U.S. Indexes Up 1%; Record Low Temperatures

123jump.com Staff
04 Jan, 2010
New York City

U.S. stocks followed the gains in Europe and Asia. Two separate reports in China suggest a robust manufacturing expansion and India reported better than expected data. Crude oil and natural gas gained after record low temperatures in the U.S. and record snowfalls in China and Korea.

[R]10:00 AM New York – U.S. stocks followed the gains in Europe and Asia. Two separate reports in China suggest a robust manufacturing expansion and India reported better than expected data. Crude oil and natural gas gained after record low temperatures in the U.S. and record snowfalls in China and Korea.[/R]

U.S. stocks head higher in the early trading after crude oil, natural gas and metals gain.

Freezing weather in the U.S. prompted a rise in futures of the crude oil and natural gas of more than 2%. Immediate month futures for crude oil increase to $80.35 a barrel and natural gas jumped more than 5% to $5.82 per mBtu.

Meteorologists are forecasting record low temperatures in Northern and Eastern regions of the U.S. for today and tomorrow. Heavy snow fall in China and South Korea grounded airplanes at airports in Beijing and Seoul.

Gold increased 1.3% to 1,111.25 per ounce and Copper increased to $7,487 a ton in London trading.

A private estimate of manufacturing industry in China and India showed a faster than expected increases in December. The purchasing managers’ index after adjusting for seasonal swings increased to 56.1, the highest read since the tracking began in April 2004 by HSBC Holdings and Markit Economics.

The official measure release by China on January 1 indicated that manufacturing expanded at the fastest pace since February 2008.

Novartis to Acquire Alcon

Novartis AG agreed to acquire majority stake held by Nestle SA in Alcon Inc. Novartis said it will pay premium to acquire the majority stake from Nestle and pay a lower price to minority shareholders meeting the Swiss takeover rules.

The deal culminates after nearly two years when Novartis acquired an option in Alcon. According to the proposal Novartis will pay $49.5 billion of which $28.1 billion will be paid to Nestle and the rest to minority shareholders.

Novartis will pay $180 a share in cash to Nestle and will fund the deal with a debt of $16 billion and the rest from its cash holdings.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 108.35 or 1.03% to 10,654.79, and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong decreased 49.22 or 0.23% to 21,823.28, and CSI 300 index in China lower 16.27 or 0.46% to 3,559.41. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 5.70 or 0.12% to 4,876.30. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia was higher 2.97 or 0.23% to 1,275.75.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 13.37 or 0.79% to close at 1,696.14. SET index in Thailand closed lower 2.26 or 0.31% to 732.28. JSE Index in Indonesia increased 41.06 or 1.62% to 2,575.41. The Sensex index in India increased 93.92 or 0.54% to 17,558.73.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index traded higher 31.67 or 0.59% to 5,444.55, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 38.35 or 0.97% to 3,974.68 and in Frankfurt DAX index traded higher 42.43 or 0.71% to 5,999.86. In Zurich trading SMI increased 45.08 or 0.69% to 6,590.99.