Another bright day at US Market
Led by the financial sector once again, US market registered good gains
for the second consecutive day today, Thursday, 17 July, 2008.
Financial sector was once again in the good mood today following better
than expected earning reports from JP Morgan Chase and Blackrock. Crude
prices further dropping helped market momentum improve further.
The indices traded in the positive territory for the entire day. The
market opened considerably higher with the Dow trading 104 points up at
open. At the end, The Dow Jones industrial Average ended the day with a
gain of 207.38 points at 11,446.66. The Nasdaq Composite Index,
finished higher by 27.45 points at 2,312.3. S&P 500 finished higher
by 14.96 points at 1,260.32.
Twenty-four out of thirty Dow stocks ended in the green today led by Banc of America whose stock was up 17% today.
Dow components JPMorgan Chase, United Technologies and Coca-Cola ? all
reported better-than-expected earnings per share results. JP Morgan
reported that its revenue climbed nearly 9% year-over-year to $18.4
billion, topping the consensus estimate of $16.5 billion. A $1.2
billion increase in allowance for credit losses took its toll on
earnings. Shares of JPM jumped to their highest level in roughly one
month on the news as many investors returned to the financial sector.
But Coca Cola?s shares did not show any excitement despite the
company?s good results.
On the economic front, the Commerce
Department reported at Washington today that housing starts rose 9.1%
to a 1.066 million-unit annual pace from a revised rate of 977,000 in
May. Also, jobless claims for the week ending 12 July indicated an
increase of 18,000 to 366,000 and were below the consensus expectation
for 380,000 claims.
On the other hand, the Federal Reserve
Bank of Philadelphia said manufacturing in the Philadelphia region
weakened for the eighth month straight in July, defying the
expectations of economists, who had predicted a slight improvement.
In the technology front, Microsoft, IBM and Google were expected to report their earnings after the market closed.
Barring Tata Motors and MTNL, all other Indian ADRs ended in the green
today. ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were the largest gainers with their
ADRs gaining 9% and 7% respectively.
Crude oil prices dropped
for third straight day today and with today?s fall crude gave up almost
$16 in three sessions. Prices plunged once again on economic worries
surrounding the US economy and also after government data yesterday
showed a surprise increase in U.S. petroleum inventories last week.
Crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for August delivery today
closed at $129.29 /barrel (lower by $5.3/barrel or 3.9%) on the New
York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier in the day it rose by $2.15 to
$136.75. It's now 12.2% lower than the $147.27 record high hit last
Thursday.
At the currency markets on Thursday, also weighing
on gold prices was a rebound in the U.S. currency. The dollar extended
gains against Japan's yen and the Swiss franc and reversed earlier
losses against most other rivals as stocks rallied and crude oil
futures continued to drop. The dollar index which measures the buck
against a trade-weighted basket of currencies, rose 0.3% to 72.28.
Volume on the New York Stock Exchange approached 2 billion, with
advancing stocks outrunning those declining nearly 3 to 1. On the
Nasdaq, nearly 1.1 billion shares traded, with advancers ahead of
declining stocks 2 to 1.
For tomorrow, Citigroup's second
quarter earning results will be the highlight. The market's reaction to
Citi's earnings will play a role in determining if the financial sector
will be able to hold its massive three day rally. Other than that,
Honeywell is another big name.
Visit site at – http://investorline.co.in/
Newsroom - http://newsroom.investorline.co.in/
Learning Center- http://learning.investorline.co.in/
Mutual funds - http://mutualfunds.investorline.co.in/
Life Insurance - http://insurance.investorline.co.in/
Investor Journal - http://research.investorline.co.in/
Newscatcher- http://forums.investorline.co.in/
0 comments:
Post a Comment