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February 3rd, 2012
U.S. stocks advanced, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average toward its highest level since May 2008, after a report showed that employment growth topped estimates and the jobless rate unexpectedly fell to 8.3 percent.
Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) and FedEx Corp. (FDX) rallied at least 1.5 percent to pace gains among companies most- dependent on economic growth. Alcoa Inc. (AA) and Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) added more than 1.9 percent as commodity producers advanced. Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN) rose 5.5 percent as profit beat estimates. Gilead Sciences Inc. surged 9.1 percent on positive data from an experimental hepatitis C drug.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 1.3 percent to 1,342.27 at 10:22 a.m. New York time. The benchmark gauge has climbed 2 percent since Jan. 27, poised for a fifth straight weekly increase. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 152.89 points, or 1.2 percent, to 12,858.30 today.
“Spectacular,” Ron Florance, managing director of investment strategy for Wells Fargo Private Bank, said in a telephone interview from Phoenix. His firm manages $169 billion. “It’s a very, very strong jobs number. It shows that companies have confidence that they see global demand growth through their products and services. The numbers indicate continued economic strength. That will support risk assets.”
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January 18th, 2012
S&P 500 Futures – U.S. stocks advanced, giving the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index its best start to a year since 1987, as semiconductor companies and homebuilders gained. The euro rose as the International Monetary Fund proposed boosting its lending resources by as much as $500 billion.
The S&P 500 rose 1.1 percent to 1,308.04 at 4 p.m. New York time, closing above 1,300 for the first time since July. It has surged 4 percent this year. Computer-related companies led gains today among 10 MSCI World (MXWO) Index industries after ASML Holding NV (ASML), Europe’s biggest semiconductor-equipment maker, forecast higher first-quarter orders and Linear Technology Corp. (LLTC)’s sales beat projections. Builders climbed after industry confidence increased. The euro added 1 percent to $1.2859.
The IMF may increase its resources to help safeguard economic growth after identifying a potential need for $1 trillion in financing in coming years. The World Bank cut its growth forecast by the most in three years, saying a euro-region recession threatens to worsen a slowdown in emerging markets such as India and Mexico.
“Earnings momentum is slowing somewhat, but we’re still seeing growth,” Peter Jankovskis, who helps manage about $2.5 billion at Oakbrook Investments in Lisle, Illinois, said in a telephone interview. “That’s something that investors should be encouraged by. The economic data points continue to be upbeat. We’re in a mode for decent growth.”
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January 3rd, 2012
Stocks surged, driving the Dow Jones Industrial Average to the highest level since July, and commodities rallied on signs of increasing manufacturing output around the world. The dollar weakened and U.S. Treasuries fell.
The Dow increased 179.82 points, or 1.5 percent, to 12,397.38 and the S&P 500 jumped 1.6 percent to 1,277.06, the highest close since Oct. 28, at 4 p.m. in New York. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index (SXXP) added 1.6 percent and closed at a five-month high. The dollar slipped versus all 16 major peers, while 10- year Treasury yields increased seven basis points to 1.95 percent. Oil settled at an almost eight-month high near $103 a barrel as 23 of 24 commodities in the S&P GSCI Index rose.
Financial, industrial and commodity shares led the S&P 500’s gain as the Institute for Supply Management’s factory index expanded at the fastest pace in six months and government data showed construction spending grew at more than twice the forecast rate. Factory output (AIGPMI) in Australia grew for the first time in six months and reports in the past two days showed a pickup in Chinese and Indian manufacturing.
“You’re starting to see people want to take more risks,” Frank Ingarra, who helps manage the Can Slim Select Growth Fund at Greenwich, Connecticut-based NorthCoast Asset Management LLC, said in a telephone interview. His firm oversees $1.4 billion. “Manufacturing data has been pretty decent.”
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December 27th, 2011
U.S. stocks were little changed, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index poised for the biggest fourth-quarter rally since 1999, while oil gained as higher- than-estimated consumer confidence helped offset concern about a drop in American home prices. Copper and gold declined.
The S&P 500 (SPX) rose less than 0.1 percent to 1,265.43 at 4 p.m. New York time, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.65 points to 12,291.35. Both are among the 10 best performers in 2011 among 91 national indexes tracked by Bloomberg, and the S&P 500 has surged 12 percent this quarter. Crude jumped 1.7 percent after Iran threatened to block transportation through the Straight of Hormuz. Copper lost 1.7 percent, and gold fell 0.7 percent.
The Conference Board’s measure of consumer sentiment topped the median economist projection and climbed to the highest level in eight months, adding to evidence that the U.S. economy is improving. The S&P 500 erased its 2011 loss last week after the fewest Americans since 2008 filed first-time claims for unemployment benefits. Data earlier today showed home prices in 20 U.S. cities dropped more than economists predicted.
“Confirmation of gradual improvement of the U.S. economy bodes well for the global market,” Chad Morganlander, a Florham Park, New Jersey-based money manager at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., which oversees more than $107 billion in client assets, said in a telephone interview. “Still, the persistent fragility within the global sovereign debt market will continue to create uncertainty among investors.”
Trading volume for S&P 500 companies was 54 percent less than the 180-day average, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The stock index moved 0.56 percent between its lowest and highest points of the day, the narrowest range since July.
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December 2nd, 2011
U.S. stock-index futures rose, indicating that the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will extend its biggest weekly rally since March 2009, after the unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped in November to a two-year low.
Bank of America Corp. (BAC), the second-biggest U.S. lender by assets, and Citigroup Inc. (C) climbed at least 1.4 percent. Caterpillar Inc. and Schlumberger Ltd. increased more than 0.9 percent, pacing gains among the largest U.S. companies. Western Digital Corp. (WDC) advanced 9.9 percent after the maker of disk drives and networking products raised its quarterly sales forecast.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring this month advanced 1.1 percent to 1,256.9 at 8:44 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures climbed 122 points, or 1 percent, to 12,125 today.
“It’s another incremental step in the right direction for the labor market, but we’re still not out of the rut we’ve been in,” John Canally, who helps oversee about $340 billion as an economist and investment strategist at LPL Financial Corp. in Boston, said in a telephone interview. “The components of it were solid. You got a big gain in temporary help work.”
The S&P 500 (SPX) rallied 7.4 percent this week and the market value of global equities increased by more than $3 trillion as the Federal Reserve and five other central banks lowered the cost of dollar funding and China cut the proportion that banks need to hold as reserve capital.
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November 30th, 2011
U.S. stocks rose, sending benchmark gauges higher for a third day, after central banks acted together to make additional funds available to lenders as Europe’s crisis threatens global economic growth.
The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) advanced 3.4 percent after the Federal Reserve and five central banks lowered interest rates on dollar swaps and China cut banks’ reserve requirements. Wells Fargo (WFC) & Co. and Bank of America Corp. (BAC) increased at least 3.1 percent. Alcoa Inc., Halliburton Co. and Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) rallied more than 4.5 percent to pace gains among companies that are most-dependent on economic growth.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 2.7 percent to 1,227.76 at 9:39 a.m. New York time. The benchmark gauge rallied 3.2 percent in three days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 321.13 points, or 2.8 percent, to 11,876.76 today.
“Central banks around the world are going back to easing or supporting the marketplace,” Mark Bronzo, who helps manage $24 billion at Security Global Investors in Irvington, New York, said in a telephone interview. “It’s a step in the right direction especially because it’s coordinated. These actions may help global growth not to follow Europe into a recession.”
Global stocks rebounded after China cut the amount of cash that banks must set aside as reserves for the first time since 2008. Equity-futures rallied further as the Fed and five other central banks agreed to reduce the interest rate on dollar liquidity swap lines by 50 basis points and extend their authorization through Feb. 1, 2013. In the U.S., American companies added more workers than anticipated in November, according to a private report based on payrolls.
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November 29th, 2011
U.S. stocks rose, after the biggest gain in a month for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as the biggest increase since 2003 in a gauge of American consumer confidence bolstered optimism in the world’s largest economy.
Yahoo! Inc. climbed 2.3 percent as two people with knowledge of the matter said private-equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners is considering a bid. Hewlett-Packard Co. gained 2.5 percent after RBC Capital Markets raised its recommendation for the computer maker. Tiffany & Co. slumped 8.8 percent after the world’s second-largest luxury jewelry retailer cited “weaknesses” in sales in Europe and the eastern U.S.
The S&P 500 advanced 0.8 percent to 1,201.67 at 10:17 a.m. New York time, after the benchmark gauge gained 2.9 percent yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 95.86 points, or 0.8 percent, to 11,618.87 today.
“The economic reports have shown that the U.S. has been insulated from all the noise coming out of Europe,” Paul Zemsky, the New York-based head of asset allocation for ING Investment Management, said in a telephone interview. His firm oversees $550 billion. “Consumers are not really bothered by that, at least not yet. We expect the data to be good. It’s going to be fits and starts, but they continue to move along the right direction in Europe.”
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November 25th, 2011
U.S. stock futures fell, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will decline for a seventh day, as a surge in Italian borrowing costs at an auction intensified concern about a worsening in Europe’s debt crisis.
Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley each retreated 0.7 percent, pacing losses in financial shares. Halliburton Co. (HAL) dropped 0.3 percent as oil slumped. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), the world’s largest Internet retailer, rose 0.1 percent.
S&P 500 futures expiring in December decreased 0.7 percent to 1,152.10 at 8:32 a.m. New York time. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures declined 66 points, or 0.6 percent, to 11,168. The U.S. stock market was closed yesterday for the Thanksgiving holiday and trading will end at 1 p.m. today.
“It is becoming apparent that European bonds are suffering from a buyer’s strike where institutions no longer want to fund European debt,” Mark Grant, a managing director at Southwest Securities Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said in an e-mail. “The equity markets in the United States may test the lows again as there is increasing concern of a major recession in Europe.”
The S&P 500 was headed for a second week of losses, the longest losing streak since September as the burden of government debt grew around the world. The cost of insuring European sovereign bonds against default rose to a record.
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November 22nd, 2011
Stocks and U.S. equity futures erased gains as Spain’s three-month borrowing costs more than doubled at an auction and concern that European leaders are running out of options to solve the debt crisis sent French and Italian yields higher.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped 0.1 percent at 8:17 a.m. in New York, after earlier climbing 1 percent. Standard & Poor’s 500 futures lost less than 0.1 percent. Spain’s two-year note yield rose 14 basis points to 5.73 percent, with France’s yield nine basis points higher. Copper snapped a three-day decline and gold rebounded from a one-month low.
Spain sold three-month bills at a yield of 5.11 percent, more than double the 2.292 percent yield the last time the debt was offered on Oct. 25. Michael Meister, finance spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic party, said “we haven’t any new bazooka to pull out of the bag.” Stocks (MXWD) gained earlier after Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service kept the U.S.’s credit rating unchanged after Congress failed to reach an agreement, setting the stage for $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts.
“When you look at valuation measures for global equities, they’re all running well below historical averages,” Shane Oliver, the Sydney-based head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investors Ltd., said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “Very tough economic conditions are already priced in, probably something approaching a global recession.”
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November 21st, 2011
U.S. stocks slumped, giving the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index its longest decline since September, as concern grew that $1.2 trillion in automatic federal budget cuts will be triggered if lawmakers fail to reach a deal.
All 10 industries in the benchmark measure declined as 483 out of 500 companies retreated. Morgan Stanley tumbled 6.4 percent, while Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) and Chevron Corp. (CVX) dropped at least 3 percent. The Dow Jones Transportation Average decreased 3 percent. Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) plunged 10 percent after agreeing to buy Pharmasset Inc. (VRUS) for about $11 billion in cash. Pharmasset soared 85 percent.
The S&P 500 dropped 2.2 percent to 1,188.79 at 2:10 p.m. New York time. The benchmark gauge has lost 5.5 percent in four days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 298.2 points, or 2.5 percent, to 11,497.96 today after a Democratic aide said the supercommittee that was supposed to dissolve congressional gridlock in Washington is instead on the brink of failure.
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