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EC: Higher Inflation, Slower Growth
Feb 21, 5:13 PM EST |
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| European Commission lifted its euro zone inflation forecast to 2.6% and lowered economic growth to 1.8% from 2.2%. |
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| BASF, German chemical company reported first quarter flat revenue of 14.7 billion and earnings rise of 8% to 793 million euros. Continental AG reported full year profit rose 3.9% to 1.02 billion euros on revenue gain of 7.2% to 15.9 billion euros. Not counting the recent purchase of VOD, the car parts maker, the sales rose 5.5%. Societe Generale reported record fourth quarter loss of 3.35 billion euros on write-downs and trading losses. |
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Record Gold, Recession Worries
Feb 21, 4:47 PM EST |
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| Crude oil fell nearly 2% after the weekly report showed a rising inventory levels. Gold surged to a record high. |
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| U.S. stocks lost gains at the opening after Cisco was upgraded and Research in Motion lifted its sales estiates of wireless devices. Gloomier than expected decline in the manufacturing survey from Philadephia Fed dragged market averages lower. The selling intensified in the last thirty minutes of trading. Sun Trust fell 5% after S&P lowered its credit outlook. Starbucks, Walgreen, UBS, Citigroup, and General
Electric closed at multi-year low. |
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Stocks and Oil Fall, Gold Surges
Feb 21, 3:25 PM EST |
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| S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq fell more than 1% as worries mounted on a weak regional economic report. |
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| Gold surged as the inflation worries mounted. Gold reached a new high as it hovered near $950 per ounce in New York Trading. Stocks fell in the afternoon trading after the release of regional report from the Philadephia Federal Reserve. The factory index, a measure of regional manuafacturing activities showed a sharper than expected drop in activities. Crude oil declined after the weekly inventories report showed a rise in inventories at the end of last week. |
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Mining Stocks Rebound
Feb 21, 2:21 PM EST |
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| Stocks in London recovered on the rising mining sector stocks. The ONS reported that sales volume for three months ending in January increased 0.6%. |
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| Stocks in London gained on increased activity in the mining industry and on strong earnings from Reeds Elsevier. In London trading FTSE 100 rose 0.65% or 38.6 to 5,932.20. Of the 102 stocks in FTSE 100 index, 64 gained and 38 declined. Reed Elsevier led advancers in the FTSE 100 index stocks with a rise of 7.45% after the company reported today that net income rose to £1.2 billion from £263 million pounds a year ago. |
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IT Stocks Surge
Feb 21, 1:49 PM EST |
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| Steel and other metal related companies rose on the sustained rise in international prices. Hindalco surged 7.5%. |
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| Software services exporters led the gainers in the trading. Satyam surged nerly 9% and led the gainers in the Sensex index. Infosys rose 5%, TCS increased 4.6%, and Wipro added 6%. Sensex fell in the morning hours but rebounded in the afternoon trading on the strength in the European markets and sustained interest in the new issue offering of Rural Electrification Corporation. HDFC Infrastructure sold its rights for development in Mumbai for 900 crore rupees. |
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Cisco and RiM Lift Tech Stocks
Feb 21, 10:08 AM EST |
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| Tech stocks opened higher after Research in Motion revised its sales estimates of wireless device to 2.18 million. Broker recommendation lifted Cisco. |
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| U.S. stocks opened higher on revised sales forecast from Research in Motion and a recommendation to buy Cisco from Citigroup. Tech heavy Nasdaq rose as high as 0.7% after Cisco added 2% and RiM soared 7%. Citigroup also downgraded Target to Sell on weak credit card balance conditions and worries related to economic downturn. Initial claims of unemployment at the end of the last week fell 9,000. |
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Nervous Trading in Hong Kong
Feb 21, 9:33 AM EST |
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| Hong Kong stocks edged higher on rising crude oil and metals prices in the international markets. However, nervous investors worried about inflation. |
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| Hong Kong stock indexes reversed 1.8% % gain in the morning session to close marginally up as commodity and energy stocks continue to rise on the back of metals and crude oil gains. PetroChina Co Ltd jumped 1.4% to HK$11.86 and CNOOC Ltd increased 1.6% to HK$12.98. Aluminum Corp of China gained 5.4% to HK$14.94 and Jiangxi Copper edged up 6.3% to HK$18.26. Cathay Pacific Airways declined 2.2% to HK$16.18 and China Eastern Airlines fell 1.9% to HK$5.31 on rising oil prices. |
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January Deficit in Japan Rises
Feb 21, 8:58 AM EST |
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| Seasonality and holiday purchases bossted trade deficit in Japan to $735 million from $50 million a year ago. |
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| January trade deficit in Japan rose to 79.3 billion yen from 3.5 billion yen in January 2007. Rising crude oil prices lifted oil import by 41% and overall imports by 9%. The seasonality in the Japan business cycles and holidays often leads a deficit in January month in international trade. While trade surplus with the U.S. declined 4.8%, trade deficit with China declined 5.8% from a year ago. |
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