WORLD MARKET UPDATES
https://globaleconomic-trendsanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/04/world-market-updates_15.html
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After seeing considerable volatility over the course of the previous session, stocksshowed a notable move to the downside at the start of trading on Thursday. The major averages all moved firmly into negative territory after ending Wednesday's trading flat to modestly higher. The initial weakness on Wall Street was largely due to renewed concerns about the outlook for the labor market following the release of a report from the Labor Department showing an unexpected increase in initial jobless claims in the week ended April 9th. The report showed that initial jobless claims rose by 27,000 to 412,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 385,000. The increase surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to edge down to 380,000 from the 382,000 originally reported for the previous week. Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak, said, "Bottom line, while the labor market is improving, the pace remains lumpy and sustainable traction remains difficult to achieve." Meanwhile, a separate Labor Department report showed that U.S. producer pricesincreased by less than expected in March, as a drop in food prices partly offset another notable increase in energy prices. The Labor Department said its producer price index rose by 0.7 percent in March following a 1.6 percent increase in February. Economists had been expecting a somewhat more substantial increase in producer prices of about 1.0 percent. Excluding food and energy prices, core producer prices increased by 0.3 percent in March after edging up by 0.2 percent in the previous month. The increase in core prices was slightly bigger than the 0.2 percent increase that was expected by economists. "While inflation pressures are clearly evident in today's figure, the market will more focus on tomorrow's consumer price report to see what's been passed through," Boockvar said. A vast majority of the major sectors have moved to the downside in early trading, although most are showing only modest downward moves. Nonetheless, notable weakness has emerged among railroad, banking, and software stocks. Among individual stocks, toy maker Hasbro (HAS) is trading lower after the company reported first quarter earnings that fell more than anticipated on revenues that were nearly flat year-over-year. Hasbro reported first quarter earnings of $0.12 per share on revenues of $672.0 million compared to earnings of $0.40 per share on revenues of $672.4 million in the year-ago period. Analysts had expected the company to earn $0.17 per share on revenues of $660.4 million. The major averages have not seen much follow-through on their initial downward moves but remain stuck in the red. The Dow is down 57.03 points or 0.5 percent at 12,213.96, the Nasdaq is down 20.81 points or 0.8 percent at 2,740.71 and the S&P 500 is down 7.52 points or 0.6 percent at 1,306.89. | ||||||||||||
Canadian Market Reports | ||||||||||||
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TSX Poised For Lower Open Toronto stocks are poised for a lower open Thursday as oil prices resumed their southward journey and global equity markets offered mixed cues. Traders will also turn cautious ahead of inflation data from the U.S. and China, due out Friday. U.S. stock futures were pointing to a lower open. On Wednesday, the S&P/TSX Composite Index edged up 32.23 points or 0.23 percent to 13,833.64. The price of crude oil moved down below $106 amid concerns over demand growth. Wednesday during trading hours, official data from the EIA revealed that U.S. crude oil inventories moved up by 1.60 million barrels, while gasoline stocks declined sharply by 7.00 million barrels in the week ended April 08. Analysts were expecting crude oil stocks to gain 1.6 million barrels and gasoline stocks to dip 1.25 million barrels. Crude for May lost $1.15 to $105.96 a barrel. The price of gold was little changed amid a weak U.S. dollar, wtth gold for June edging up $0.70 to $1,456.30 an ounce. In corporate news from Canada, asset management company Onex Corp. and its affiliates said they have sold 10 million shares in Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. for $245 million, or $24.49 per share. Onex Corp. sold approximately 2.7 million of these shares for nearly $74 million. Media and entertainment company Corus Entertainment reported second-quarter net income of C$31.64 million or C$0.38 per share, up from C$14.6 million or C$0.18 per share last year. Astral Media Inc. reported a marginal increase in its second quarter profits at $34.8 million compared to $33.6 million a year earlier. Retained executive search firm The Caldwell Partners International swung to profit in second quarter, reporting net earnings of C$48,000 or C$0.002 per share, compared with a net loss of C$1.1 million or C$0.064 per share in the previous year quarter. Steel superstructures designer ADF Group reported a sharp decline in profit for fiscal 2011, with net earnings falling to C$3.7 million or C$0.11 per share, from C$7.0 million or C$0.20 per share reported a year ago.. Kurdistan focused oil and gas firm ShaMaran Petroleum announced a major oil discovery in the recently drilled Atrush-1 exploration well in Kurdistan. Technology services provider Iperceptions, Inc. reported a narrower full year net loss of C$2.1 million or C$0.05 per share compared to C$3.3 million of C$0.09 per share last year. In economic news, data from Statistics Canada revealed that manufacturing sales in the nation declined more than expected from a two-year peak in February.Manufacturing sales declined 1.5 percent in February to C$47.1 billion, following a downwardly revised 4.4 percent gain in January. Economists expected a drop of 0.5 percent from the 4.5 percent increase originally reported for the previous month. From south of the border, the U.S. Labor Department said that initial jobless claimsrose by 27,000 to 412,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 385,000. The increase surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to edge down to 380,000 from the 382,000 originally reported for the previous week. Separately, the Labor Department said its producer price index rose by 0.7 percent in March following a 1.6 percent increase in February. Economists had been expecting a somewhat more substantial increase in producer prices of about 1.0 percent. | ||||||||||||
European Market Reports | ||||||||||||
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European Markets Pullback Amid Caution European stocks are moving back to the downside on Thursday after the recovery staged by them yesterday. Uncertainties have returned as the price of oil is holding stubbornly high. Financial, resource and technology stocks are seeing notable weakness. A slew of reports from China, including its consumer price inflation report, and the euro zone inflation report to be released tomorrow have led to some indecision among traders. The U.S. index futures are pointing to a weaker start on Wall Street later in the day. The major averages in the region opened moderately lower and have been seen moving sideways since then. On a day of scant economic news, the European Central Bank released its monthly bulletin, where it said the stance of monetary policy remains accommodative as the interest rates across the entire maturity spectrum remain low. The central bank said its decision to raise interest rate by 25 basis points on April 7 will help maintain inflation expectations firmly anchored in the euro area, and such anchoring is prerequisite for monetary policy to contribute to economic growth. The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, a blue chip average gauging the performance of stocks across the euro area, is receding 1.29 percent and the STOXX Europe 50 Index, which also includes U.K. stocks, is moving down a more modest 0.60 percent. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 Index is 1.10 percent down percent, the German DAXIndex is declining 0.80 percent and U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is slipping 0.98 percent. The Swiss market index SSMI is losing about 0.14 percent. In Frankfurt, Daimler and Infineon Technologies are declining close to 2.50 percent, while Deutsch Bank, which reportedly plans to change the legal status of its main U.S. subsidiary, is moving down about 2.20 percent. Financial and technology stocks are leading the declines in Paris. Natixis, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, Axa and STMicroelectronics are among the biggest decliners. On the other hand, Danone is rising about 0.80 percent after it reported first quarter sales of 4.76 billion euros, up 19.6 percent. Excluding currency impact and on an organic basis, sales were up 6.5 percent. The company affirmed its targets. In the U.K., Reckitt Benckiser, which announced the retirement of CEO Bart Becht and the appointment of Rakesh Kapoor as his successor, is down over 7 percent on theLondon Stock Exchange. The change at the helm is in line with the company's succession plan. Arm Holdings is also retreating over 2.50 percent on profit taking. Resource stocksFresnillo, Antofagasta, Kazakhmys, BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Vedanta Resources are also declining sharply. A Wall Street Journal report said Nokia Siemens, a joint venture between Finnish telecom giant Nokia (NOK) and Siemens (SI), may be looking to sell a controlling stake in the company to private equity firms. Nokia is trading flat and Siemens is declining about 1.50 percent. Swiss drug firm Roche Holdings is down about a percent after it reported sales of 11.1 billion Swiss francs in the first quarter, down 9 percent from the year-ago period, with the weakness stemming from soft Tamiflu sales and a stronger franc. However, the company confirmed its full year targets for sales of the total group and pharma, excluding Tamiflu, to grow in the high single-digits range. German luxury carmaker Porsche is advancing moderately after it announced that it has completed its capital raising, with the net proceeds estimated at 4.9 billion euros. The company said it would use the proceeds to pay off debt before its merger with Volkswagen. Meanwhile, BP is down over 1 percent after it announced that it has agreed with Russia's Rosneft to extend the deadline for the share swap agreement related to its joint exploration in the Russian continental shelf. U.K. department store Debenhams reported that its first half pre-tax profits rose to 125.3 million pounds from 114.5 million pounds in the year-ago period, as sales rose 2.9 percent. The company also announced its intention to reinstate dividend immediately and the retirement of its CEO Rob Templeman, The stock is down modestly. Crude oil futures are seeing weakness, although holding around the mid-$106-a-barrel level. Gold futures are also moving lower amid a mixed trend shown by the U.S. dollar. | ||||||||||||
Asia Market Reports | ||||||||||||
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Asian Markets Slip Amid Concerns About Rising Commodity Prices Asian markets open for trading Thursday ended mostly in the negative territory with modest losses as traders evinced concerns about the ill-effects of rising commodity prices on dampening consumer demand and in turn impacting bottomlines in the near term. Cautious trading ahead of the earnings season also dented market sentiment. While the markets in India were closed for a holiday, the markets in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan managed to end in the green while the other markets ended in the red with modest losses. In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index declined 28.80 points, or 0.55 percent, to close at 4,884.20 points, while the broader All Ordinaries Index ended at 4,972.40 points, representing a loss of 27.20 points, or 0.54 percent from previous close. On the economic front, a report released by the Australian Bureau of Statisticsrevealed that sale of new motor vehicles in the country increased in March by a seasonally adjusted 3.4 percent over February. A total of 87,141 vehicles were sold in March, the report said. Sales of passenger vehicles rose 1.3 percent, sports utility vehicle sales rose 7.8 percent and "other" vehicle sales rose 4.3 percent. In trend terms, which further smooth the seasonally adjusted data, overall sales increased 0.2 percent over February. Light sweet crude oil futures for May delivery was trading at $107.40 in electronic trading, up $0.29 per barrel from previous close at $107.11 a barrel in New York on Wednesday. Share price of construction giant Leighton Holdings plunged 11.89 percent following an earnings downgrade by analysts after the company announced plans to raise capital earlier in the week. Mixed trading was witnessed among the banking stocks. While ANZ Banking Groupslipped 1.27 percent, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia declined 0.42 percent,National Australia Bank ended in positive territory with a minor gain of 0.11 percent, and Westpac Banking Corp. edged higher by 0.08 percent. Investment banking company Macquarie Group, however, ended in the red with a loss of 1.05 percent. Mixed trading was also witnessed among energy related stocks. Woodside Petroleumadded 0.34 percent and Santos Ltd advanced 0.58 percent. ROC Oil Ltd remained unchanged from previous close. However, Oil Search Ltd slipped 0.41 percent andOrigin Energy declined 0.36 percent. Resource related stocks also ended weaker. BHP Billiton declined 1.17 percent, Rio Tinto shed 0.59 percent, Gindalbie Metals was down 1.84 percent, and Oz Mineralsplunged 4.09 percent. In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index advanced 12.74 points, or 0.13 percent, to 9,653.92, while the broader Topix Index of first section issues was up 2.13 points, or 0.25 percent, to 846.72. Construction related stocks ended in the positive territory with moderate gains. Daiwa Housing Industry gained 1.56 percent, Sekisui House Ltd advanced 1.93 percent,Comsys Holdings Group added 0.87 percent, and Taisei Corp. was higher by 1.48 percent. Among air transport stocks, All Nippon Airways Co. advanced 1.27 percent on sizable volumes. Mixed trading was witnessed among the real estate stocks. While Mitsui Fudosanended in the negative territory with a loss of 2.20 percent, the other stocks ended in the green with minor gains. Sumitomo Realty advanced 0.31 percent, Heiwa Real Estateremained unchanged from previous close, Mitsubishi Estate was higher by 0.22 percent and Tokyo Tatemono Co., rose by 0.35 percent. In China, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended in negative territory with a minor loss of 7.34 points, or 0.25 percent, at 3,043.06. In Hong Kong, the benchmark HangSeng Index ended at 24,014.00, registering a modest loss of 121.03 points, or 0.50 percent from previous close. In Indonesia, the benchmark Jakarta Composite Index ended in the red with a loss of 26.43 points, or 0.73 percent, at 3,707.98 In Singapore, the Strait Times Index ended in the negative territory with a loss of 13.16 points, or 0.41 percent, at 3,158.92. In South Korea, the benchmark KOSPI Index ended at 2,141.06, registering a modest gain of 19.14 points, or 0.90 percent from previous close. In Taiwan, the benchmark Taiwan Weighted Index ended at 8,802.73, registering a moderate gain of 22.53 points, or 0.26 percent, from previous close. In India, the markets were closed for a public holiday. | ||||||||||||
Forex Top Story | ||||||||||||
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Euro Weakens As Sovereign Debt Demons Resurface The euro was weaker across the board on Thursday after a report in a German newspaper brought Europe's sovereign debt crisis back to the forefront. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said that Greece may need to negotiate with creditors, according to Germany's Die Welt newspaper. And with Portugal's rescue terms not officially hammered out, the markets will be focused intently on whether the sovereign debt dilemma take a dangerous new turn. The euro has surged higher in recent days versus the dollar, but gave back some ground this morning in New York, dropping to $1.4364 before steadying near $1.4420. The euro touched a 16-month peak of $1.4519 earlier this week, supported by speculation that the European Central Bank will continue to hike interest ratesfollowing April's modest tightening measure. In economic news from the U.S., the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing that producer prices increased by less than anticipated for the month. The Labor Department said its producer price index rose by 0.7 percent in March following a 1.6 percent increase in February. First-time claims for unemployment ticked up last week, according to a report released by the Department of Labor Thursday. The surprisingly sharp advance took the figure back across the 400,000 mark. The euro touched a 7-week low of CHF 1.2843 versus the Swiss franc, and weekly low of Y119.25 versus the yen.
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