U.S. Indexes Retain Positive Bias

Mukesh Buch
13 Nov, 2009
New York City

U.S. stocks closed higher and Treasury completed its $81 billion bond auction. U.S. trade deficit increased in September with the rise in crude oil imports. Gold traded near record high. Euro-zone expands.

[R]4:30 PM New York, 9:30 PM London, 8:30 AM Sydney – U.S. stocks closed higher and Treasury completed its $81 billion bond auction. U.S. trade deficit increased in September with the rise in crude oil imports. Gold traded near record high. Euro-zone expands.[/R]

U.S. trade deficit in September as demand for auto parts picks up and crude oil prices rise. Monthly deficit surges to the high for the year to $36.5 billion. Walt Disney fourth quarter earnings increased 18%. Abercrombie & Fitch net drops 39%. European markets turn lower.

Liberty Media acquires Unitymedia for €3.5 billion. John Malone controlled cable and media group will raise 2.5 billion in debt to pay for the acquisition. Apollo Management and BC Partners stand to make 40% on their investments.

UK stocks traded sideways and commodities prices were volatile. Real estate companies closed higher after a private research reported a rise in commercial properties values in October. British Air signed a definitive merger agreement with Spain based Iberia. Tullett Prebon plunged 12%.

The euro zone economy expanded at 0.4% in the 16-nation region and at 0.2% in the wider 27-nation region. Economies in Germany expanded at 0.7%. Mondadori Editore nine months net profit falls 54%. Benetton Group third quarter net up on higher sales. Dexia swings to third quarter profit.

Mumbai stocks gained after the finance ministry enlisted sixty companies for a stake sale. Ranbaxy strengthens after the World Health Organization approves its AIDS drug. Usha Martin plans to raise Rs 500 crore. TCS plan to build a software service center in Michigan for Dow Chemical.

North American Markets

Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 73.00 or 0.7% to a close of 10,270.47, S&P 500 Index edged higher 6.24 or 0.6% to 1,093.48, and Nasdaq Composite Index increased 18.86 or 0.9% to close at 2,167.88. Toronto TSX Composite Index increased 46.92 or 0.4% to 11,407.68.

Of the stocks in S&P 500 index, 393 increased, 101 declined and 6 were unchanged.

Genzyme Corp led the decliners in the S&P 500 index with a loss of 7.3% followed by losses in MBIA Inc of 4.8%, in GameStop Corp of 3.8%, in Legg Mason Inc of 2.7% and in Northern Trust of 2.3%.

Abercrombie & Fitch led gainers in the S&P 500 index with a rise of 11% followed by gains in Sears Holdings of 6.7%, in J. C. Penney Company, Inc 6.2%, in Juniper Networks, Inc of 6% and in Salesforce.com of 5.1%.

South American Markets Indexes

Mexico Bolsa Index increased 242.24 or 0.8% to 31,002.09 and Brazil Bovespa Stock Index increased 877.70 or 1.4% to 65,325.63.

Argentina Merval Index decreased 0.6% and Chile Stock Market Select index decreased 0.2% and Colombia IGBC General Index increased 0.2% and Peru Lima General Index added 0.1%.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 19.88 or 0.38% to 5,296.38, in Paris CAC 40 Index decreased 2.06 or 0.05% to close at 3,806.01, in Frankfurt DAX index higher 22.87 or 0.40% to close at 5,686.83. In Zurich trading SMI decreased 4.68 or 0.07% to close at 6,351.08.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 34.18 or 0.35% to 9,770.31, and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 156.06 or 0.70% to 22,553.63, and CSI 300 index in China higher 18.73 or 0.54% to 3,518.72. ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 41.50 or 0.87% to 4,706.40. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia was higher 0.79 or 0.06% to 1,270.96.

The Kospi Index in South Korea decreased 0.74 or 0.05% to close at 1,571.99. SET index in Thailand closed higher 1.61 or 0.23% to 698.33. JSE Index in Indonesia increased 6.52 or 0.27% to 2,426.80. The Sensex index in India increased 152.80 or 0.92% to 16,848.83.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil decreased $0.60 to $76.34 a barrel for a front month contract, natural gas edged up 4 cents to $4.41 per mBtu and gasoline decreased 2.75 cents to 191.30 cents.

Soybean future closed down 3.00 cents to $9.87 a bushel. Wheat futures closed up 7.50 cents in Chicago trading to $5.59 a bushel. Sugar closed higher 0.03 cent 22.72 cents.

Gold increased $12.60 in New York trading to close at $1,119.20 per ounce, silver closed up $0.19 to $17.45 per ounce and copper for the front month delivery increased 1.85 cent to $2.99 per pound.

Dollar edged lower against euro to $1.4905 and edged lower against the Japanese yen to 89.66.

Yield on 10-year U.S. bonds decreased to 3.42% and with 30-year maturities closed down at 4.35%.