U.S. Stocks Down, World Markets Weakness

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

U.S. stocks closed lower after investors focused on bank earnings this week. White House plans to impose fees of $120 billion to refund TARP. China raised bank reserves requirements. SEC sues Bank of American and said it did not disclose Merrill Lynch losses to shareholders.

[R]4:00 PM New York, 9:00 PM London, 8:00 AM Sydney – U.S. stocks closed lower after investors focused on bank earnings this week. White House plans to impose fees of $120 billion to refund TARP. China raised bank reserves requirements. SEC sues Bank of American and said it did not disclose Merrill Lynch losses to shareholders.[/R]

U.S. stocks declined as investors grew cautious ahead of earnings from Intel and JP Morgan and other banks. Alcoa earnings failed to spark investor excitement. Treasury raised $40 billion through bonds sale today totaling $84 billion in the week.

The 3-year note auction yielded 1.49% in a strong demand. Direct bidders, investors buying bonds for their own accounts purchased 23.4% of the auction. Foreign and institutional buyers bought only 38% of the offering compared to 59.3% in the last three auctions.

U.S. Treasury auction was the second of four auctions scheduled this week.

Markets in Europe were rattled after EU regulators said deficit statistics of Greece are unreliable. National Bank of Greece dropped 6.3%. Beiersdorf, the German consumer products maker declined after it missed earnings outlook. EADS declined after it reported revenues decline on weak dollar.

Cadbury Plc advised shareholders to reject the offer from Kraft and Italy based Ferrero dropped out of the bidding. Tesco Plc advanced after six week sales increased 4.9%. The Game Group sales for the year declined 11% from a year ago.

North American Markets

Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 36.73 or 0.4% to a close of 10,627.26, S&P 500 Index edged lower 10.76 or 0.9% to 1,136.22, and Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 30.10 or 1.3% to close at 2,282.31. Toronto TSX Composite Index increased 126.95 or 1.06% to 11,820.18.

Latin American Markets Indexes

Mexico Bolsa Index decreased 142.72 or 0.4% to 32,792.66 and Brazil Bovespa Stock Index fell 357.71 or 0.5% to 70,075.78.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 39.36 or 0.71% to 5,498.71, in Paris CAC 40 Index decreased 43.04 or 1.06% to close at 4,000.05, in Frankfurt DAX index lower 97.50 or 1.61% to close at 5,943.00. In Zurich trading SMI decreased 50.36 or 0.76% to close at 6,541.90.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 80.82 or 0.75% to 10,879.14, and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong decreased 84.88 or 0.38% to 22,326.64, and CSI 300 index in China higher 52.86 or 1.52% to 3,534.92. ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 51.20 or 1.03% to 4,899.50. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia was lower 1.66 or 0.13% to 1,292.85.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 4.52 or 0.27% to close at 1,698.64. SET index in Thailand closed lower 1.71 or 0.23% to 745.24. JSE Index in Indonesia increased 27.35 or 1.04% to 2,659.55. The Sensex index in India decreased 104.20 or 0.59% to 17,422.51.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil decreased $2.49 to $80.03 a barrel for a front month contract, natural gas edged up 13 cents to $5.58 per mBtu and gasoline decreased 7.01 cents to 207.23 cents.

Soybean future closed down 32.50 cents to $9.78 a bushel. Wheat futures closed down 36.75 cents in Chicago trading to $5.35 a bushel. Sugar closed up 0.61 cents at 27.36 cents.

Gold decreased $23.10 in New York trading to close at $1,128.00 per ounce, silver closed down $0.42 to $18.28 per ounce and copper for the front month delivery decreased 12.20 cent to $3.31 per pound.

Dollar closed higher against euro to $1.4484 and edged lower against the Japanese yen to 91.05.

Yield on 10-year U.S. bonds decreased to 3.71% and with 30-year maturities closed lower at 4.62%.