July 29, 2005

FTSE rises above 5300 points

by Brian Turner
London: In London on Friday, the FTSE 100 rose above the 5,300 mark for awhile before sinking back to close at 5,282.3, a gain of 0.2 percent on the day and 0.8 for the week, while the FTSE 250 was up 0.4 percent for the day to close at 7,605.1, a gain of 1.5 percent on the week. Volume was 2.8 ...

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Bond prices lower on good US economy data

by Brian Turner
Prices were lower and yields higher on US Treasury bonds on Friday after the release of a series of reports showing the US economy to be in generally good shape. Data showed that the GDP had grown by 3.4 percent, near expectations, in the second quarter, while inflation remained in check. The inflation data caused a slowdown ...

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July 28, 2005

Copper makes record gains as supplies at record lows

by Brian Turner
Three-month copper gained $45 to break through the $3,500 level to $3,535.5 per tonne as inventories stayed around record low levels. Another factor in the rise in price was data out of the United States that indicated metals demand might be stronger than previously expected. Copper is the only metal whose base price has risen on ...

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Unocal and Chevron face investors

by Brian Turner
Unocal and Chevron began an effort on Thursday to convince shareholders that Chevron’s lower bid for the California-based Unocal is the best thing for both companies and shareholders. Unocal argued that while CNOOC’s bid is higher, Chevron’s bid is superior because of the inevitable delays that would accompany an acceptance of the Chinese oil company’s bid. It said that an acceptance ...

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NYSE continues strong gains

by Brian Turner
In New York on Thursday, the equities markets had their thirteenth positive session in the last sixteen. Today’s gains came courtesy of a new group of earnings reports, many of them showing results that were much better than had been expected. Coffee retailer Starbucks gained 4.6 percent on the day to $52.68 on an announcement of better than expected earnings. ...

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Yen down on concerns for strength of Japanese government

by Brian Turner
The yen was down on Thursday on uncertainties about the future of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Mr. Koizumi has threatened to resign and call a snap election if his proposal to privatize the Japanese post office is not passed by the upper house of parliament when it votes on the measure early next month. The leader ...

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July 27, 2005

Yen loses ground as China curbs renminbi strength

by Brian Turner
The yen lost ground to the US dollar again on Wednesday as investors adjusted to the fact that China would not be allowing the renminbi to get any stronger in the near term. Since the revaluation of the Chinese currency last week, the People’s Bank of China has been seeing to it that renminbi does not move any ...

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Consumers in China push fast food expansion

by Brian Turner
According to a United States Department of Agriculture report dated July 14 and released on Wednesday, the demand for frozen French fries in China will grow by 20 percent per year for the next five years as Western-style fast food restaurants expand in that Asian nation. Additionally, French fries are becoming more popular on hotel menus in China, the ...

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July 26, 2005

FTSE Eurofirst 300 gains to new high

by Brian Turner
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 gained 0.02 percent on Tuesday to 1,170.91, a new three-year high. Positive news from the telecommunications sector and a significant rise in business confidence in Germany overcame poorer results in the automobile sector. PSA Peugot Citroën, the second-biggest automobile manufacturer in Europe, reported first half profits well below expectations. The company blamed the ...

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Telecommunications stocks see heavy trading in London

by Brian Turner
In London on Tuesday, the FTSE 100 lost 0.3 percent to 5,256.2, while the FTSE 250 was down 0.1 percent to 7,493.3. Trading was light at 2.6 billion shares. While trade was considered light overall, trade in telecommunications stocks was heavy. Vodafone, BT Group, Cable & Wireless, and O2 all saw heavy volume. O2 alone saw 164 ...

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Yields down on US bonds, up elsewhere

by Brian Turner
Yields on eurozone, UK, and Japanese government bonds rose on Tuesday, but prices were up and yields down on US Treasury bonds on falling consumer confidence data. The 2-year Treasury lost 0.3 basis points to yield 3.943 percent, the 10-year bond lost 1.2 basis points to yield 4.238 percent, and the 10-year bond was yielding 4.458 percent, down 0.7 basis ...

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July 25, 2005

UK gilts mixed on security concerns

by Brian Turner
At mid-day on Monday in London, yields on gilts were mixed as investors looked for highly rated debt as concerns about security were in mind in the wake of last Thursday’s attempted bombings there. News that the UK’s economic growth was the slowest in 12 years in the second quarter also was an influence as it grew more likely that ...

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Wall Street down on slow trade

by Brian Turner
While Wall Street started out the day with little movement, the major indexes all fell by the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.51 percent to 10,586.48, the Nasdaq composite had lost 0.60 percent to 2,166.74, and the S&P 500 declined by 0.38 percent to 1,229.03. Quarterly corporate earnings reports were the focus of most of investors’ ...

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Outcome of Unocal vote uncertain as CNOOC bid remains

by Brian Turner