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August 25, 2006
by Elaine Frei
Banks were in the spotlight in Europe again on Friday, sending the FTSE Eurofirst 300 0.1 percent higher on both the session and the week, to close at 1,359.21.
The major news of the week was a possible merger of Banca Intesa and Sanpaolo IMI in Italy. It was learned Friday that the boards of the two banks will ...
by Elaine Frei
Equities markets in Tokyo were lower on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 dropping 0.1 percent to 15,938.66 and the Topix index falling 0.2 percent to 1,619.81. Both had been higher earlier in the session as inflation was reported lower than had been expected, indicating that the Bank of Japan won’t raise interest rates soon. However, a huge decline ...
by Elaine Frei
At midday on Friday, the New York equities markets seemed poised to end the week lower than they began as weak data and rising crude oil prices hurt investor sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.2 percent lower for the day and 0.9 percent down on the week to 11,284.45 and the S&P 500 was also 0.2 ...
by Elaine Frei
Oil prices were higher on Friday as a tropical storm in the Caribbean threatened to strengthen into a hurricane. Forecasters predicted that the storm could enter the Gulf of Mexico and then hit the Gulf Coast of the United States next week. With the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaching, traders were wary of a repeat of Katrina’s ...
by Elaine Frei
The Japanese yen declined during the week as new inflation figures raised the possibility that deflation has not yet been completely reversed in the Asian nation’s economy. Core consumer inflation was up only 0.2 percent in the latest figures, against a predicted 0.5 percent raise. All of this called into question the Bank of Japan decision in July ...
August 24, 2006
by Elaine Frei
The London equities markets were slightly higher on Thursday on a slow trading day in which 2 billion shares traded hands. The FTSE 100 was 0.2 percent higher to 5,869, while the FTSE 250 gained even less, rising 0.1 percent to 9,459.9.
Among gainers on the day was Carphone Warehouse, which added 2.4 percent to 268¼p on an upgrade to “outperform” from ...
by Elaine Frei
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 0.4 percent higher to 1,357.94 on Thursday as much of the Italian banking sector saw gains on the day. The success of the sector also sent the S&P/MIB index in Italy up by 1.2 percent to 37,733.
The major exception to the gains in Italian banks was UniCredit, which was 0.4 percent lower to €6.207. ...
by Elaine Frei
Concerns about the state of the US economy sent equities markets in Tokyo lower in Thursday after new data released Wednesday showed that sales of existing houses was down. The Nikkei 225 dropped 1.3 percent to 15,960.62, while the Topix index fell by 1.1 percent to 1,623.03. Both export-focused and domestic stocks were hurt by the new worries.
The ...
by Elaine Frei
Crude oil prices were higher on Thursday, but not enough to recover from significant declines on Wednesday. Part of the price increases had to do with more bad news from BP, which said that output from its Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, oil field will drop further due to a problem with a natural gas compressor. In other news, ...
by Elaine Frei
The euro strengthened slightly on Thursday after the Ifo business climate indicator dropped less than had been expected in August, to 105, slightly offsetting the ZEW business sentiment index decline reported earlier this week.
At mid-afternoon in New York, the euro was 0.1 percent higher against both the Japanese yen and sterling, to ¥148.95 and £0.6762 respectively.
After an early gain ...
August 23, 2006
by Elaine Frei
US homebuilders were hit by news that existing home sales were down in July to their lowest level in over two years, sending the New York equities markets lower at midday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.4 percent lower at mid-session, to 11,300.06, while the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 0.6 percent to 2,137.25 and the ...
by Elaine Frei
Both the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 were lower in London on Wednesday. The 100 dropped 0.7 percent to 5,860.0, while the 200 was 0.4 percent lower to 9.454.2.
Miners were mixed on the session. Anglo American fell 3.6 percent to £23.80 after its shares went ex-dividend, while BHP Billiton dropped 4 percent to £10.14 on a weak annual report. ...
by Elaine Frei
Indications from the United States of a slowing economy there affected European markets, sending the FTSE Eurofirst 300 0.6 percent lower to 1,353.26 on Wednesday.
Further news from the US in the form of a revenues warning from National Semiconductor, send the European semiconductors sector lower. ASML and Infineon each dropped 1.1 percent to €16.41 and €8.66 respectively. ...
by Elaine Frei
Crude oil prices fell significantly on Wednesday after reports showed that gasoline inventories were up 0.4 million barrels last week, when a decline of nearly 2 million barrels had been expected. Crude oil inventories were 0.6 million barrels lower, but that was much less than the 1.2 million barrel decline that had been predicted due to the ...
by Elaine Frei
The US dollar had a roller coaster of a day Wednesday after new housing data showed that existing homes sales dropped to 6.33 million in July, the lowest level in over two and a half years, adding yet another reason why many analysts believe that the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates where they are when they meet in September. ...
August 22, 2006
by Elaine Frei
The New York equities markets were higher at midday on Tuesday on speculation that interest rates have finally finished rising and might even start to decline. At mid-session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had added 0.2 percent to 11,361.54, while the Nasdaq Composite was 0.5 percent higher to 2,158.54 and the S&P 500 had gained 0.3 percent to ...
by Elaine Frei
Gains in domestic stocks sent the Nikkei 225 to its highest closing level in three months on Tuesday after new data showed that Japan’s birth rate, which has been dropping, has begun to rise again. The Nikkei 225 added 1.3 percent to 16,181.17, while the Topix index was 1.1 percent higher to 1,641.77.
The birth rate news helped manufacturers and ...
by Elaine Frei
In metals markets on Tuesday, gold dropped 0.9 percent to $621.90 per troy ounce as rumors circulated that central banks could increase their sales of gold in the next few weeks, ahead of the deadline for the current Central Bank Gold Agreement on September 26. This was not reflected, however, in the European Central Bank’s weekly update, which showed a ...
by Elaine Frei
Yields dropped on Eurozone government bonds on Tuesday after the new ZEW institute survey on investor confidence resulted in its lowest level since the middle of 2001. The new numbers were interpreted as meaning that economic conditions around the world will keep interest rates from rising much, at least in the near term. The ten-year Bund was yielding 3.808 ...
by Elaine Frei
The euro weakened on Tuesday after a new round of figures from the ZEW institute in Germany showed that German investor confidence plummeted in August. Reasons for the decline, which fell from 15.1 in July to -5.6 in August, included the concern that growth could stagnate due to higher oil prices and interest rates as well as a scheduled rise ...
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Banks were in the spotlight in Europe again on Friday, sending the FTSE Eurofirst 300 0.1 percent higher on both the session and the week, to close at 1,359.21.
The major news of the week was a possible merger of Banca Intesa and Sanpaolo IMI in Italy. It was learned Friday that the boards of the two banks will ...
The London equities markets were slightly higher on Thursday on a slow trading day in which 2 billion shares traded hands. The FTSE 100 was 0.2 percent higher to 5,869, while the FTSE 250 gained even less, rising 0.1 percent to 9,459.9.
Among gainers on the day was Carphone Warehouse, which added 2.4 percent to 268¼p on an upgrade to “outperform” from ...
