitors are in disarray in Switzerland and in Europe.

Private banking which includes wealth management and corporate and retail banking businesses net income before taxes declined 25% to Sfr 992 million with net revenues fall of 14% to Sfr 2.87 billion.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 119.71 or 1.37% to 8,847.01, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 336.01 or 2.26% closed to 15,214.46, CSI 300 index in China higher 17.28 or 0.67% closed to 2,593.56. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 74.80 or 2.04% closed to 3,743.00. The KL Composite index in Malaysia higher 10.06 or 1.04% closed to 978.64.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 12.78 or 0.94% to close at 1,368.80. SET index in Thailand closed higher 5.44 or 1.18% to 466.06 and JSE Index in Indonesia decreased 22.53 or 1.39% closed to 1,592.70. The Sensex index in India increased 317.45 or 2.93% closed to 11,134.99.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index traded higher 21.53 or 0.53% to 4,052.19, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 10.98 or 0.36% to 3,036.22 and in Frankfurt DAX index traded lower 11.59 or 0.25% to 4,582.83. In Zurich trading SMI increased 12.09 or 0.24% to 5,075.79.