Nasdaq Down 55% on 10th Anniversary

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

U.S. stocks barely closed up on the tenth anniversary of tech bubble collapse. The Nasdaq index is down 55% in the period. Investors bid up financials after Citigroup completed $2 billion offering and bond investors supported other offerings totaling $7 billion a day ago.

[R]4:00 PM New York, 9:00 PM London, 8:00 AM Sydney – U.S. stocks barely closed up on the tenth anniversary of tech bubble collapse. The Nasdaq index is down 55% in the period. Investors bid up financials after Citigroup completed $2 billion offering and bond investors supported other offerings totaling $7 billion a day ago.[/R]

U.S. stocks traded higher after corporations take an advantage of low interest rates to issue bonds and securities. Citigroup today completed the sale of $2 billion of securities that yield 8.5%. Novartis and MGM sold $5.8 billion of bonds and Goldman Sachs raised 1.25 billion in euro bonds on a day investors bought 7 billion of euro bonds.

Citigroup, AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac scaled higher.

Allergan advanced after the company won approval to use its Botox product for additional treatments. J Crew posted profit after product markdowns decline. Collective Brands loss narrows. Vail Resorts, Inc second quarter net falls.

UK factory production index in January declined, a fall for the first time in five months. Tullett Prebon surged on buyout talks. F&C Asset Management swings to net profit in 2009. Laird Plc dropped 9% on a yearly loss.

European markets advanced on the improved global economic expectations, merger activities and an increase in production in France and Italy. Munich Re fourth quarter profit jumps. Fortis gains after it said it will resume dividend payment.

Stocks in Japan struggle after wholesale prices declined for the fourteenth month in a row. Machinery orders index, the measure of business investment and future outlook declined 3.7% in January after surging 20% in December. Beer shipments decline 6.3% in February.

China’s exports and imports in February gained at a slower pace than in January and trade surplus declined to a one-year low. The surplus in the first two months dropped 50%. Bank of China estimated new loans increase of 10% in the year. Residential and commercial property prices increased 10.7% in the month from a year ago.

Stocks in India traded higher on optimistic outlook driven by higher domestic consumption and the government pledge to trim budget deficit. Bolivia moves to scrap Jindal Steel’s contract to invest in iron ore mines. Patel Engineering gets government approval for coal linkage for its power projects.

Australian consumer sentiment index increased 0.2% in March despite the recent four rate increases in a row. However, home loans declined 3.3% in January. Central bank official Philip Lowe said that Australia is likely to grow at or above average rate and investment share of GDP is near its peak.

North American Markets

Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 2.95 or 0.03% to close at 10,567.33, S&P 500 Index edged higher 5.16 or 0.5% to 1,145.61 and Nasdaq Composite Index added 18.27 or 0.8% to close at 2,358.95. Toronto TSX Composite Index increased 42.35 or 0.36% to 11,961.06.

Latin American Markets Indexes

Mexico Bolsa Index decreased 8.41 or 0.03% to 32,505.76 and Brazil Bovespa Stock Index increased 402.90 or 0.6% to 69,979.28.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 38.27 or 0.68% to 5,640.57, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 33.54 or 0.86% to close at 3,943.55, in Frankfurt DAX index higher 50.83 or 0.86% to close at 5,936.72. In Zurich trading SMI increased 5.27 or 0.08% to close at 6,873.59.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 3.73 or 0.04% to 10,563.92, and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 0.74 or 0.00% to 21,208.29, and CSI 300 index in China lower 26.17 or 0.79% to 3,279.69. ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 0.10 or 0.00% to 4,820.00. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia was higher 10.28 or 0.78% to 1,328.22.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 1.41 or 0.08% to close at 1,662.24. SET index in Thailand closed higher 2.07 or 0.29% to 720.84. JSE Index in Indonesia increased 13.05 or 0.49% to 2,670.22. The Sensex index in India increased 45.79 or 0.27% to 17,098.33.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil increased $0.44 to $81.93 a barrel for a front month contract, natural gas edged up 8 cents to $4.59 per mBtu and gasoline increased 2.04 cents to 228.07 cents.

Soybean future closed up 10.50 cents to $9.58 a bushel. Wheat futures decreased 8.00 cents in Chicago trading to $4.815 a bushel. Sugar closed down 0.63 cents at 19.69 cents per pound.

Gold decreased $14.20 in New York trading to close at $1,108 per ounce, silver closed down $0.31 to $17.02 per ounce and copper for the front month delivery decreased 3.25 cent to $3.37 per pound.

Dollar edged lower against euro to $1.3656 and gained against the Japanese yen to 90.49.

Yield on 10-year U.S. bonds closed up to 3.72% and with 30-year maturities closed higher at 4.69%.