European Markets Up 3 - Market Update

Market Update Analysis:

European Markets Up 3%

Author: 123jump.com Staff
123jump.com
Last Update: 6:03 PM EST February 12 2008

Third largest Swiss bank, Julius Baer filed with the SEC to sell its assset management unit in an initial public offering and raise as much as $1 billion through Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch. Credit Swiss Group reported earnings fall of 72% on Sfr1.2 billion of write downs of assets in high risk loans. sanofi-Aventis fourth quarter profit increased 6% tp 1.46 billion euros on cost cutting and higher sales of Plavix.

10:00PM Frankfurt, 4:00PM New York, 8:00AM Sydney – European markets closed sharply higher on rising financial stocks after comments from Warren Buffett.

European Markets

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 202.30 or 3.54% to 5,910.00, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 158.01 or 3.37% to close at 4,840.71 and in Frankfurt DAX index higher 224.30 or 3.33% to close at 6,967.54. In Zurich trading SMI increased 199.39 or 2.71% to close at 7,546.89.

North American Markets indexes

Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 113.81 or 0.93% to a close of 12,353.82, S&P 500 closed up 7.10 or 0.53% to 1,346.23, and Nasdaq Composite Index traded down 3.36 or 0.14% to a close of 2,316.70. In Toronto TSX Composite closed down 43.51 or 0.33% to close at 13,087.41.

Of the 30 stocks in Dow Jones Industrial Average, 24 closed higher, 6 closed lower, and none were unchanged.

General Motors led the decliners in the index with a fall of 1.6% followed by a loss in Alcoa of 1.44%, in Home Depot of 0.84%, and in JP Morgan Chase of 0.28%. Boeing led the gainers in the index with a rise of 3.2% followed by gains in Merck of 2.74%, in DuPont of 2.35%, and in Verizon of 2.2%.

Of the stocks in S&P 500, 268 closed higher, 228 fell, and 4 were unchanged. Of the index stocks, 26 rose more than 3% and equal number of 26 stocks fell more than 3%.

Molson Coors led the gainers in the index with a rise of 8.7% followed by increases in Moody’s of 5.8%, in Schering Plough of 5.4%, in Electronic Arts of 4.5%, and in Darden Restaurants of 4.2%. Express Scripts, IMS Healthcare, and Harley Davidson, Travelers, Time Warner, and Ameriprise increased between 3% and 4%.

Ambac Financial led the decliners in the index with a loss of 16% followed declines in MBIA of 15%, in Masco Corp of 11.26%, in Expeditors International of 8.5%, and JDS Uniphase of 7.4%. Consol energy, Peabody, Newmont, and Lehman Brothers fell between 4% and 6%.

South American Markets Indexes

In Latin Markets Peru led the gainers in the region with a rise of 2.68% followed by increases in Venezuela of 2.45%, in Brazil of 1.92%, in Chile of 1.89%, in Argentina of 1.64%, and in Mexico of 0.57%.

Asian Markets

In Tokyo Nikkei 225 Index closed higher 4.72 or 0.04% to 13,021.96, in Hong Kong Hang Seng index increased 305.56 or 1.35% closed to 22,921.67. Australia ASX 200 index increased 70.50 or 1.27% to close 5,608.10.

In South Korea Kospi Index increased 2.62 or 0.16% to close at 1,643.29, in Thailand SET index closed higher 13.34 or 1.66% to 817.49 and Indonesia JSE Index edged increased 2.69 or 0.10% to 2,592.07. Sensex index in India decreased 22.90 or 0.14% to 16,608.01.

Bond Yields decreased on 10-year U.S. bonds to 3.64% and on 30-year bonds fell to 4.45%.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil declined $0.98 to close at $92.61 per barrel for a front month contract, natural gas decreased 14 cents to $8.39 per mBtu, and gasoline futures decreased 3.37 cents to close at 236.25 cents per gallon.

Gold decreased $17.00 in New York trading to close at $909.70 per ounce, silver closed down 29 cents to $17.18 per ounce, and copper for front month delivery decreased 0.40 cents to 355.45 per pound and in London copper futures increased $57.00 to $7,797.00.

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