On Monday trading session Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 2,527.34, 85.83 or 3.5% up. Index experienced the biggest percentage advance since August 23 as most of its stocks surged. First Solar and Amazon.Com were among the main gainers each gaining 10.52% and 6.44% respectively. First Solar recently announced that it will become the main supplier of German solar hybrid company.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average index followed its major peers and increased sharply gaining 2.6% or 291.23 ending Monday trade session at 11,523.01. All 30 of Dow Jones constituents contributed positively to index led by aluminium producer Alcoa Inc. and Caterpillar each adding 5.7% and 5.49% respectively. Shares of Hewlett-Packard Company and Chevron Corp. also rebounded correspondingly by 4.49% and 3.77%. Dow Jones Index had the
On Monday S&P 500 Index jumped 2.92% or 33.88 points and closed at 1,192.55. All 10 index's industries rose, led by natural resource and energy companies. The index experienced the best trading since October 27. United States Steel Corp. gained 8.49%, while Alpha Natural Resources advanced 7.87%. Financial stocks also contributed positively to index as Genworth Financial Inc. added almost 13%, after Citigroup Inc. raised insurer's rating. Stocks
Swiss asset managers are likely to lose about 47 bn Swiss francs ($51.1 bn) as their clients are going to make large withdrawals ahead of tax arrangements with UK and Germany presumed to be implemented in 2013. Cash outflows are expected to surge during forthcoming 18 months. Bankers estimate potential capital outflows to be around 25%-30% of non-declared securities. Switzerland this year signed accord with UK
UK home prices climbed in November showing the highest increase since September 2010. The index shows the property prices increased by 0.4% in November from previous month and rose by 1.6% since November last year. Experts say the reason is lack of supply in the real estate sector coupled with low interest rates. However, despite slight increase in house prices the overall outlook on British
Honda Motor Co. sees its sales continue to decline in the US markets in December, but the sales are likely to improve after New Year, announced the head of Honda's North American unit. The US market is expected to be stable in 2012 at 13.4-13.5 million vehicles but the market share is likely to rise to 11% after being below 10% in 2011, he added.
Meeting of all parties in India failed to agree with opposition on the opening a retail sector for foreign companies. The cabinet already passed the decision to allow 51% ownership by foreign companies of the retail stores. The opposition argues it will severely hurt local retailers. The Parliament meeting to discuss the issue has been postponed for several times. Opposing parties announced they will not
Finance Ministers of the euro-zone are meeting today to discuss the options for expanding the bailout fund. They also are going to focus on providing more bailout funds for Greece. The ministers want to increase EFSF to 1tn euros. One option proposed is to provide insurance to about 30% of the bond value to increase demand for sovereign bonds. Investors consider rising power of EFSF
Gold futures decreased today but did not fall below the psychologically important level of USD 1,700 an ounce. The decline was caused by the lower-risk aversion among investors ahead of EU finance ministers' meeting; gold is considered to be a safe investment option with higher demand when the risk-aversion increases. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for February delivery
Sweden's economic growth surpassed most forecasts in 3rd quarter as exports and investment surged. Annual GDP added 4.6% compared to prediction of 3.4% estimated by analysts. Output in 3rd quarter advanced 0.6%. Nevertheless, Annika Winsth, Nordea Bank's chief economist predicts that Swedish growth is likely to slow down in nearest future amid European debt crisis.
Asian stocks have been rising for the second day as hopes for resolution of the EU debt crisis by the finance ministers during today's summit decreased investors' risk aversion. During Asian trade, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 1.3%, Australia's ASX/200 Index increased by 1.1%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 Index added 2.3%.
Europe stocks opened lower after yesterday's rapid increase as investors await the meeting of the EU finance ministers aimed at easing the debt crisis. Report of Standard & Poor's plan to downgrade France's credit rating also contributed to the share price decline. The Stoxx Europe 600 index decreased by 0.3% to 229.23, the French CAC 40 index lost 0.5% to 2,997.94, the German DAX 30
Facebook Inc. is going to raise funding worth about $10bn by initial public offering (IPO). After the deal, the value of world's biggest social networking website could reach $100 bn. Facebook Inc. may apply for the IPO by the end of year 2011. Company's $100 bn valuation would double the one that was reached in January when Facebook raised $1.5 bn investment from Goldman Sachs
Canadian largest lenders such as Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada are expected to report a drop in revenue from their investment banking units in 4th quarter amid capital markets' slow down due to European debt affliction. According to Sumit Malhotra, analyst at Macquarie Capital Markets, income from asset management and capital markets may fall by 6% reaching $5.5 bn.
In today's auction Italy's yields are again expected to surpass critical level of 7%. Treasury in Rome is planning to offer 3-year notes worth 3.5 bn euros, 10-year bonds worth 2.5bn euros and bonds maturing 2020 worth 2 bn euros. Italy was forced to borrow above 7 % in auctions yesterday and on November 25. Chiara Cremonesi, a strategist at Unicredit predicts 10-year notes may
Acer Inc. announced it still hopes the company will break even in Q4 despite problems caused by insufficient quantity of hard disks because of severe floods in Thailand. The effect of the dick shortage will be the strongest between December and February and the company plans to increase prices for some models of PC by 2%-3%, said Acer spokesman.
Chancellor George Osborn is going to present plans for stimulating British economy against pessimistic forecasts. He will update on issues regarding credit easing, increase of investments in infrastructure and youth unemployment. Moreover, he is going to announce his view on the projections of the Office for Budget Responsibility. George Osborn will deliver his statement today in the House of Commons.
South Africa's credit market soared by 5.5% in October compared to previous year. The growth is 0.2 percentage points lower than economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicted. Lower-than-expected increase in crediting reflects concerns about European debt crisis, forcing businesses and consumers to borrow less while banks are struggling to meet regulatory requirements.
Alliance Aviation Services, Australia-based transportation company, pulled its IPO in order to raise about 120 million Australian dollars despite market being bleak and IPO market being tough in Australia. It is the largest IPO in Australia after Collins Foods listing in August. The S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.7% on Tuesday.
The jobless rate in Japan increased unexpectedly in October. The jobless rate for the last month reached 4.5% as compared with 4.1% in September, according to Finance Ministry. The expected rate for October was 4.1%. The increase in unemployment rate signals that the country was impacted by global recession and strong yen more severely than expected.
Hungary is planning to increase its borrowing costs in order to strengthen domestic currency forint after Moody's Investors Service downgraded country's credit rating to junk. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect Magyar Nemzeti Bank to raise 2-week deposit rate from 6% to 6.5%. The Hungarian forint's weakness boosts payments on mortgages denominated in foreign currency accounting for 2/3 of property loans.
An increase in UK's net lending to private individuals exceeded the forecast, according to official data. Net lending climbed by GBP1.3 billion in previous month, above expected GBP1.0 billion. However, net consumer credit remained the same despite expected increase by GBP0.5 billion. After the report GDP appreciated against USD by 0.34% to GDP/USD being 1.5567.
Swiss UBS, Swiss bank, consumption increased in October after essential fall in summer, according to industry data. Consumption indicator added 0.09 points to 0.91 last month. However, after the report Swiss franc decreased by 0.08% against USD and the pair USD/CHF is traded at 0.9231.
Federal judge refused Citigroup Inc's $285 m settlement with US Securities and Exchange (SEC) saying there were not provided enough facts to support it. Judge Jed Rakoff rejected the agreement and appointed a trial day. Rakoff also criticized SEC's way of permitting banks to settle without denying or admitting liability. Last month Citigroup agreed to settlement after being accused for misleading investors regarding CDOs linked to subprime mortgage securities.