Oil, Copper Surge 4%; Exxon Rises

123jump.com Staff
01 May, 2009
New York City

Commodities linked stocks rallied after crude oil and copper increased. Crude oil jumped 4% after China reported second monthly expansion in a row. March exports from India declined and government indicated it sees no signs of improvement in near term. Softbank in Tokyo surged.

[R]4:00PM New York, 10:00PM Frankfurt – Commodities linked stocks rallied after crude oil and copper increased. Crude oil jumped 4% after China reported second monthly expansion in a row. March exports from India declined and government indicated it sees no signs of improvement in near term.[/R]

U.S. stocks closed higher after crude oil and copper prices increased. Better than expected gains in a manufacturing index in China lifted commodities prices. Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, Valero, Tesoro and Sunoco increased.

MasterCard dropped as much as 10% after it reported first quarter sales declined 2.2% to $1.2 billion and net income declined 18%. The gross dollar volume and transactions declined in the U.S. and rose at a curtailed rate in Europe.

The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc reported quarterly net loss $1.21 billion. Met Life reported first quarter sales declined 12% and reported a net loss.

UK stocks closed flat on low trading volume on a day when all other European markets were closed. Copper and Nickel prices rallied after China reported healthy gains in manufacturing for the second month in a row. Kazakhmys surged 10% and other miners including Xstrata and Antofagasta surged.

Stocks in Japan traded higher for the second day in a row after better than expected earnings from Softbank, Itochu and Fujitsu. Showa Denko plunged on weak outlook. Sumitomo Mitsui has agreed to pay $5.5 billion to acquire Nikko Cordial from Citigroup for $5.5 billion.

Exports, imports and trade deficit in India declined in March. Annual fiscal trade deficit, though smaller than previous year still remain at elevated level. Third phase of election was completed in nine states in India in low voter turnout.

North American Markets

Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 44.29 or 0.54% to a close of 8,212.41, S&P 500 Index added 4.71 or 0.54% to 877.52, and Nasdaq Composite Index increased 1.90 or 0.11% to close at 1,719.20. In Toronto TSX Composite Index increased 171.67 or 1.84% to 9,496.50.

Of the stocks in S&P 500 index, 266 increased, 226 declined and 8 were unchanged.

AON Corp led decliners in the S&P 500 index with a loss of 14% followed by losses in Washington Post of 13.3%, in Dean Foods Company of 8.9%, in Simon Property of 8.4%, in Hartford Financial Services of 8.3% and in MetLife Inc of 8.2%.

PerkinElmer Inc led gainers in the S&P 500 index with a surge of 19.9% followed by gains in FLIR Systems of 13.6%, in Massey Energy Company of 13.2%, in E*Trade Financial of 12.2%, in Gannett Co of 12.2% and in Integrys Energy of 10.7%.

South American Markets Indexes

Markets in South America were closed on the account of May 1 holiday.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 149.11 or 1.69% to 8,977.37. ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 10.90 or 0.29% closed to 3,769.60. The JSE Index in Indonesia increased 6.82 or 0.40% closed to 1,729.58.

The Markets of South China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Korea, Thailand and India were closed today.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 0.49 or 0.01% to 4,243.22. Markets of Paris, Frankfurt and Zurich were closed today.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil increased $1.66 to close at $52.78 a barrel for a front month contract, natural gas increased 16 cent to $3.54 per mBtu and gasoline futures increased 4.14 cents to close at 150.72 cents per gallon.

Wheat futures closed up 33.50 cents in Chicago trading and closed at $5.70 a bushel. Sugar increased 0.69 cent in trading at 15.05 cents a pound. Soybean future closed up 36 cent to $10.91 a bushel.

Gold decreased $5.60 in New York trading to close at $885.60 per ounce, silver closed up $0.09 to $12.42 per ounce and copper for the front month delivery increased 6.20 cents to $2.10 per pound.

Dollar edged lower against euro to $1.3268 and closed up against yen to 99.30.

Yields on 10-year U.S. bonds increased to 3.16% and with 30-year maturities closed up at 4.08%.