U.S. Stocks Advance; Commodities, Banks Rise

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

U.S. stocks traded higher on second monthly increase in pending home resale contracts and gain in construction spending. Markets in China, India and Australia surged and European markets traded higher. Crude oil and copper gained. Sprint surged after it reported quarterly profit.

[R]11:15 AM New York – Stocks traded higher on second monthly increase in pending home resale contracts and gain in construction spending. Markets in China, India and Australia surged and European markets traded higher. Crude oil and copper gained.[/R]

Stocks in early morning edged higher after better than expected home sales contract index data and the release of construction spending.

The index for pending existing home resale increased at 3.2% in March after gaining at 2% in February. The second monthly gain in a row prompted speculation that the housing market is bottoming out after three years of slump.

The Commerce Department reported that March construction spending increased at 0.3% from February and declined 11.1% from a year ago. For the first quarter the spending declined 11% from a year ago to $209.5 billion from $235.2 billion a year ago.

Oil jumped 65 cents to $53.85 a barrel and natural gas increased 6 cents to $3.60. Gold added $18.70 to $906.90 per ounce, silver increased 49 cents to $12.99 per ounce and copper gained 5.50 cents to $2.15 a pound.

The yields on ten year bonds increased to 3.19% and on 30-year bonds jumped to 4.08%.

Sprint Nextel ((S)) surged 9% after it reported adjusted profit of 3 cents beating the consensus estimate of a quarterly loss.

Bank of America ((BAC)) and Citigroup Inc ((C)) increased 5% ahead of stress-test results from the Fed regulators. Both lenders are the weakest among the 19 largest financial institutions undergoing stress tests to measure if they have adequate capital to withstand weakening economy.

S&P 500 Index Gainers & Losers

The S&P 500 index increased 19.36 or 2.2% to 896.88. Of the stocks in S&P 500 index, 429 increased, 65 declined and 6 were unchanged.

Massey Energy led gainers in the S&P 500 index with a rise of 21.3% followed by increase in Sprint Nextel Company of 13.7%, in Regions Financial of 11.4%, in AK Steel Holding of 10.4%, in Wells Fargo & Company of 9.8%. Peabody Energy, Titanium Metals and Wynn Resorts Ltd increased 9.7%.

Adobe Systems led decliners in the S&P 500 index with a loss of 4.1% followed by losses in Cincinnati Financial of 3.2%, in Ameriprise Financial of 3%, in Sysco Corp of 2.9% and in Cigna Corp of 2.5%.

Asian Markets Review

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 860.06 or 5.54% closed to 16,381.05, CSI 300 index in China higher 91.38 or 3.48% closed to 2,714.30. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 113.40 or 3.01% closed to 3,883.00. The KL Composite index in Malaysia higher 18.62 or 1.88% closed to 1,009.36.The Markets of Tokyo were closed today.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 28.56 or 2.09% to close at 1,397.92. SET index in Thailand closed higher 14.57 or 2.96% to 506.26 and JSE Index in Indonesia increased 58.56 or 3.39% closed to 1,788.15. The Sensex index in India increased 731.50 or 6.41% closed to 12,134.75.

Europe Markets Review

In Paris CAC 40 Index increased 34.63 or 1.10% to 3,194.48 and in Frankfurt DAX index traded higher 79.64 or 1.67% to 4,849.09. In Zurich trading SMI increased 32.13 or 0.61% to 5,258.05.The Markets of London were closed today.