Energy commodities fell on Wednesday after the EIA reduced its oil demand forecast for 2012 and Barack Obama formally rejected the project of TransCanada pipeline. Investors also await US natural gas and crude oil inventory report due on Thursday. At the same time, delay in the Iranian oil embargo contributed to losses of oil futures. However, crude oil started Thursday
Agricultural commodities, excluding sugar, dropped on Wednesday on the expected surplus in the market. Coffee crops are likely to be even 3% larger than the initial estimate, reported the ICO. Biggest coffee producers as Ethiopia and Brazil plan to increase essentially coffee output over the next three years. However, coffee continued to draw support from easing worries over Colombia's and
Precious metals continued the previous day's rally, following the release of reports that the IMF is exploring the ways how to boost its lending capacity. Weaker US Dollar after slower than expected US industrial production also contributed to an increase in precious metals' prices. Moreover, GFMS expects the gold to hit $1,640 an ounce in the first half of the
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average soared on Thursday, after PBOC announced it will allow more lending and postpone stricter capital requirement restrictions. Nikkei 225 Index gained 1.12% or 95.95 points to 8,646.53, driven by industrial and basic material sectors. Nomura Holdings Inc. climbed 4.3%, while Daiwa Securities Group Inc. added 4.9%. On the downside Japan Tobacco dropped 3.27% and video game
Base metals faced mixed performance on Wednesday as the commodity group balanced on the positive data from the Euro Zone and slower than expected industrial production growth in the US and Japan. Copper, the top performer, was supported by BHP Billiton report of 7% decrease in the metal's output. However, restart of the Grasberg copper mine operations after three-month strike
Dow Jones Industrial Average Index surged on Wednesday, as investors anticipated growing optimism among US home builders amid news IMF agreed to grant additional loan program. Blue chip index climbed 0.78% or 97 points to 12,578.95 with 26 of 30 shares posting gains. Among the main winners were banking shares as Bank of America jumped 4.94% and JPMorgan Chase advanced
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 1.30% or 256.03 points on Thursday to 19,942.95, led by financial stocks, as investor sentiment was fuelled by PBOC announcement about capital injections in the market are easing of lending and reserve restrictions. China Construction Bank Corp added 2.7% and insurer AIA Group surged 3.2%. Commodity stocks also rallied in Hong Kong's stocks exchange
S&P 500 Index rallied on Wednesday supported by the financials on the upside. US benchmark index added 1.11% or 14.37 points and finished at 1,308.04 with all 10 sectors posting gains. Goldman Sachs jumped 6.8% after the bank reported 58% or less than expected drop in profits. Morgan Stanley, which due to report earnings on Thursday morning, also advanced 6.8%.
Gold prices edged up on Thursday following the release of data that the IMF was weighing the possibility to increase lending capacity by $500 billion in case struggling EU members need more funds. The news stimulated appreciation of the EUR against the USD that pushed the gold prices higher. COMEX gold February contract traded at USD1,662.35 a troy ounce, on
Carrefour announced a 0.8% decrease in sales to EUR24.2 billion in Q4. The company blamed deteriorated economic environment that impacted non-food sales. In Europe sales declined by 4.3% while in Latin America sales increased by 6.8% and in Asia revenues added 2.8%. Carrefour sales for the whole year lost 0.6% on comparable basis.
Crude oil appreciated on Thursday as traders returned to commodity markets on the eased concerns over the Euro Zone's sovereign debt crisis and China's hard lending. Light, sweet crude oil March contract traded at USD101.44 a barrel, on the New York Mercantile Exchange, gaining 0.68%.
Hedge funds may sue Greece in the European Court of Human Rights to force the country to repay full amount of its debts. The country may be sued for violating bondholder rights or property rights as Greece wants to change the terms of bonds so that investors will receive less than they lent. However, the lawsuits can take multiple years
New Zealand's CPI unexpectedly fell 0.3% in Q4 as compared to 0.4% in Q3, reported Statistics New Zealand. Experts predicted the CPI to add 0.4% over the period. The major reason for a decline was much lower vegetable price that caused a 2.2% fall in food prices, claimed Chris Pike, manager at Statistics NZ.
Most European stocks ended slightly up on Wednesday trade as Greece kept working on deal with creditors and Germany sold bonds at record low borrowing costs. Stoxx Europe 600 climbed 0.08% to 253.48 and UK's FTSE 100 closed 0.15% up at 5,702.37. French CAC 40 dropped 0.15% to 3,264.93 while German DAX added 0.3%, finishing at 6,354.57.
Kodak announced that the company and its subsidies located in the US filed for chapter 11 in the US Bankruptcy Court. The chapter 11 stipulates business reorganization intended to boost liquidity and to provide the company with a possibility to concentrate on the most viable business lines. Kodak has got $950 million credit facility that will enable company to operate
Greece failed to find a consensus with its creditors during lengthy talks resumed on Wednesday, reported IIF. The contrary is under pressure as it has to agree with private bondholders, who hold large amount of Greek bonds, on voluntary cut of the debt by 50%. Officials from troika also support the reduction of Greek's bonds. In case the agreement is
UK's Consumer Confidence Index declined to 38 in December as compared to 40 in the preceding month. Nationwide claimed that it was caused by growing cost of living and recession in the Euro Zone. It also warned that there are low changes for recovery this year; however, easing inflationary pressure may help to increase households' budgets.
China allowed the country's five largest financials to boost lending in the first quarter of 2012 and PBC prepares a plan for easing capital requirements. The People's Bank of China will permit banks to increase loans by 5% compared to previous year and postpone stricter capital reserve ratio requirements, said two people familiar with matter.
Stock markets rallied in Asian on Thursday after China's central bank decided to provide a capital injection in country's markets and IMF presented plan to increase its lending amounts. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average jumped 1.3%, South Korea's Kospi advanced 1.1% while China's Shanghai Composite surged 1.2% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 1.15%. Australian S&P/ASX 200 was the only
Germany lessened its GDP growth prediction for 2012 from 1% to 0.7%, said Philipp Roesler, German Economics Minister, in statement yesterday. Roesler suggested that the German economy may slow down in the first months of 2012 but strengthen later fuelled by increase in employment, and stronger growth. Domestic consumption is predicted to surge 1.1% this year compared to 2.2% in 2011.
The IMF announced it needs additional GBP323 bn to rescue the EU countries strained by debt crisis, with the UK liable to provide about GBP17.5bn of this amount even despite economic problems. UK's economy is expected to have sunk over the last months, with growth indicating contraction, claimed George Osborne, UK's Chancellor. Britain will attempt to limit its contribution to
US stock market experienced gains on Wednesday as several big companies such as EBay and F5 Networks posted better than predicted quarterly results. S&P 500 Index gained 1.11% or 14.37 points and closed at 1,308.04, Dow Jones Industrial Average Index climbed 0.78% or 97 points to 12,578.95 and Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.53% or 41.63 points at 2,769.71.
Germany sold two-year bills at record low borrowing costs on January 18, after S&P left Europe's biggest economy's credit rating unchanged at AAA. Bonds with two years maturity were sold at average yield of 0.17% compared to 0.29% in December. The demand almost two times surpassed the maximum target amount of 4 bn Euros of debt.
Australian Dollar depreciated against the Greenback on Thursday after country reported the number of jobs unexpectedly declined in December and unemployment rate remained unchanged. Meanwhile the Kiwi fell against its US peers, on national statistics showing consumer prices tumbled in the 4th quarter. Aussie dropped 0.3% to $1.0400 and Kiwi weakened 0.2% to $0.8032. Currently AUD/USD is trading at $1.0386 and