U.S. Stocks Rise on Personal Income Data

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

U.S. stocks traded higher after personal spending increased for the fifth month in a row. U.S. Treasury plans to sell its entire stake of 27% in Citigroup by the end of the year. AIG completes the sale of its PineBridge Investments for $500 million.

[R]10:25 AM New York – U.S. stocks traded higher after personal spending increased for the fifth month in a row. U.S. Treasury plans to sell its entire stake of 27% in Citigroup by the end of the year. AIG completes the sale of its PineBridge Investments for $500 million.[/R]

U.S. stocks traded higher and the dollar edged lower against the euro and the pound. U.S. Treasury confirmed its intension to sell its entire stake in Citigroup by the end of the year. Personal spending increased for the fifth month in a row in February.

February personal income increased 0.1% and disposable personal income increased 0.1%. Personal consumption expenditure increased 0.3% in the month. The fifth monthly increase in a row in personal spending is expected to strengthen as unemployment falls in the coming months.

In January personal income increased 0.3%, disposable personal income increased 0.2% and personal consumption expenditure, the Fed’s preferred measure of price inflation increased 0.4% on revised estimate.

Inflation adjusted spending on durable goods decreased 0.2% in February.

Standard & Poor’s affirmed the AAA rating for the UK debt with negative outlook. And Greece is expected to begin selling its 7-year bonds as early as next week. Greece is facing bond repayment of 15.5 billion euros by the end of May and 53 billion euro bonds by the end of the year.

Stock Movers

American International Group Inc completed the sale of its PineBridge Investments to Pacific Century Group for $500 million.

Apollo Group Inc traded higher in the morning after the online education provider reported fiscal second quarter adjusted earnings of 84 cents a share.

CKX Inc confirmed that the company is in talks with private equity group for a possible sale. Several media reports speculated the sale of Elvis Pressley rights owner and Graceland manager to JPMorgan controlled private equity fund for $6 a share.

Citigroup edged higher after the U.S. Treasury confirmed its plan to sell 27% stake or 7.7 billion shares in the bank before the end of the year. Morgan Stanley is advising the Treasury.

Kid Brands inc gained after the furniture maker for infants said fourth quarter earnings were 61 cents a share compared to a loss of $5.14 a year ago quarter.

SunPower Corp increased more than 4% after it agreed t o acquire SunRay Renewable Energy based in Europe for $280 million.

Commodities, Currencies and Yields

Crude oil futures increased 95 cents to $80.95 a barrel and natural gas futures added 3 cents to $3.91 per mBtu.

Gold futures increased $7 to $1,112.40 an ounce and copper futures gained 9.60 cents to $3.491 per pound.

The dollar traded with a slight decline in the early trading in New York. One euro fetched $1.345 and one dollar traded at 92.52 yen. One British pound was hovering at $1.4988.

Yields on 10-year U.S. bonds inched up to 3.85% and 30-year bonds traded at 4.76%.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 9.90 or 0.09% to 10,986.47, and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 184.32 or 0.88% to 21,237.43, and CSI 300 index in China higher 83.54 or 2.55% to 3,358.54. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 0.40 or 0.01% to 4,897.30. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia was higher 4.07 or 0.31% to 1,319.21.

The Kospi Index in South Korea decreased 5.73 or 0.34% to close at 1,691.99. SET index in Thailand closed lower 7.46 or 0.96% to 771.40. JSE Index in Indonesia decreased 18.31 or 0.65% to 2,794.77. The Sensex index in India increased 66.59 or 0.38% to 17,711.35.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index traded higher 9.15 or 0.16% to 5,712.17, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 14.42 or 0.36% to 4,003.35 and in Frankfurt DAX index traded higher 43.53 or 0.71% to 6,163.58. In Zurich trading SMI increased 9.80 or 0.14% to 6,848.75.