U.S., European Indexes Advance; Oil Firm

123jump.com Staff
05 Mar, 2010
New York City

U.S. indexes closed higher after jobless rate stayed unchanged. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may quintuple the amount of home loans buy backs for banks to $21 billion. Senators prepare to vote on a jobs bill totaling $150 billion next week. Small cap index Russell 6000 surged 6% in the week.

[R]4:00 PM New York, 9:00 PM London, 8:00 AM Sydney – U.S. indexes closed higher after jobless rate stayed unchanged. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may quintuple the amount of home loans buy backs for banks to $21 billion. Senators prepare to vote on a jobs bill totaling $150 billion next week.[/R]

U.S. stocks traded higher after February unemployment was unchanged at 9.7% and payrolls declined 36,000 less than expected in the month. Greek lawmakers passed the budget cuts sought by the government. Crude oil advanced.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are likely to quintuple the amount of mortgage they force the loan originators to buyback. According to the latest research released by an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. noted that banks may have take back $21 billion in mortgage loans in 2010.

Banks were asked to buy back $4.1 billion of loans, three times the amount in 2008. The research note estimated that banks may take as much as $7 billion. The four largest banks, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Citigroup and Wells Fargo reported a loss of $5 billion in 2009.

General Growth Properties gains on the first day of trading. RCN, the regional cable and broad band provider soared 23% on a private equity buyout. Coal miners advanced after India based Essar Group acquired Trinity Coal. Apple Inc added 2.5% ahead of the release of iPad. Cache Inc fourth quarter loss narrowed.

European markets closed higher and the benchmark index in Athens soared 9%. Investors surmised that the EU will provide a bailout to Greece after Greek lawmakers passed budget cuts meeting the demands of EU nations and regulators. Vinci SA and Ahold NV gained on earnings.

UK producer prices increased 4.1% in February from a year ago, eleventh monthly increase in a row. Swiss based Glencore international exercised its option to buy back Colombia based coal unit from Xstrata Plc for at least $2.2 billion. United Business Media surged 7% on after it reported higher operating profit.

Stocks in Japan surged on the speculation that the central bank will announce more measure to stimulate the economy next week. Shipping companies surged after a sharp gain in freight rate futures.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that the current financial year economic growth will exceed 7.2% and the next year growth is likely to be near 8%. Sulzer India plans to delist the company. Spice Mobiles Ltd plans to raise $160 million. Hero Honda plans to not increase prices.

Australian stocks rested after commodities traded higher. The Australian dollar edged higher and closed above 90 U.S. cents. Australia may face a decline in crude oil production and imports may represent as much as 75% of consumption as early as 2030.

North American Markets

Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 47.38 or 0.5% to close at 10,444.14, S&P 500 Index edged higher 4.18 or 0.4% to 1,122.97 and Nasdaq Composite Index added 11.63 or 0.5% to close at 2,292.31. Toronto TSX Composite Index decreased 27.88 or 0.24% to 11,824.97.

Latin American Markets Indexes

Mexico Bolsa Index decreased 151.54 or 0.5% to 32,202.00 and Brazil Bovespa Stock Index increased 173.37 or 0.2% to 67,814.71.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 72.60 or 1.31% to 5,599.76, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 82.01 or 2.14% to close at 3,910.42, in Frankfurt DAX index higher 82.04 or 1.42% to close at 5,877.36. In Zurich trading SMI increased 42.91 or 0.63% to close at 6,847.78.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 223.24 or 2.20% to 10,368.96, and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 212.19 or 1.03% to 20,787.97, and CSI 300 index in China higher 9.19 or 0.28% to 3,259.76. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 16.70 or 0.35% to 4,767.20. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia was higher 15.69 or 1.22% to 1,299.78.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 16.37 or 1.01% to close at 1,634.57. SET index in Thailand closed lower 6.86 or 0.94% to 723.96. JSE Index in Indonesia increased 13.13 or 0.51% to 2,578.77. The Sensex index in India increased 22.79 or 0.13% to 16,994.49.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil decreased $0.40 to $80.47 a barrel for a front month contract, natural gas edged down17 cents to $4.59 per mBtu and gasoline decreased 0.83 cents to 223.93 cents.

Soybean future closed down 21.50 cents to $9.42 a bushel. Wheat futures decreased 13.50 cents in Chicago trading to $5.02 a bushel. Sugar closed down 0.38 cents at 21.67 cents per pound.

Gold decreased $11.20 in New York trading to close at $1,132.10 per ounce, silver closed down $0.19 to $17.14 per ounce and copper for the front month delivery decreased 5.90 cent to $3.37 per pound.

Dollar edged higher against euro to $1.358 and gained against the Japanese yen to 89.02.

Yield on 10-year U.S. bonds closed down to 3.60% and with 30-year maturities closed lower at 4.56%.