Financials Rally in NY; Cisco, Telcos Active

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

U.S. stocks closed fractionally higher as financials surged on a speculation that the U.S. is preparing to sell its 27% stake in Citigroup. Telecom surged after Cisco released faster and cheaper router to process video data. Sony Corp targeted higher sales of 3D televisions.

[R]4:00 PM New York, 9:00 PM London, 8:00 AM Sydney – U.S. stocks closed fractionally higher as financials surged on a speculation that the U.S. is preparing to sell its 27% stake in Citigroup. Telecom surged after Cisco released faster and cheaper router to process video data. Sony Corp targeted higher sales of 3D televisions.[/R]

U.S. stocks and commodities rebounded on the anniversary day when the indexes reached multi-year lows a year ago. The S&P 500 index has rebounded 67% from the 12-year low.

Financials rallied on a speculation that the U.S. Treasury is preparing to sell its stake in Citigroup. The speculation comes a week after the bank’s chief executive testified to the lawmakers that the bank has stronger capital base and is focused on consumer and commercial banking and no longer focused on riskier trading.

Citigroup soared 7%, AIG surged 12.6% and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac gained at least 6%.

Telecom stocks also gained after Cisco released its new router that processes faster video data and costs $90,000, significantly lower than $1 million for similar products. Cisco product CRS-3 is designed to process millions of simultaneous video calls or download thousands of movies in less than few minutes.

Cisco closed unchanged today but surged to one-year high ahead of the product release as it races to catch up with Chinese competition.

AgFeed Industries surged more than 15% after it estimated a surge in hog production. Comercia Inc launched $800 million offering to redeem preferred shares issued to the U.S. Treasury. H&R Block declined on same store tax preparation fell 6.8%. Texas instruments guided sales and net at the upper end of the estimates.

European markets closed unchanged. EU regulators raise more questions on Greece tax revenues estimate. Fitch threatened to lower Portugal credit rating and said government plans to cut deficit are not sufficient. Groupe Eurotunnel SA profit plunges on tunnel fire and winter breakdowns. EADS NV cancels fiscal 2009 dividend and wider loss.

The UK trade deficit surges in January. Rating agency Fitch called for faster budget deficit cuts. Shanks declined after it ended takeover talks with Carlyle Group. John Menzies pretax profit doubles. The rating agency Fitch urged UK government to trim deficit faster.

The economic measure indicting economic activities increased in January as exports strengthen and unemployment declines to 10-month low. Sony Corp is targeting to sell 25 million LCD TVs and 2 million 3D models in the next fiscal year beginning April 1. The yen gains against the euro and the dollar.

Chinese property stocks gained after a central bank official said that the country does not need additional lending curbs and the current measures are already working. Total vehicles sales surged in February by 46%.

Mumbai stocks struggled on the anniversary day when world markets traded at multi-year lows a year ago. The Sensex has doubled in a year on the improving global economic outlook. Tata Motors declined 3% after Daimler AG sold its 5.3% stake that it held since 1954.

Australian benchmark index increased 0.3% after more employers looked to hire add staff in February. Australia’s job advertising increased 19.1% in the month. Business confidence rises in February.

North American Markets

Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 11.86 or 0.1% to close at 10,564.38, S&P 500 Index edged higher 1.95 or 0.2% to 1,140.45 and Nasdaq Composite Index added 8.47 or 0.4% to close at 2,340.68. Toronto TSX Composite Index decreased 45.13 or 0.4% to 11,918.71.

Latin American Markets Indexes

Mexico Bolsa Index decreased 45.13 or 0.4% to 32,514.17 and Brazil Bovespa Stock Index increased 1,000.91 or 1.5% to 69,576.38.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 4.42 or 0.08% to 5,602.30, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 6.47 or 0.17% to close at 3,910.01, in Frankfurt DAX index higher 9.98 or 0.17% to close at 5,885.89. In Zurich trading SMI increased 17.12 or 0.25% to close at 6,868.32.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 18.27 or 0.17% to 10,567.65, and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 10.68 or 0.05% to 21,207.55, and CSI 300 index in China higher 19.68 or 0.60% to 3,305.86. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 12.20 or 0.25% to 4,820.10. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia was lower 6.28 or 0.47% to 1,317.94.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 0.79 or 0.05% to close at 1,660.83. SET index in Thailand closed lower 1.52 or 0.21% to 718.77. JSE Index in Indonesia increased 30.72 or 1.17% to 2,657.17. The Sensex index in India decreased 50.06 or 0.29% to 17,052.54.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil decreased $0.45 to $81.42 a barrel for a front month contract, natural gas edged down 2 cents to $4.51 per mBtu and gasoline decreased 3.20 cents to 225.70 cents.

Soybean future closed down 0.50 cents to $9.47 a bushel. Wheat futures decreased 5.50 cents in Chicago trading to $4.89 a bushel. Sugar closed down 1.25 cents at 20.32 cents per pound.

Gold decreased $4.00 in New York trading to close at $1,120 per ounce, silver closed down $0.03 to $17.24 per ounce and copper for the front month delivery decreased 1.20 cent to $3.39 per pound.

Dollar edged higher against euro to $1.3601 and gained against the Japanese yen to 89.97.

Yield on 10-year U.S. bonds closed down to 3.69% and with 30-year maturities closed lower at 4.67%.