Home Sales, Service Index, Jobs Lift U.S. Stocks

Mayank Mehta
05 Apr, 2010
New York City

U.S. stocks traded higher in light trading volume after March employment increased and an index of service industry showed expansion at the fastest pace in nine years and pending home sales index increased in February. Apple said it sold 300,000 iPad on the first day of sale.

[R]11:00 AM New York – U.S. stocks traded higher in light trading volume after March employment increased and an index of service industry showed expansion at the fastest pace in nine years and pending home sales index increased in February. Apple said it sold 300,000 iPad on the first day of sale.[/R]

U.S. stocks traded higher in the morning after employment in March increased and jobless rate remained unchanged at 9.7%.

Service industry index increased to 55.4 in March from 53 in February. The index is at nearly four year high or since March 2006 according to the data released by Institute for Supply Management located in Arizona.

The index of pending home sales in February, the second largest monthly gain since October 2001 as buyers rush to take advantage of tax credit due to expire in April.

The index increased 8.2% in the month according to National Association of Realtors. Pending sales increased 22% in Midwest, declined 4.8% in the West and gained 9.2% in the South and 9% in the Northeast.

Commodities, Currencies and Yields

The dollar gained against the euro in New York at $1.346 and against the yen to 94.48.

Crude oil futures increased $0.51 to $85.38 a barrel and natural gas futures decreased 7 cents to $4.02 per mBtu.

Gold futures added $3.30 to $1,129.40 and copper futures increased 3.35 cents to $ 3.617.

Yields on 10-year U.S. bonds increased to 3.94% and on 30-year U.S. bonds traded at 4.79%.

Stock Movers

Apple Inc added 0.8% after the company announced that it sold over 300,000 iPads in the US as of midnight Saturday, April 3.

Exelon Corporation declined after the utility operator said in a regulatory filing that new healthcare law will increase medical expenses.

Hospira, Inc rose 0.2% after the maker of generic drugs for hospitals said it has reached a legal settlement with Sanofi-Aventis to resolve patent litigation concerning U.S. sales of its Oxaliplatin injection.

Verizon Communications Inc rose 0.7% and the phone company its plans to open more than 20 new store locations throughout the Midwest and Northeast during the second quarter of 2010.

Earnings Review

Derma Sciences, Inc ((DSCI)), the specialty medical device company said fourth quarter sales rose 8% to $13.6 million from $12.6 million a year ago. Net income in the quarter was $35,706 or 1 cent per diluted share compared to net loss of $580,042 or 12 cents per share a year ago.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 53.21 or 0.47% to 11,339.30, and the FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia was higher 5.81 or 0.43% to 1,341.75. Markets in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Australia were closed today.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 1.50 or 0.09% to close at 1,724.99. SET index in Thailand closed higher 7.00 or 0.87% to 808.15. JSE Index in Indonesia increased 57.25 or 2.02% to 2,887.25. The Sensex index in India increased 243.06 or 1.37% to 17,935.68.

The benchmark index in Indonesia surged more than 2% ahead of central bank rate decision. The benchmark rate is 6.5% and market analysts and economists expect the rate to be unrevised. Retailers and banks led the gainers in trading today. The benchmark index has soared 14% in the year so far, leading all Asian market indexes.

Malaysian benchmark index closed higher for the tenth day in a row and ringgit gained 0.6% to 3.23 to a dollar after exports increased 18.4% in February from a year ago according to the data released by the government.

Europe Markets Review

Markets in UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy were closed today.