U.S. Stocks Struggle; Commodities Weak

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

U.S. stocks traded sideways and commodities traded mixed. President Obama proposes a fee to drugmakers and taxes wealthy families to pay for growing healthcare costs. A $15 billion jobs bill passed a test vote in the U.S. Senate.

[R]4:00 PM New York, 9:00 PM London, 8:00 AM Sydney – U.S. stocks traded sideways and commodities traded mixed. President Obama proposes a fee to drugmakers and taxes wealthy families to pay for growing healthcare costs. A $15 billion jobs bill passed a test vote in the U.S. Senate.[/R]

U.S. stocks traded sideways and commodities traded lower. President Obama proposed changes to healthcare plan before a bipartisan meeting on Feb 25. Schlumberger agrees to acquire Smith International for $11 billion. Green Plains Renewable Energy Inc surged after it swung to a quarterly profit. Lowe’s Co declined after it estimated lower than expected first quarter earnings.

Thermo Fisher Scientific offered $6 billion to acquire Millipore Corp. Millipore surged 22% at close in New York trading.

UK stocks closed lower after a weakness in drugmakers. Miners and banks led the gainers. GlaxoSmithKline Plc dropped 2.6% after two U.S. lawmakers reopened the investigations linked to its Type 2 diabetes treatment drug.

European market indexes declined after gaining for a week. Lufthansa canceled two thirds of its flights. Banks and the benchmark index in Greece rebounded on central bank governor comments. Drugmakers declined after U.S President proposed fees.

The benchmark index in Tokyo surged nearly 3% on the inflation and manufacturing reports in the U.S. Exporters, resource stocks, trading companies and shippers led the gainers. Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance filed to raise $12 billion in initial public offering.

India’s President Pratibha Patil said to the Parliament that the government is targeting at least 8% economic growth in the next fiscal year beginning April 1 and 9% in the following fiscal year. Steelmakers, automakers and infrastructure stocks closed higher.

A private report indicated that housing affordability index in Australia dropped 18.4% in December on rising costs and slower building approvals. The benchmark index gained 1.8% on higher commodities prices. Gunns first half profit declined 98.7%. Challenger Financial Services interim profit increased 9%.

North American Markets

Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 18.97 or 0.2% to a close of 10,383.38, S&P 500 Index edged lower 1.16 or 0.1% to 1,108.01, and Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 1.84 or 0.08% to close at 2,242.03. Toronto TSX Composite Index decreased 74.54 or 0.6% to 11,634.75.

Latin American Markets Indexes

Mexico Bolsa Index decreased 137.77 to 32,034.34 and Brazil Bovespa Stock Index fell 413.27 or 0.6% to 67,184.16.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 6.10 or 0.11% to 5,352.07, in Paris CAC 40 Index decreased 12.84 or 0.34% to close at 3,756.70, in Frankfurt DAX index lower 33.61 or 0.59% to close at 5,688.44. In Zurich trading SMI decreased 22.27 or 0.33% to close at 6,687.41.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 276.89 or 2.74% to 10,400.47, and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 483.25 or 2.43% to 20,377.27, and CSI 300 index in China lower 17.93 or 0.55% to 3,233.34. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 82.40 or 1.78% to 4,717.50. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia was higher 8.77 or 0.70% to 1,266.44.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 33.20 or 2.08% to close at 1,627.10. SET index in Thailand closed higher 5.36 or 0.77% to 705.80. JSE Index in Indonesia increased 9.89 or 0.39% to 2,564.26. The Sensex index in India increased 45.42 or 0.28% to 16,237.05.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil decreased $0.31 to $80.00 a barrel for a front month contract, natural gas edged up 3 cents to $4.93 per mBtu and gasoline decreased 0.31 cents to 211.27 cents.

Soybean future closed up 14.50 cents to $9.69 a bushel. Wheat futures closed up 11.25 cents in Chicago trading to $5.15 a bushel. Sugar closed down 1.84 cents at 24.12 cents per pound.

Gold decreased $0.30 in New York trading to close at $1,112.80 per ounce, silver closed up $0.002 to $16.25 per ounce and copper for the front month delivery decreased 5.05 cent to $3.32 per pound.

Dollar edged up against euro to $1.3593 and edged lower against the Japanese yen to 91.22.

Yield on 10-year U.S. bonds closed up to 3.80% and with 30-year maturities closed higher at 4.73%.