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Banks, Miners Lift Europe
Dec 14, 1:00 PM EST |
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| Nestle rose 2.1% after the Swiss food group agreed to acquire the medical-nutrition business of Novartis. Novartis shares rose 1.5% in Switzerland. |
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| European stocks closed in the positive territory Thursday, lifted by strength in the mining sector and gains in the financial sectior. HBOS shares rose 1.6% in London after the group said it expects underlying 2006 profit to beat market expectations. Miners such as Xstrata, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton sharply rose on higher metals prices. The U.K. FTSE 100 index closed up 0.6%. Germany''s DAX 30 rose 0.5%. The French CAC-40 also climbed 0.6%. |
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Nasdaq Rallies on Costco, Ciena, Adobe
Dec 14, 11:52 AM EST |
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| Nestle SA, the world's biggest food and drink company, agreed to buy the medical nutrition unit of pharmaceutical company Novartis for $2.5 billion. |
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| U.S. stocks rallied in late morning trading, boosted by better-than-expected earnings results. The Nasdaq jumped more than 1%, driven higher by Costco, Ciena, and Adobe. Costco Wholesale helped the Nasdaq up with a gain of 2.8% after it posted earnings above forecasts. Ciena jumped 8% as it swung to a Q4 profit on sharply higher revenue, beating estimates. Adobe Systems gained 1.9%. |
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Sensex in India Up 2.3%
Dec 14, 10:43 AM EST |
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| The benchmark index in India surged more than 300 points with broad rally in small to large cap stocks. |
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| After the recovery on Wednesday, the Sensex surged even stronger today on heavy buying in from small to large cap stocks. Bank stocks managed to rebound led by ICICI Bank. Reliance Industries, Satyam, NTPC, Cipla were the other big gainers. Of the Sensex stocks only Hero Honda and Tata Steel declined. |
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Bear Stearns, Lehman Bros Earnings Surge
Dec 14, 10:12 AM EST |
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| Costco Wholesale Corp. rose 2.7% after it said its Q1 profit rose 10%, but it would take Q2 charge related to stock option grants. |
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| Stock markets advanced at opening, lifted by record profits in the financial sector. Bear Stearns reported record-high financial results in Q4, helped by robust capital markets and investment banking activity. The company posted 38% profit rise to $4 per share, up from $2.90 per share, a year earlier. Lehman Brothers said Q4 profit rose 22% to $1.72 per share, compared with profit of $1.38 per share a year ago, beating estimates. |
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Banks, Miners Boost FTSE
Dec 14, 9:44 AM EST |
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| FTSE stocks made further progress on Thursday after a strong trading update from HBOS boosted the banking sector. |
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| Miners led the FTSE 100 as some traders decided that the recent sell-off had gone too far. Antofagasta and Xstrata led the advancers. Banking company HBOS published a bullish trading statement, noting that its performance in the year to December is expected to exceed market expectations for underlying earnings per share. British Airways Plc surged after rival Qantas Airways Ltd. accepted an improved buyout. By late morning, the FTSE 100 gained 12.6 points, or 0.2%. |
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Futures Trade Mixed
Dec 14, 9:07 AM EST |
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| The Labor Department said that import prices rose 0.2% in November, as prices for imported petroleum fell but prices for imported natural gas soared. |
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| U.S. stock futures turned mixed Thursday as strong earnings from brokerage giants Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers eased concerns over an expected cut in oil output by the OPEC. Bear Stearns reported record-high financial results in Q4, helped by robust capital markets and investment banking activity. Investment bank Lehman Brothers said Q4 profit rose 22% on strong underwriting fees and improved performance in its capital markets business. |
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Australia, China Help Asia Rally
Dec 14, 7:35 AM EST |
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| Asia rallied Thursday , with China, Australia and Japan surging on trade negotiations, airline strength and weaker yen. |
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| Asian markets surged Thursday, with China striking a record high due to intensified trade talks with U.S., and Australian stocks gained in the wake of Qantas acceptance of an improved takeover bid. In Japan stocks hit a seven-month high due to the recent weakness of the yen prompting investors to buy shares of auto makers and other exporters. South Korean shares added on large-cap technology, bank and automobile issues and HK advanced on telecoms. |
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Europe Buoyant on Banks
Dec 14, 6:39 AM EST |
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| European markets reached a new six-year highs on Thursday supported by large-cap banking, oil and mining stocks. |
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| European stocks gained on speculation companies are increasing earnings even as the world economy slows. HBOS advanced the most in two months after the biggest mortgage lender in Britain announced 2006 earnings will beat estimates. Rio Tinto Group and Xstrata Plc led the rally in mining shares after Cazenove stated metals demand remains strong. By mid morning, FTSE 100 in London climbed 0.3%, Frankfurt Xetra Dax gained 0.2%, and the CAC 40 in Paris added 0.4%. |
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Crude Boost For Gold
Dec 14, 5:16 AM EST |
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| Gold prices advanced slightly on Wednesday finding support from a surge in the crude oil market. |
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| The rally in crude oil reflected the gold market as well. Oil was given a boost from the report of the Energy Information Administration which showed an across-the-board withdraws in US petrolium shares, in that number a large drop in crude inventories. Gold fell at the opening of the session and it was hesitant at around $627 level but managed to rebound aided by the stronger oil. |
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