Durable Orders, Jobless Claims Lift Sentiment

123jump.com Staff
24 Dec, 2009
New York City

Tech stocks led the gainers in New York trading following the advances in Europe and Asia. The dollar edged up and futures of crude oil and gold traded higher. Weekly jobless claims in the U.S. declined and November durable goods orders increased.

[R]10:00 AM New York – Tech stocks led the gainers in New York trading following the advances in Europe and Asia. The dollar edged up and futures of crude oil and gold traded higher. Weekly jobless claims in the U.S. declined and November durable goods orders increased.[/R]

Stocks in early trading scaled higher in light trading as markets in Europe closed higher and Asian markets rallied.

Commodities edged up after investors surmised a loose monetary policy in China and sustained demand from India. Indexes in London and Paris closed at 15-month high and markets in Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Italy and Sweden.

The slight uptick in the dollar was followed by a rise in crude oil and gold futures.

Stocks in New York edged up 0.3% with the tech stocks leading the charge. Weekly jobless claims declined in the last week and durable goods orders increased in November.

Seasonally adjusted weekly jobless claims decreased 28,000 to 452,000 from the revised previous week claims of 480,000. The preliminary insured unemployment rate in the week ending December 12 was 3.9%, unchanged from the prior week''s unrevised rate of 3.9%.

November durable goods orders increased 0.2% or $0.3 billion to $166.9 billion, second monthly rise in the last three months. Orders increased 0.6% in October. Excluding defense new orders fall slightly.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 158.89 or 1.53% to 10,536.92, and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 188.26 or 0.88% to 21,517.00, and CSI 300 index in China higher 102.34 or 3.07% to 3,438.82. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 51.60 or 1.09% to 4,790.90. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia was higher 3.41 or 0.27% to 1,263.94.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 20.99 or 1.26% to close at 1,682.34. SET index in Thailand closed lower 2.59 or 0.35% to 727.21. The Sensex index in India increased 129.50 or 0.75% to 17,360.61. Markets in Indonesia were closed today.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index traded higher 13.24 or 0.25% to 5,385.62, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 4.23 or 0.11% to 3,914.98. Markets in Germany & Switzerland were closed today.