U.S. Stocks, Commodities Advance; Dollar Weak

123jump.com Staff
16 Feb, 2010
New York City

U.S. stocks and commodities traded higher and the dollar declined. Barclays earnings more than doubled in 2009. Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America gained. Gold surges. U.S. Treasuries trade lower on the weak dollar. General Growth appears lukewarm to the $10 billion offer.

[R]10:10 AM New York – U.S. stocks and commodities traded higher and the dollar declined. Barclays earnings more than doubled in 2009. Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America gained. Gold surges.[/R]

U.S. stocks and commodities in the early trading gained after the dollar weakened and bond yields rose.

Manufacturing index in the New York region increased at the largest pace in February in the last four months as companies rebuild inventories. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said its general economic index increased to 24.9 in February from 15.9 in January.

Simon Property Group, Inc made its offer for General Growth Properties, Inc public after the company failed to response to the negotiations a week ago.

The Indianapolis, Indiana based mall developer offered $10 billion for General Growth assets and said its offer will pay unsecured creditors in full. The $9 a share offer pays $6 in cash and $3 for asset values.

UK based Barclays Plc said its 2009 earnings more than doubled to 9.39 billion pounds from 4.38 billion pounds a year earlier.

Commodities and resource stocks increased. Newmont Mining, Alcoa, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto Plc increased.

Commodities, Currencies and Bonds

Immediate futures of crude oil increased $1.71 to $75.84 a barrel and natural gas edged lower 1 cent to $5.46.

Gold surged $25.70 to $1,115.70 an ounce and copper increased 6.30 cents to $317.80 a pound.

In currency trading the dollar edged lower. One euro fetched $1.3657 and one dollar traded at 90.094 yen.

U.S. Treasury 10-year bonds yield increased to 3.71% and 30-year bonds edged up to 4.67%.

Earnings Review

Brown & Brown, Inc, the insurance agency said fourth quarter revenues fell 7.7% to $214.2 million from $232.1 million a year ago. Net income in the quarter fell 29% to $23.7 million or 17 cents per diluted share compared to net income of $33.4 million or 24 cents per share a year ago.

Total revenues for the fiscal year 2009 fell 1% to $967.9 million from $977.6 million a year ago. Net income for the year fell 7.7% to $153.3 million or $1.08 per diluted share compared to net income of $166.1 million or $1.17 per share a year ago.

Brown & Brown, Inc ((BRO)) in the last one year traded as high as $20.30 in June 2009 and as low as $14.95 in March 2009. Based on the yesterday’s closing price of $17.70 the company has market cap of $2.51 billion.

Pan American Silver Corp., the silver and gold miner said fourth quarter sales rose 233.4% to $154.4 million from $46.3 million a year ago. Net income in the quarter was $27.8 million or 31 cents per diluted share compared to net loss of $33.3 million or 41 cents per share a year ago.

Sales for the fiscal year 2009 rose 34.3% to $454.8 million from $338.6 million a year ago. Net income for the year rose 152% to $62.0 million or 71 cents per diluted share compared to net income of $24.6 million or 30 cents per share a year ago.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 20.95 or 0.21% to 10,034.25. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 22.30 or 0.49% to 4,567.80. The Markets of Hong Kong, China and Malaysia were closed today.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 7.39 or 0.46% to close at 1,601.05. SET index in Thailand closed higher 3.64 or 0.53% to 692.73 and JSE Index in Indonesia increased 41.05 or 1.63% to 2,558.50. The Sensex index in India increased 188.33 or 1.17% to 16,226.68.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index traded higher 55.43 or 1.07% to 5,222.90, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 32.05 or 0.89% to 3,641.27 and in Frankfurt DAX index traded higher 60.19 or 1.09% to 5,571.29. In Zurich trading SMI increased 43.60 or 0.68% to 6,484.36.