U.S. Stocks in Choppy Trading Edge Higher

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

Stocks in volatile trading closed higher but commodities tracked lower. JP Morgan and Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup each will face more than $1 billion a year tax to pay for additional tax proposed by the White House.

[R]4:00 PM New York, 9:00 PM London, 8:00 AM Sydney – Stocks in volatile trading closed higher but commodities tracked lower. JP Morgan and Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup each will face more than $1 billion a year tax to pay for additional tax proposed by the White House.[/R]

President Obama unveiled new fee on banks and financial institutions to recoup losses used in the TARP bailout. The President using strong language and sharp focus on compensation practices and risk taking behavior vowed to recover $120 billion over twelve years.

U.S. stocks traded lower after retail sales declined and weekly jobless claims increased. Prices of imported goods were unchanged in December but exported goods increased 0.6%. Briggs & Stratton reported latest quarterly earnings per share of 6 cents and CRA International of 23 cents.

European bonds and currencies markets were rattled as the pressure builds on Greece to trim its budget deficit soon. The ECB President and German Chancellor comments added more pressure on Greek lawmakers to trim budget deficit to 8.7% from the current 12.7%. The euro declined against most currencies.

American Movil plans to issue stocks worth $18 billion to acquire the land line operator Telemex in Mexico. Briggs & Stratton said latest quarterly earnings declined 6%. Zale Corp forced its chief executive after weak holiday sales.

Stocks in Japan rose after machine tools orders surged for the first time in eighteen months in December but broader machinery orders declined. Shipping companies surged on the reports that Mitusi OSK will report pre-tax profit of 11 billion yen. Softbank Corp gained on the estimate that Google exit in China will help Alibaba where the company has a stake.

Australian dollar and stocks gained after the release fourthly monthly jobs gains in December. Unemployment fell 0.1% to 5.5% and business across the economy added staff. Rio Tinto iron ore production surged 49% on China demand.

North American Markets

Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 29.78 or 0.3% to a close of 10,710.55, S&P 500 Index edged higher 2.78 or 0.3% to 1,148.46, and Nasdaq Composite Index increased 8.84 or 0.4% to close at 2,316.74. Toronto TSX Composite Index decreased 49.18 or 0.4% to 11,804.38.

Latin American Markets Indexes

Mexico Bolsa Index decreased 106.50 or 0.4% to 32,729.58 and Brazil Bovespa Stock Index fell 584.05 or 0.8% to 69,801.42.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 24.72 or 0.45% to 5,498.20, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 14.91 or 0.37% to close at 4,015.77, in Frankfurt DAX index higher 25.74 or 0.43% to close at 5,988.88. In Zurich trading SMI increased 72.87 or 1.11% to close at 6,627.42.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 172.65 or 1.61% to 10,907.68, and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong decreased 31.65 or 0.15% to 21,716.95, and CSI 300 index in China higher 47.91 or 1.40% to 3,469.05. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 29.90 or 0.61% to 4,898.00. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia was higher 5.20 or 0.40% to 1,294.71.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 14.36 or 0.86% to close at 1,685.77. SET index in Thailand closed higher 2.68 or 0.36% to 749.72. JSE Index in Indonesia increased 12.31 or 0.47% to 2,645.18. The Sensex index in India increased 75.07 or 0.43% to 17,584.87.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil decreased $0.46 to $79.19 a barrel for a front month contract, natural gas edged down 13 cents to $5.61 per mBtu and gasoline increased 1.01 cents to 207.03 cents.

Soybean future closed down 8.50 cents to $9.84 a bushel. Wheat futures closed down 9.25 cents in Chicago trading to $5.27 a bushel. Sugar closed down 0.28 cents at 27.76 cents.

Gold increased $5.80 in New York trading to close at $1,142.00 per ounce, silver closed up $0.13 to $18.68 per ounce and copper for the front month delivery increased 0.5 cent to $3.405 per pound.

Dollar closed lower against euro to $1.4501 and edged lower against the Japanese yen to 91.21.

Yield on 10-year U.S. bonds decreased to 3.74% and with 30-year maturities closed lower at 4.63%.