Technology stocks keep stumbling; Nasdaq down 8% in 3 days

NEW YORK (AP) — Big tech stocks are continuing their Icarus-like flight path, and more sharp declines for them are dragging Wall Street toward a third straight loss on Tuesday.

The S&P 500 was down 2.1% in midday trading, after dropping as much as 2.5% shortly after the U.S. market opened. Big names that were the main reasons for Wall Street’s rocket ride back to record heights were among the heaviest weights. Apple sank 4%, Microsoft pulled 3.7% lower and tech stocks across the index were down 2.9%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 492 points, or 1.7%, at 27,641, as of noon Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite, which is packed with tech stocks, dropped 2.8% and is down 8.8% since Wednesday’s close.

Tech stocks had been the darlings of Wall Street, even through the pandemic, on expectations that they can continue to deliver strong profit growth almost regardless of the economy and global health. Tech stocks in the S&P 500 are still up 25% for 2020 so far, and Amazon has rocketed nearly 73%, even when unemployment remains high and much of the economy is limping ahead.

Analysts say a flurry of activity for stock options of Big Tech companies goosed the gains even further recently. With certain kinds of options, investors can make huge profits on a stock, without having to pay for its full share price, as long as the stock’s price keeps rising. If enough of these kinds of stock options are getting sold, it can create a buying frenzy for the stock that accelerates the gains even more.

But all that activity can unwind quickly and send prices tumbling if momentum turns, which is what happened last week. Apple stock dropped 3.1% for just its second weekly loss in the last 14 weeks.

Critics have long been saying that the stock market — and big technology stocks in particular — had grown too expensive after prices leapfrogged so much, so quickly.

The trigger for last week’s turnaround may have been expectations that longer-term interest rates will rise, according to strategists at Morgan Stanley. Low rates often act like steroids for stocks, encouraging investors to pay higher prices for stocks relative to corporate profits, which can benefit high-growth stocks in particular.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury has returned to 0.67%. That’s down from 0.72% late Friday, but it’s notably higher than the 0.53% it was offering at the end of July.

Tesla has been one of the brightest examples of Big Tech’s furious movements, and it surged 74.1% in August alone. It slumped 15.1% Tuesday amid disappointment that it won’t be joining the S&P 500 anytime soon.

The company behind the S&P 500 announced on Friday the inclusion of several companies in the benchmark index, including Etsy. Some investors thought Tesla would be among them, which can create huge bouts of buying as index funds automatically fold the stock into their portfolios. Teradyne and Catalent will also join the S&P 500 on Sept. 21.

Tuesday was the first day of trading for Wall Street after Monday’s closure for Labor Day.

Beyond the tech stock slump, other worries are also hanging over the stock market, which had been setting record highs just last week.

Pessimism is rising that Democrats and Republicans in Washington will be able to find a deal to send more aid to unemployed workers and an economy still struggling amid the pandemic. Investors have been largely assuming that a deal would eventually pass, but recent talks between government leaders have yielded no progress.

Riki Ogawa at the Asia & Oceania Treasury Department at Mizuho Bank in Singapore warned that plenty of other uncertainties remained, such as President Donald Trump’s comments about “decoupling” the U.S. economy from China, as the presidential campaign heats up.

The relationship between the world’s two largest economies has been on edge for years, and all the uncertainty threatens to exacerbate the global economy’s already shaky standing.

“We appear to be short on clarity,” said Ogawa.

Energy stocks had some of Wall Street’s sharpest drops as the price of oil tumbled. Apache lost 9.8%, and Occidental Petroleum fell 8.9% after benchmark U.S. crude sank 7.5% to $36.79 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 6.1% to $39.43.

But the losses were widespread across the market, with 86% of stocks in the S&P 500 lower.

Among the few gainers was General Motors. It rose 9.6% after it said it’s taking an ownership stake in electric-vehicle company Nikola. GM will also engineer and build Nikola’s Badger hydrogen fuel cell and electric pickup truck as part of the partnership.

Nikola surged 36.8%, on track for its best day since it doubled on June 8.

European stock markets sank, following modest gains in Asia.

France’s CAC 40 fell 1.6%, Germany’s DAX lost 1% and the FTSE 100 in London slipped 0.1%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.8%, South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.7% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up by 0.1%. Stocks in Shanghai rose 0.7%.

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AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama contributed.

Associated Press

US stocks edge mostly lower after China virus cases spike

Stocks closed lower on Wall Street Thursday as investors turned cautious following a surge in cases of a new virus in China that threatens to crimp economic growth and hurt businesses worldwide.

The modest losses snapped a three-day streak of record highs for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite. The selling marked only the second day this month that the market has declined.

Investors largely set aside worries about the economic impact of the virus outbreak the past two weeks. Markets rallied this week partly due to reports that the number of new cases of the new virus in China had declined.

Hopes that the spread of the virus had peaked were dashed Thursday, when China reported a sharp rise in cases and deaths after the hardest-hit province of Hubei took a new approach to classifying and diagnosing the virus.

“We’re in a data-dearth period in the sense that we’re not really going to know fully the effects of the impact of that on Asian and Chinese growth, as well as global growth, for at least several weeks,” said Lisa Erickson, head of traditional investments at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “You’re just going to see some back-and-forth movement (in the market) until that time.”

The S&P 500 index dropped 5.51 points, or 0.2%, to 3,373.94. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 128.11 points, or 0.4%, to 29,423.31. It was down as much as 205 points earlier.

The Nasdaq fell 13.99 points, or 0.1%, to 9,711.97. The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks rose 4.36 points, or 0.3%, to 1,693.74.

Markets in Europe and Asia finished mostly lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury held steady at 1.62%.

The major U.S. indexes wobbled for much of the day as investors weighed company earnings reports and the latest news on the virus outbreak in China.

The change in how Hubei determines and reports cases of the new virus pushed the number of cases worldwide to more than 60,000.

The spike came after two days in which the number of new cases dropped, complicating efforts to understand the trajectory of the outbreak.


Businesses have already been hurting due to the outbreak and more of them are warning that the effects will linger through the year. Organizers of the world’s biggest mobile technology fair cancelled the event, set to take place in Spain, because of health and safety concerns over the outbreak.

Travel-related companies fell broadly Thursday, shedding some of their gains from earlier in the week. Airlines helped pull industrial sector stocks lower. United Airlines fell 1.5%.

MGM Resorts International, which gets about 20% of its revenue from the gambling haven of Macau, pulled its profit forecast for 2020. The stock lost 5.5%. Cruise line operator Carnival slid 2%.

Technology and health care stocks were among the biggest decliners, along with companies that rely on consumer spending. Cisco Systems fell 5.2%, Mylan slid 2.3% and Hanesbrands dropped 2.6%.

Household goods makers, utilities, real estate companies and communication services stocks notched gains.

Fashion company Ralph Lauren warned that the viral outbreak cut into fourth-quarter sales by an estimated $55 million to $70 million. The stock fell 0.6%.

Alaska Air Group bucked the trend, adding 1.5% after the airline said it will cooperate more closely with American Airlines on West Coast service. The airlines asked for government permission to expand revenue-sharing to cover international flights in Seattle and Los Angeles.

Benchmark crude oil rose 25 cents to settle at $51.42 a barrel. Brent crude oil, the international standard, gained 55 cents to close at $56.34 a barrel. Wholesale gasoline was unchanged at $1.58 per gallon. Heating oil was also unchanged at $1.68 per gallon. Natural gas fell 1 cent to $1.83 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold rose $7.70 to $1,575.10 per ounce, silver rose 12 cents to $17.60 per ounce and copper rose 1 cent to $2.62 per pound.
The dollar fell to 109.79 Japanese yen from 110.08 yen on Wednesday. The euro weakened to $1.0843 from $1.086.

source: business.inquirer.net

Asian shares mostly higher as investors look ahead to Fed

TOKYO – Asian shares were mostly higher Monday amid a wait-and-see attitude about the direction of interest rates and the trade dispute between the U.S. and China.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.3% to 21,170.63 in morning trading.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.3% to 6,535.50, while South Korea’s Kospi edged up nearly 0.2% to 2,099.26.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.2% to 27,447.42, while the Shanghai Composite was up 0.2% at 2,888.58.

On Wall Street, stocks ended a choppy week of trading with modest losses.

The S&P 500 index fell 4.66 points, or 0.2%, to 2,886.98 Friday and ended the week with a slim gain of 0.5%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 17.16 points, or 0.1%, to 26,089.61.

The Nasdaq composite slid 40.47 points, or 0.5%, to 7,796.66.

The Russell 2000 index of small company stocks dropped 13.30 points, or 0.9%, to 1,522.50.

Earlier this month, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell set off a market rally after he signaled that the central bank is willing to cut interest rates to help stabilize the economy if the trade war between Washington and Beijing starts to slow economic growth.

The Fed holds its next meeting of policyholders this week, but no action on rates is expected.

Economists expect Fed officials to wait until the second week of July to indicate whether they intend to cut rates, after seeing the next government report on the jobs market and other economic data.

Market watchers are also closely watching the results of the G-20 summit in late June, where President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could meet and try to negotiate a deal on trade.

“Sentiments around the ability to achieve a positive turn in U.S.-China trade negotiations, should the Trump-Xi meeting materialize at the sidelines of the G-20, remain tentative,” says Vishnu Varathan of Mizuho Bank in Singapore.

“And the G-20 itself is merely a stage to kick the can down the road and a long, long way off a complete retraction of global trade tensions.”

ENERGY:

Benchmark crude oil added 15 cents to $52.66 a barrel. It rose 0.4% to settle at $52.51 a barrel Friday. Brent crude oil, the international standard, added 29 cents to $62.30 a barrel.

CURRENCIES:

The dollar rose to 108.57 Japanese yen from 108.23 yen on Friday. The euro weakened to $1.1222 from $1.1263. /gsg

source: business.inquirer.net

Alibaba eyes $20 B second listing in HK–report

SHANGHAI — Chinese e-commerce leader Alibaba Group is exploring a potential second listing in Hong Kong that could raise $20 billion as Beijing seeks to encourage its tech titans to list closer to home, a report on Tuesday said.

US-listed Alibaba is aiming to file an application in Hong Kong as early as the second half of 2019, Bloomberg News reported, quoting unidentified people with knowledge of the plans.

The listing would be intended to open up new funding channels for Alibaba, whose 2014 listing in New York raised $25 billion in the world’s largest initial public offering.

An Alibaba spokesperson declined comment to AFP, saying the company does not respond to “market rumours”.

China has sought to encourage its current and future big tech firms to list nearer to home, including via a planned technology board in Shanghai that would be China’s answer to the Nasdaq exchange.

The moves come with China and the United States locked in an escalating trade battle in which Washington has banned US companies from supplying technology to Chinese telecom and smartphone giant Huawei.

The Trump administration suspects Huawei has links to China’s military, which could allow Beijing to access sensitive data on global networks that use Huawei equipment.

Alibaba has capitalized on the Chinese consumer’s love of e-commerce to dominate the sector in China and become one of the world’s most valuable companies.


source: business.inquirer.net

Asia shares retreat on fears China-US trade row might spread

TOKYO – Asian shares were mostly lower on Friday as worries that the trade standoff between the U.S. and China might expand put investors in a selling mood.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.2% to finish at 21,117.22.


Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.6% at 6,456.00. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.8% to 2,043.43.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged 0.4% higher to 27,361.48, while the Shanghai Composite inched up 0.1% to 2,855.67.

“Finally, markets appear to be starting to price in the effect of an extended U.S.-China trade war on global growth,” Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda, said in a commentary.

Stocks ended sharply lower on Wall Street on Thursday in a broad sell-off that left the benchmark S&P 500 index on track for its third straight weekly loss and had the Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 400 points until late afternoon.

Traders sought safety in the bond market, driving bond prices higher, which pulled the yield on the 10-year Treasury to 2.31%, the lowest level in more than a year.

It was at 2.33% by midday Friday in Asia.

The stock market has been gyrating since Washington and Beijing escalated their dispute over trade earlier this month. Now, the two sides have broken off negotiations and appear set for a long standoff.

Investors are concerned that a prolonged trade war could stunt economic growth and hurt corporate profits.

Overnight, President Donald Trump reiterated his complaints that China has “taken advantage” of the United States, with no hint of any progress in resolving the conflict over technology and Beijing’s industrial policies.

The S&P 500 index fell 1.2% to 2,822.24.

The index was down 2.5% before the selling eased. The Dow lost 1.1% to 25,490.47.

The Nasdaq composite dropped 1.6% to 7,628.28. The Russell 200 index of small company stocks gave up 2% to 1,501.38.

The U.S. and China concluded their 11th round of trade talks earlier this month with no agreement.

Instead, the U.S. moved to increase tariffs on Chinese goods, prompting China to reciprocate.

The trade dispute escalated further after the U.S. proposed restrictions on technology sales to China, though it has temporarily backed off.

China is looking for ways to retaliate and has reached out for support from Russia and its neighbors in Asia.

Both the U.S. and China have made overtures about continuing trade talks, but none are scheduled.

That uncertainty has many traders nervous about how and when the trade dispute will be resolved.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude rose 61 cents to $58.53 a barrel. It plunged 5.7% to settle at $57.91 a barrel on Thursday. Brent crude, the international standard, added 75 cents to $68.51 per barrel.

CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 109.54 yen from 110.08 yen Thursday. The euro strengthened to $1.1196 from $1.1135. /gg

source: business.inquirer.net

Asian shares sink, tracking Friday’s retreat on Wall Street

BANGKOK — Shares tumbled in Asia on Monday after Wall Street ended last week with a broad retreat, while Thailand’s market saw a moderate loss following a general election that appeared likely to keep the incumbent, junta-backed prime minister in power.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index tumbled 3.2 percent to 20,930.27, while the Shanghai Composite index declined 1.1 percent to 3,072.06.


The Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 1.8 percent to 28,583.60 and South Korea’s Kospi declined 1.7 percent to 2,149.39.

The S&P ASX 200 gave up 1.2 percent to 6,120.60.

Investors are awaiting China-U.S. trade talks that are due to resume Thursday in Beijing.

Thailand’s SET dropped 0.9 percent after a military-backed party won the most votes in the country’s first election since a 2014 coup after tilting the electoral system in its favor.

The outcome is likely to add to nearly two decades of political instability in Thailand.

The preliminary results raise the likelihood that Prayut Chan-ocha, will stay on as prime minister with backing from a coalition.

“However, the transition to the new government may not be smooth,” Sian Fenner of Oxford Economics said in a commentary.

“It is unlikely that any party will win a clear majority and potential friction between political parties and the military could lead to economic activity being significantly disrupted,” Fenner said.

Shares also were lower across the rest of Southeast Asia and India’s Sensex fell 0.9 percent to 37,820.15.

Wall Street was roiled Friday by new signs that global economic growth is slowing.

The jitters triggered a sell-off in stocks and sent bond yields sharply lower, flashing a possible recession warning.

The wave of selling knocked 460 points off the Dow Jones Industrial Average and gave the benchmark S&P 500 index its worst day since Jan. 3.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks fell more than the rest of the market as traders offloaded risker assets.

The S&P 500 index dropped 1.9 percent to 2,800.71 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up 1.8 percent to 25,502.32.

The Nasdaq composite, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, slid 2.5 percent to 7,642.67. The Russell 2000 lost 3.6 percent, to 1,505.92.

Worried investors shifted money into bonds, which sent yields much lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 2.43 percent from 2.54 percent late Thursday, a big move.

The slide in bond yields hurt bank stocks which, along with technology companies, accounted for much of the broad decline in stocks. The utilities sector was the only one to eke out a gain.

Factory production in the euro currency alliance fell at its steepest rate in about six years, according to surveys of manufacturers’ purchasing managers.

ENERGY: Energy futures continued their slide. Benchmark U.S. crude oil slid 51 cents to $58.53 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost 1.6 percent to settle at $59.04 a barrel on Friday. Brent crude shed 48 cents to $66.55 per barrel. It fell 1.2 percent to close at $67.03 a barrel on Friday.

Wall Street was roiled Friday by new signs that global economic growth is slowing.

The jitters triggered a sell-off in stocks and sent bond yields sharply lower, flashing a possible recession warning.

The wave of selling knocked 460 points off the Dow Jones Industrial Average and gave the benchmark S&P 500 index its worst day since Jan. 3.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks fell more than the rest of the market as traders offloaded risker assets.

The S&P 500 index dropped 1.9 percent to 2,800.71 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up 1.8 percent to 25,502.32.

The Nasdaq composite, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, slid 2.5 percent to 7,642.67. The Russell 2000 lost 3.6 percent, to 1,505.92.

Worried investors shifted money into bonds, which sent yields much lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 2.43 percent from 2.54 percent late Thursday, a big move.

The slide in bond yields hurt bank stocks which, along with technology companies, accounted for much of the broad decline in stocks. The utilities sector was the only one to eke out a gain.

Factory production in the euro currency alliance fell at its steepest rate in about six years, according to surveys of manufacturers’ purchasing managers.

ENERGY: Energy futures continued their slide. Benchmark U.S. crude oil slid 51 cents to $58.53 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost 1.6 percent to settle at $59.04 a barrel on Friday. Brent crude shed 48 cents to $66.55 per barrel. It fell 1.2 percent to close at $67.03 a barrel on Friday.

CURRENCIES: The dollar was lower against the Japanese yen, at 109.85 yen, down from 109.91 yen on Friday. The euro was little changed at $1.1301, down from $1.1303./gsg

source: business.inquirer.net

Wall Street stocks end their worst year since 2008

NEW YORK, United States — The US stock market concluded its worst year since the global financial crisis on Monday following a late-season collapse that also raised doubts about the prospects for 2019.

Major indices notched modest gains in the year’s final session, but it barely made a dent compared with the rest of December, the market’s worst month in nearly a decade.

Ending in the red for 2018 did not appear in the cards in the first weeks of the year, when Wall Street repeatedly shot to new records on the heels of a sweeping tax cut signed into law in December 2017 by President Donald Trump.

But it did not take long for a host of worries to shake that confidence, from unease over an unpredictable series of trade wars launched by Trump, to angst over rising interest rates, to nervousness over economists’ warnings of slowing growth, or worse, a possible recession.

And the declines rapidly accelerated in the final weeks of 2018, erasing all the gains since January.

Concluding the year with losses is “astonishing,” Manulife senior portfolio manager Nate Thooft told AFP. “From an investor perspective, it probably shakes them a bit.”

There was a spurt of renewed optimism on Monday, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the final session with a gain of 1.2 percent at 23,327.46.

The broad-based S&P 500 climbed 0.9 percent to end at 2,506.85, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.8 percent to 6,635.28.

But even with Monday’s boost, the Dow finished 2018 with loss of 5.6 percent compared to the end of 2017, the S&P 500 with a drop of 6.2 percent and the Nasdaq with a decline of 3.9 percent.

That was after a year in which they indices jumped 25.1 percent, 19.4 percent and 28.2 percent — before companies logged massive jumps in profits this year due in part to the tax cut.

Euphoric start

At the start of 2018, investor sentiment ranged somewhere between optimism and euphoria as the Dow surged above 25,000 for the first time and then hit 26,000 less than two weeks later.

But after that frothy start, stocks experienced their first cracks in late January, just ahead of a leadership transition at the Federal Reserve as Jerome Powell took over as Fed chairman, after Trump declined to nominate Janet Yellen for a second term.

Wall Street suffered an especially profound wobble on Powell’s first day, February 5, with the Dow plunging nearly 1,600 points at one stage before ending a grim session down more than four percent.

At the time, analysts cited worries the Fed would have to hike rates too aggressively.

But Trump’s escalating trade wars and tariff threats soon took over as the main focus of investor concern. He announced the first salvo on March 1: tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. The following day on Twitter he proclaimed that “trade wars are good, and easy to win.”

That has been followed by increasingly aggressive tariff moves against China.

Many key US economic indicators stayed robust even as business leaders recoiled at Trump’s rising protectionism, with unemployment lingering at a 49-year low, corporate earnings notching their strongest growth in eight years, and business and consumer sentiment remaining well above historic trends.

In August, the S&P 500 celebrated the longest-ever “bull market,” with 3,453 straight sessions — more than nine years — without a drop of 20 percent. In October, the Dow surged to an all-time high of 26,828.39.

But it’s been a rough ride ever since.

Bruising finale

Besides worries over the difficult US-China trade talks, much of current angst is focused on the Federal Reserve, which faces a tricky balancing act of boosting interest rates enough to contain inflation without choking off the economic expansion.

Market watchers are always nervous about Fed tightening cycles, especially as they reach their end, fearing they might overdo it, but Trump has dialed up the jitters with repeated attacks on Powell.

Economists warn that such criticism can easily backfire by compelling the US central bank to continue to raise interest rates to demonstrate its independence.

White House officials have denied Trump intends to fire Powell, but many market watchers say the possibility has further pressured stocks, especially given the president’s penchant for setting policy by tweet without consulting his advisors.

A US government shutdown over Trump’s desire to fund a wall along the border with Mexico will extend into 2019 also has dented sentiment, especially amid signs economic growth has peaked.

“To be clear, the challenges we see ahead don’t look to us like the makings of another financial crisis,” said a recent investor note by JPMorgan Private Bank said in a recent investor note.

“Our base case assumes slowing growth in the US economy throughout 2019 and a moderate recession in 2020.”

Thooft of Manulife said the gloom of December feels “a bit overdone” given that most data is still strong.

But he warned that investors are unnerved, and the sense of waning optimism could soon show up in consumer and business sentiment indexes.

“You’re going to need more than one (positive) outcome” to push stocks higher in 2019, he said. “It’s probably bigger than just the trade issue.” /cbb

source: business.inquirer.net

Global stocks hammered as oil prices push further below $30

NEW YORK, United States—Stock markets around the world fell heavily Friday as investors reacted to new 12-year lows for oil prices and a big drop in Chinese equities.

A 3.6 percent drop in the Shanghai index pushed the Chinese market into an official bear market—defined as a 20 percent fall from a recent high—and sparked a wave of selling that extended from Frankfurt to Moscow to New York.

“Pervasive gloom,” read the title of a Barclays note.

Barclays slashed its forecast for oil prices due to a “worsening” macro outlook and predicted further European Central Bank stimulus in light of deflationary worries. On the positive side, the “pessimism about US growth is overdone in light of solid labor market momentum,” Barclays added.

“The markets are trapped in a vicious circle,” said Alexandre Baradez, an analyst at IG France.

“The session started off poorly with China, which set things off, leading to oil prices falling, then European markets and Wall Street dropping.”

Frankfurt fell 2.4 percent, Paris 2.3 percent and London 1.9 percent. The Dow in the US ended 2.4 percent lower after dropping more than 3.0 percent earlier in the session.

The leading Moscow index dropped 5.8 percent, while Brazil’s Ibovespa index lost 2.4 percent.

Global recession?

The widespread market losses over the start of 2016 has sparked talk of the potential for a global recession.

David Levy, portfolio manager at Kenjol Capital Management, said such a downturn would likely be less severe than in 2008 because fewer assets are overvalued.

“Even if we are in a global recession, I don’t think the damage will be nearly as significant as a 2008-type event,” Levy said.

“But certainly the evidence is giving us a higher probability of recession in 2016 and certainly the market is speaking that it believes that is a possibility.”

US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate finished at $29.13 a barrel, taking the losses since the beginning of the year to more than 21 percent.

Industrial metals, including copper, also fell, but safe-haven gold gained.

“Investors are shifting funds into areas of perceived safety including gold and government bonds in hopes of protecting themselves,” said Jasper Lawler at CMC Markets UK.

Automakers skid lower
European auto stocks tumbled again, with Renault shedding an additional 3.4 percent after unions reported Thursday that anti-fraud investigators had raided several of the company’s sites.

Renault ended 10.3 percent lower on Thursday on the news, which raised fears of a Volkswagen-type scandal.

Shares in Peugeot, France’s biggest automaker ahead of Renault, fell 2.6 percent in Paris while Renault alliance partner Nissan’s stock closed 1.9 percent lower in Tokyo.

Daimler shares lost 1.9 percent, BMW 2.6 percent and Volkswagen 3.5 percent.

In the US, investors hammered banking shares after Citigroup set aside $250 million in reserves for its energy portfolio and warned of a deeper hit if oil prices fall further.

Citigroup tumbled 6.4 percent, while Wells Fargo, which also reported a higher hit from oil, lost 3.6 percent.

Petroleum and technology were two other weak sectors, while Disney tumbled 5.3 percent following a downgrade by Barclays due to worries about sports network ESPN’s prospects.

Key figures around 2200 GMT

New York – Dow: DOWN 2.4 percent at 15,988.08 (close)

New York – S&P 500: DOWN 2.2 percent at 1,880.29 (close)

New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 3.1 percent at 4,488.42 (close)

London – FTSE 100: DOWN 1.9 percent at 5,804.10 points (close)

Frankfurt – DAX 30: DOWN 2.5 percent at 9, (close)

Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 2.4 percent at 4,210.16 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 2.4 percent at 2,952.48 (close)

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.5 percent at 17,147.11 (close)

Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 3.6 percent at 2,900.97 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0916 from $1.0865 Thursday

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 116.96 yen from 118.06 yen

source: business.inquirer.net

Q&A: What is a market ‘correction’ and why does it matter?

A dismal start for the stock market this year has pushed the Standard & Poor’s 500 index into what is known as a “correction,” or decline of 10 percent or more from a recent peak. Here are some common questions asked about corrections and what they mean to investors:

WHAT IS A STOCK MARKET CORRECTION?

A “correction” is a Wall Street term for when an index like the S&P 500 or the Nasdaq — or an individual stock — falls 10 percent from its most-recent high. The S&P 500, the index that investors pay most attention to, fell 48 points Wednesday to 1,890, which is 10.4 percent below its recent high of 2,109 set on November 3. A correction is not the same as a bear market, which is defined as when a stock index or individual stock falls 20 percent from its most-recent peak.

IS THE ENTIRE STOCK MARKET IN A CORRECTION?

Almost. The Nasdaq, a technology-dominated index that far outperformed the other two major indexes in 2015, is lagging the other indexes this year and fell into a correction on Monday. On Wednesday it fell 159 points to 4,526, and it is now down 12.2 percent from its recent peak on December 2. The Dow Jones industrial average, comprised of just 30 stocks, is not quite there. It fell 364 points on Wednesday to 16,151, 9.9 percent below its November 3 peak.

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WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME WE HAD A CORRECTION?

The U.S. stock market entered into its last correction in August. That correction, much like this one, was sparked by financial turmoil in China.

Chinese stock markets have been extremely volatile in recent months, rising to record highs and then plummeting on worries about policy changes, slowing economic growth and a weaker currency. While U.S. investors are not exposed to those stock markets directly, China has been the engine of global economic growth since the financial crisis and weakness there concerns investors everywhere.

Those concerns have had an outsized effect on prices of oil and other commodities because China is such a big consumer, and energy companies have led markets lower in recent weeks.

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ARE CORRECTIONS A NORMAL THING FOR THE MARKET?

Stock market corrections have historically happened every 18 months. The August correction was the first in nearly 4 years, an unusually long gap. Even the most bullish of market strategists say a correction is ultimately healthy for a market because it removes some of the froth and speculation, and allows investors to buy stocks at more reasonable prices.

source: business.inquirer.net

Asian stock markets higher, Japan gains on stimulus hopes

SEOUL, South Korea — Asian stock markets bounced higher Wednesday, led by gains in Japan where investors were buoyed by expectations for more economic stimulus.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 2.5 percent to 17,346.48 after sliding 4.1 percent on Tuesday amid a global market sell-off. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added 1.5 percent to 20,858.26 and China’s Shanghai Composite Index was 0.8 percent higher at 3,061.86. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.9 percent to 5,013.00. South Korea’s stock market finished 1 percent higher at 1,962.81.

JAPAN HOPE: Tokyo stocks gained amid expectations for more monetary and fiscal stimulus following weakness in recent economic data. Domestic demand is tepid in the world’s third-biggest economy and China’s slowdown has also crimped Japanese exports. The quarterly Tankan business confidence survey due Thursday will show how businesses are feeling about the future, possibly providing a trigger for action from policymakers.

ANALYST’S QUOTE: “Japan will be inclined to boost both fiscal and monetary stimulus soon” if the risks of a slowdown in China do not fade in a few months, Mizuho Bank said in a daily note. “The real question is not if more stimulus may be expected, but rather, how much stimulus will be rolled out, and when.”

US WATCH: Investors are waiting for jobs data and the top U.S. central banker’s remarks for clues about when the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates. Policymakers have said they will likely raise interest rates before the end of the year. On Thursday, U.S. payroll processor ADP reports how many jobs private employers added in September and Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen gives opening remarks to a community banking conference.

WALL STREET: Wall Street eked out small gains on Tuesday, helped by a rebound in health care stocks. The S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent to 1,884.09. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 0.6 percent to 16,049.13 The Nasdaq composite dropped 0.6 percent to 4,517.32.

ENERGY: Benchmark crude fell 29 cents at $44.94 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 80 cents to close at $45.23 a barrel on Tuesday on expectations that the Energy Department will report a slowdown in U.S. crude production when it releases its monthly petroleum supply report. Brent Crude, a benchmark for international oils, dropped 14 cents to $48.72 a barrel in London.

CURRENCIES: The euro weakened to $1.1228 from $1.1252 in the previous global trading session. The dollar rose to 119.96 yen from 119.86 yen. TVJ

source: business.inquirer.net

Tech lifts US stocks as market awaits Fed

NEW YORK—Apple and some other technology stocks led US markets higher Thursday ahead of next week’s hotly anticipated Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 39.72 points (0.84 percent) to 4,796.25.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 76.83 (0.47 percent) to 16,330.40, while the broad-based S&P 500 added 10.25 (0.53 percent) at 1,952.29.

Apple powered up 2.2 percent a day after unveiling a spate of new and upgraded smartphone, tablet and television products. Biotech stocks like Gilead Sciences (+3.3 percent) and Biogen (+3.0 percent) were also big gainers.

Charlie Bilello of Pension Partners said investors increasingly believe the Fed is unlikely to make the leap to raise zero-level benchmark interest rates at its policy meeting next Wednesday and Thursday.

“There’s increasing hope that they’re not going to do anything,” he said. “My view is that they’re not data-dependent, they’re stock market-dependent.”

Besides Apple, strong performers in the Dow included pharma giants Merck (+1.5 percent) and Pfizer (+2.1 percent).

ZS Pharma, a much smaller biopharmaceutical company, shot up 28.6 percent after Bloomberg reported it had been approached by Switzerland-based Actelion in a deal that would value ZS at about $2.5 billion.

Snack-food giant Mondelez International climbed 0.9 percent as it confirmed that it expects organic net revenue growth of at least three percent in 2015. It also announced plans to lift the share of revenues from healthy snacks to 50 percent by 2020.

Yoga-attire maker Lululemon Athletica tumbled 16.4 percent after it projected 35-37 cents per share in third-quarter earnings, well below the 43 cents expected by Wall Street analysts.

Cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks rose 7.4 percent as it forecast sales of $280-$284 million for the current quarter, more than the $269.7 million expected by analysts.

Trucking and logistics company Con-way shot up 33.8 percent on news it will be acquired by rival XPO Logistics for $3.0 billion. XPO fell 11.0 percent.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.23 percent from 2.19 percent Wednesday, while the 30-year advanced to 2.99 percent from 2.95 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.

source: business.inquirer.net

US stocks surge for 2nd straight day; S&P 500 up 2.43%

NEW YORK—US stocks posted big gains for the second straight session Thursday as strong American economic data extended a global rally that began with a surge in beaten-down Chinese equities.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 369.26 points (2.27 percent) to 16,654.77.

The broad-based S&P 500 jumped 47.15 (2.43 percent) to 1,987.66, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 115.17 (2.45 percent) to 4,812.71.

The Commerce Department reported that the US economy grew at an annual rate of 3.7 percent in the second quarter, much higher than the 2.3 percent initially estimated.

The US growth report added to positive momentum from a 5.34 percent rise in the Shanghai stock exchange, ending the worst five-day rout for almost two decades, and solid gains in European bourses.

Stocks were positive all day, but lost most of their gains during a bumpy mid-afternoon stretch before regaining their footing.

“We have returned to a period where volatility has grown,” said David Levy, portfolio manager at Kenjol Capital Management. “We’ve seen very intense swings.”

Some investors were growing more confident after the US market held two straight days of gains.

“We went through a rocky week or two,” said David Kotok, chief investment officer at Cumberland Advisors. “I think we’re heading higher.”

All 30 members of the Dow rose, with specially large gains in Chevron (+6.2 percent), General Electric (+4.2 percent) and Nike (+3.6 percent).

Other petroleum-linked stocks surged after oil prices climbed more than 10 percent, rebounding from deep falls. Drilling company Nabors Industries jumped 12.2 percent, EOG Resources gained 6.8 percent and ConocoPhillips added 5.7 percent.

Technology stocks enjoyed big gains, including Netflix (+6.8 percent), Tesla Motors (+8.1 percent) and Apple and Facebook (both +2.9 percent).

Metals and oil producer Freeport-McMoRan powered 28.7 percent higher as it announced deep cuts to its capital budget in light of weak commodity prices. Freeport now expects to spend $4 billion in 2016, down 29 percent from its estimate a month ago.

PVH, which owns the Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein apparel brands, rose 6 percent as it lifted its full-year profit forecast to $6.90-$7.00 per share, five cents above the prior range.

Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.19 percent from 2.18 percent Wednesday, while the 30-year dropped to 2.93 percent from 2.94 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.

source: business.inquirer.net

WD delivers world’s most power efficient high-capacity 3.5-inch HDD

Manila, Philippines – Mar. 12, 2015 – WD^®, a Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC) company and world leader in storage today introduced new datacenter hard drives that deliver to today’s modern datacenter architects the lowest power consumption of any high-capacity 3.5-inch hard drive available today. The WD Re+™ hard drive family is the newest component of WD’s full, tiered portfolio of high-capacity datacenter storage devices. Further expanding that portfolio will be 6 terabyte (TB) capacities for WD’s popular WD Re™ and WD Se™ datacenter product lines, providing customers a spectrum of capabilities, tiered to their varied demands of application intensity, power optimization and cost efficiency.

In the modern datacenter, the total cost of ownership (TCO) formula is comprised of capacity, price, power consumption and the relationships between these variables. The WD Re+ drive provides the most power efficient and high-intensity high-capacity platform available today.

With power consumption a primary consideration in today’s large web-scale cloud infrastructures, and the WD Re+ drive consuming only 6 watts for 6 TB, customers’ TCOs increase and savings for large deployments could be millions of dollars per year.

“Dollars and watts are the finite currencies in the modern datacenter,” said Matt Rutledge, senior vice president of storage technology at WD. “With a leading watt-per-gigabyte ratio and the long-trusted reliability of the WD Re hard drive platform, WD Re+ offers our customers having limited power budgets a WD Re-class choice for tier-2, high-intensity storage applications. Massive, scale-out deployments must deliver tremendous value to customers across a range of applications, while providing a healthy return to the infrastructure owner. WD is focused on offering that value across its portfolio.”

The SATA 6 Gb/s WD Re+ hard drive family features a dense five-platter platform, which renders an optimal mix of low power consumption, high capacity, 24 x 7 x 365-reliability and affordability. Vibration tolerance and Mean Time To Failure (MTTF) are also key considerations in these applications. WD Re+ hard drives deliver 1.2m hours MTTF, enhanced RAFF technology to increase vibration tolerance and a high-intensity workload and reliability rating of 550 TB-per-year workload, the highest workload capabilities of any WD 3.5-inch hard drive. The new WD Re+ and stalwart WD Re share a platform to simplify large-scale deployments and provide the reliability and performance customers have come to expect from WD’s datacenter products.

WD’s award-winning WD Re platform now offers up to 6 TB for demanding datacenter and cloud storage needs. WD Re hard drives also are designed to handle up to 550 TB per year in high-intensity datacenter applications. They offer SATA interface with up to 6 Gb/s transfer rates and sustained sequential data rates of up to 225 MB/s, delivering performance and reliability needed in any datacenter.

Other datacenter-class features with the WD Re and WD Re+ products include:

Vibration protection – Enhanced RAFF™ technology monitors the drive and corrects both linear and rotational vibration in real time. The result is a significant performance improvement in high-vibration environments over the previous generation of drives.

Dual actuator technology – A head-positioning system with two actuators improves positional accuracy over the data track(s). The primary actuator provides coarse displacement using conventional electromagnetic actuator principles. The secondary actuator uses piezoelectric motion to fine tune the head positioning to a higher degree of accuracy.

StableTrac™ – The motor shaft is secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking during read and write operations.

Multi-axis shock sensor – Automatically detects the subtlest shock events and compensates to protect the data.

RAID-specific, time-limited error recovery (TLER) – Prevents drive fallout caused by the extended hard drive error-recovery processes common to desktop drives.

NoTouch™ ramp load technology – The recording head never touches the disk media ensuring significantly less wear to the recording head and media as well as better drive protection in transit.

Thermal extended burn-in test – Each drive is put through extended burn-in testing with thermal cycling to ensure reliable operation.

Dynamic fly height technology – Each read-write head’s fly height is adjusted in real time for optimum reliability.

Dual processor – Twice the processing power to maximize performance.

3D Active Balance™ Plus – Our enhanced dual-plane balance control technology significantly improves the overall drive performance and reliability. Hard drives that are not properly balanced may cause excessive vibration and noise in a multi-drive system, reduce the hard drive life span, and degrade the performance over time.

The WD Se line of datacenter hard drives provide a blend of performance, reliability and capacity specifically designed for SMB to high-end NAS and large-scale datacenter replication environments running 24x7x365. Capacities range up to 6 TB.

Availability

 

Shipping immediately to customers for qualification WD Re+ drives are covered by a five-year limited warranty. WD Re and WD Se 6 TB hard drives will be available for qualification next quarter. More information about WD’s datacenter hard drives can be found on the company website at http://www.wdc.com/en/products/internal/enterprise/ .

About WD

  WD, a Western Digital company, is a long-time innovator and storage industry leader. As a storage technology pacesetter, the company produces reliable, high-performance hard disk drives and solid state drives. These drives are deployed by OEMs and integrators in desktop and mobile computers, enterprise computing systems, embedded systems and consumer electronics applications, as well as by the company in providing its own storage products. WD’s leading storage devices and systems, networking products, media players and software solutions empower people around the world to easily save, store, protect, share and experience their content on multiple devices. WD was established in 1970 and is headquartered in Irvine, California. For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.wd.com.

Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC), Irvine, Calif., is a global provider of products and services that empower people to create, manage, experience and preserve digital content. Its companies design and manufacture storage devices, networking equipment and home entertainment products under the WD, HGST and G-Technology brands. Visit the Investor section of the company’s website (www.westerndigital.com) to access a variety of financial and investor information. Advt

Western Digital, WD, and the WD logo are registered trademarks of Western Digital Technologies, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. WD Re+, WD Re and WD Se are trademarks of Western Digital Technologies, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. Other marks may be mentioned herein that belong to other companies. Pictures shown may vary from actual products. Not all products may be available in all regions of the world.

As used for storage capacity, one terabyte = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment.


EDITOR’S NOTES:

WD product photos: http://www.wdbrand.com
Product information: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/internal/enterprise/

source: technology.inquirer.net

 

US stocks fall broadly a day after Nasdaq passes 5,000 mark

NEW YORK, United States — U.S. stocks fell from record highs on Tuesday and the Nasdaq dropped below 5,000 a day after passing that milestone for the first time since the dot-com era 15 years ago.

The losses were modest but broad, with eight industry sectors in the Standard and Poor’s 500 index falling. Higher oil prices helped oil drillers and other energy companies buck the trend. They eked out a 0.2 percent rise for the day.

With no major economic news and few earnings reports, investors were at pains to point to a catalyst for the stock slump other than jitters that sometime follow big gains.

“It’s only natural we would get a little flutter after a milestone like yesterday,” said Wells Fargo Funds’ Chief Equity Strategist John Manley, referring to the Nasdaq closing above 5,000. “It may very well go on for a few days.”

Dow Jones falls

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 85.26 points, or 0.5 percent, to 18,203.37. The Standard & Poor’s 500 declined 9.61 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,107.78. The Nasdaq gave up 28.20 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 4,979.90.

Ford Motor slumped after reporting U.S. sales from last month that disappointed investors. Ford sales fell 1.9 percent as dealers lacked the inventory to meet demand for the new F-150 pickup truck. Ford dropped 40 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $16.17.

Oil rose on reports that Saudi Arabia raised prices for Asian customers and fears of heightening tensions with Iran after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress. Several oil drillers surged. Denbury Resources, an oil and gas producer, jumped 28 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $8.58.

With nearly all companies in the S&P 500 having reported their fourth-quarter results, earnings per share for companies in the S&P 500 index are expected to have risen a healthy 7.7 percent, according to S&P Capital IQ.

Drop in earnings

Liquor giant Brown-Forman reports earnings on Wednesday, followed by Costco Wholesale on Thursday. Staples, the nation’s biggest office supply chain, reports on Friday.

Financial analysts expect earnings to drop compared with the year-earlier periods for the next two quarters, but that is mostly because of a drag from energy companies as oil prices have fallen more than 50 percent since last June.

Anastasia Amoroso, global market strategist for J.P. Morgan Asset Management, said she wasn’t surprised by the pullback.

“We’re seeing a market that is fairly valued, earnings are behind us and no major catalysts are coming up,” she said. “It’s a market ready for a pause.”

European loses

The slump in the U.S. followed losses in European markets. France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX each lost 1 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.7 percent.

On Monday, the Nasdaq rose to just 40 points from its 5,048.62 peak reached March 10, 2000. The index has changed significantly since then. Gone is the heavy weighting of telecommunications stocks and big bets on Internet companies with little or no earnings.

Among other stocks in the news:

— Personal finance company Springleaf Holdings rose $12.19, or 32 percent, to $50.23 after it said it would buy Citigroup’s OneMain Financial for $4.25 billion. OneMain provides personal loans at more than 1,100 branches across 43 states.

—Best Buy gained 55 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $39.18 after the company said it would raise its dividend 21 percent and give shareholders an additional one-time payment. The nation’s biggest electronics chain also reported fourth-quarter earnings that were higher than financial analysts had expected.

Benchmark U.S. crude rose 93 cents to close at $50.52 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, rose $1.48 to close at $61.02 a barrel in London.

NYMEX

In other futures trading on the NYMEX:

— Wholesale gasoline rose 5.3 cents to close at $1.950 a gallon.

— Heating oil rose 5.3 cents to close at $1.940 a gallon.

— Natural gas rose 1.4 cents to close at $2.712 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In bond trading, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.12 percent from 2.08 percent on Monday.

In metals trading, gold fell $3.80 to $1,204.40 an ounce, silver fell two cents to $16.30 an ounce and copper lost four cents to close at $2.66 a pound.

source: business.inquirer.net

US stocks follow European equities lower

New York–Wall Street stocks Tuesday finished lower, following European markets downward after political turmoil in Greece revived worries about the eurozone.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 55.16 points (0.31 percent) to fall below 18,000 at 17,983.07.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 10.22 (0.49 percent) to 2,080.35, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 29.47 (0.61 percent) to 4,777.44.

Equity markets in Britain, France and Germany each fell more than 1.2 percent after Greece’s Prime Minister said a snap election for president planned for Jan. 25 would determine whether the country leaves the eurozone.

US consumer confidence rose in December, while home-price increases were more modest in October, data showed.

Analysts said trade was limited ahead of Thursday’s New Year’s holiday.

“Basically, the volume is light and there is no specific theme that is driving the stock market,” said Hugh Johnson of Hugh Johnson Advisors.

“It’s more or less just trend-less and volatile. I wouldn’t attach much significance to what’s going on today.”

Civeo, which provides workforce accommodations to oil and natural resources companies in Canada and Australia, sank 52.6 percent, citing the weak oil-investment environment. Civeo projected 2015 revenues of $540-$600 million, much below the $817 million forecast by analysts.

Real-estate investment trust American Realty Capital Properties rose 7.4 percent after activist investor Corvex Management disclosed a 7.1 percent stake in the company and said it would press for changes to boost shareholder return.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 2.19 percent from 2.21 percent Monday, while the 30-year dipped to 2.76 percent from 2.78 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.

source: business.inquirer.net

Asia markets mixed after Wall St. sell-off

HONG KONG–Asian markets were mixed Tuesday following another heavy sell-off on Wall Street, with Tokyo taking a thumping as traders returned from a long weekend to a much stronger yen.

With confidence in the state of the global economy knocked by a series of weak data, oil prices are struggling at multi-year lows with traders worried about a possible supply glut.

Tokyo tumbled 2.38 percent, or 364.04 points, to a two-month low of 14,936.51, with exporters hit by the yen’s advance. Shanghai lost 0.28 percent, or 6.53 points, to end at 2,359.48 and Hong Kong fell 0.41 percent, or 95.41 points to 23,047.97.

But Seoul ended 0.11 percent higher, adding 2.04 points to 1,929.25, and Sydney rallied 1.01 percent, or 51.9 points, to close at 5,207.4.

Global markets have been struggling of late as a string of weak data from Japan, China and the eurozone has fanned fears about the global economy, while the Federal Reserve also said it was concerned about the outlook.

And on Wall Street Monday the three main indexes were hard hit as investors fled.

The Dow sank 1.35 percent and the S&P 500 shed 1.65 percent–just weeks after the two had touched record highs. The Nasdaq lost 1.46 percent.

But Tuesday saw investors tentatively return to buying in Asia, picking up cheaper stocks.

The dollar also picked up slightly after tumbling below 107 yen in New York on Monday.

‘Dramatic reversal’

The greenback bought 107.24 yen Tuesday, up from 106.83 yen in New York Monday afternoon. However, that was not enough to support the Nikkei as it is still sharply down from 107.79 yen in Tokyo on Friday, before a three-day weekend there.

“Most of the Nikkei’s gains over the last several weeks have come on the back of the dollar’s rapid rise without much fundamental buying support behind it, so a dramatic reversal such as this is possible, if not likely, when the dollar falls back to earth,” Toshihiko Matsuno, senior strategist at SMBC Friend Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.

The euro bought $1.2702 and 136.24 yen against $1.2753 and 136.25 yen.

Analysts said Hong Kong shares got some support from hopes of an end to a more than two-week stand-off between the government and pro-democracy protesters that has shut down parts of the city.

Police moved in for a second day Tuesday to clear barricades, opening up one of the main thoroughfares for the first time this month. However, demonstrators have refused to lift their blockade until the city’s Chief Executive CY Leung steps down and they are granted full universal suffrage by China.

World oil prices extended their losses after the OPEC cartel signaled that producers have no intention of cutting output, even with a supply glut.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for November delivery was down 34 cents at a two-year-low $85.40 in afternoon trade and Brent crude retreated 31 cents to $88.58, its lowest since mid-2010.

Both contracts are down by about a fifth from their 2014 highs touched in June.

Gold was at $1,233.25 an ounce against $1,227.19 late Monday.

In other markets:

— Mumbai retreated marginally by 0.13 percent or 34.74 points to end at 26,349.33 points.

Tata Motors fell 1.64 percent to 488.20 rupees, while Bharat Heavy Electricals gained 3.56 percent to 225.75 rupees.

— Bangkok added 0.29 percent, or 4.43 points, to 1,546.78.

Supermarket operator Big C Supercenter lost 3.93 percent to 220 baht, while Airports of Thailand rose 2.27 percent to 225 baht.

— Jakarta ended up 0.19 percent, or 9.53 points, at 4,922.58.

Telecoms firm Indosat gained 1.05 percent to 3,860 rupiah, while retailer Ramayana Lestari Sentosa fell 5.45 percent to 780 rupiah

— Kuala Lumpur ended flat at 1,796.38, falling just 0.82 points or 0.05 percent.

Petronas Gas shed 0.8 percent to 21.20 ringgit, while Nestle lost 0.8 percent to 66.50.

— Singapore fell 0.24 percent, or 7.75 points, to close at 3,194.40.

Casino operator Genting Singapore eased 0.91 percent to Sg$1.085, while property developer CapitaLand dipped 0.33 percent to Sg$3.02.

— Taipei rose 0.65 percent, or 57.0 points, to 8,768.39.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. added 0.41 percent to Tw$121.0 while Hon Hai Precision Industry was 0.21 percent higher at Tw$96.0.

— Wellington fell 0.47 percent, or 24.16 points, to 5,145.89.

Chorus was down 1.32 percent at NZ$1.875 and Air New Zealand ended 2.99 percent off at NZ$1.785.

— Manila eased 0.32 percent, or 22.03 points, to 6,946.06.

source: business.inquirer.net

Asian shares slip on profit-taking

HONG KONG–Asian markets mostly slipped Monday on profit-taking after the big gains at the end of last week, while the dollar eased from more than six-year highs against the yen.

Investors seemed unimpressed after the Group of 20 said the world’s biggest economies were on track to achieve an extra 1.8 percent growth on top of current projections within five years.

Tokyo, which on Friday ended at an almost seven-year high, slipped 0.71 percent, or 115.27 points, to 16,205.90, while Sydney shed 1.29 percent, or 70.1 points, to 5,363.0. Seoul lost 0.71 percent, or 14.55 points, to 2,039.27.

Shanghai fell 1.70 percent, or 39.59 points, to 2,289.87 and Hong Kong sank 1.44 percent, or 350.67 points, to 23,955.49 as investors await the release Tuesday of preliminary manufacturing data out of China.

Desmond Chua, market analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore, said a series of economic reports had come in below expectations. He added that another weak reading “will underscore weakness in the Chinese economy.”

Wellington was the stand-out performer, jumping 1.06 percent, or 54.95 points, to 5,236.29 after the pro-business National Party won a resounding election victory at the weekend.

Regional markets ended last week on a high, helped by news that Scottish voters had rejected independence from the United Kingdom.

But there are still concerns about the Chinese economy as dealers look ahead to the release of HSBC’s purchasing managers index (PMI) that market watchers expect to indicate further weakness in the economy.

Softbank falls despite Alibaba surge

On Wall Street a surge in new listing Alibaba helped the Dow rise 0.08 percent Friday to hit a new record high. But the S&P 500 finished down 0.96 points and the Nasdaq dipped 0.30 percent.

Alibaba rallied 38.1 percent to $93.89 on its debut after its IPO raised a world record $25 billion.

However, in Tokyo Monday Softbank, which holds about a third of Alibaba’s shares, slipped 6.1 percent on profit-taking despite saying it would probably book a gain of about $4.6 billion from the IPO. The firm rose about 30 percent in the six weeks leading up to the listing.

The dollar bought 108.86 yen, compared with 108.99 yen in New York and sitting close to levels not seen since 2008. While it is well off the 109.21 yen earlier Friday in Asia, analysts are tipping it to break the 110 yen barrier soon.

The euro bought $1.2858 and 139.99 yen, against $1.2832 and 139.84 yen in US trade.

The G20 at the weekend said members could overcome geopolitical tensions and financial problems to boost global growth.

Finance ministers and central bank governors at the two-day meeting said in a communique that reforms agreed so far–including accelerating infrastructure investment, financial reform and encouraging free trade–could add 1.8 percent to GDP and create millions of new jobs.

But more work was needed to meet a desired two percent goal agreed in Sydney earlier this year.

In New Zealand investors cheered a third straight election win for the party of Prime Minister John Key, who has been credited with hauling the economy out of torpor following the financial crisis.

On oil markets US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for October delivery eased 40 cents to $92.01, while Brent crude for November fell 48 cents to $97.91 in afternoon trade.

Gold was at $1,213.14 an ounce at 1140 GMT, against $1,221.56 an ounce late Friday.

In other markets:

— Taipei closed down 1.14 percent, or 105.80 points, at 9,134.65.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. shed 2.40 percent to Tw$122.0, while Hon Hai Precision was 0.50 percent lower at Tw$100.5.

— Manila was 0.10 percent lower, dipping 7.43 points to 7,279.86.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. fell 0.97 percent to 3,270 pesos, while SM Prime Holdings bucked the trend to rise 1.13 percent to 17.90 pesos.

— Bangkok added 0.29 percent, or 4.60 points, to 1,589.51.

Concert promoters BEC World soared 5.56 percent to 47.50 baht, while Delta Electronics rose 2.81 percent to 64 baht.

– Kuala Lumpur lost 3.4 points, or 0.19 percent, to end at 1,846.05.

Tenaga Nasional shed 1.45 percent to 12.20 ringgit, Petronas Gas fell 0.17 percent to 22.98 and Sime Darby added 0.11 percent to 9.12 ringgit.

— Jakarta ended down 0.15 percent, or 7.78 points, at 5,219.80.

Cigarette maker Gudang Garam gained 1.80 percent to 56,500 rupiah, while telecoms firm Telekomunikasi Indonesia slipped 2.55 percent to 2,870 rupiah.

— Mumbai closed up 116.32, or 0.43 percent, at 27,206.74.

Gitanjali Gems gained 6.55 percent to 73.25 rupees, while Suzlon Energy slid 9.80 percent to 18.40 rupees.

— Singapore closed down 0.26 percent, or 8.48 points, at 3,296.57.

DBS Bank rose 0.22 percent to Sg$18.17 while oil rig maker Keppel Corp eased 0.47 percent to Sg$10.50.

source: business.inquirer.net

US stocks rise as investors assess earnings

NEW YORK—The stock market rose for the fifth time in six days Thursday as higher earnings from several big US companies helped investors shrug off discouraging news about jobs and retail spending.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber surged to its highest level in almost six years after the company’s earnings beat analysts’ forecasts. CBS also jumped after the broadcaster beat Wall Street’s profit expectations and speed up its stock buyback program.

Investors’ focus has returned to company earnings after concerns about growth in emerging markets and the health of the U.S. economy pushed the Standard & Poor’s 500 index to its lowest level in more than three months at the start of February. Analysts at S&P Capital IQ expect that earnings at companies in the index increased last quarter at the fastest pace in a year.

“The momentum from earnings continues,” said Andres Garcia-Amaya, a global market strategist at JPMorgan Funds.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 10.57 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,829.83. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 63.65 points, or 0.4 percent, to 16,027.59. The Nasdaq composite rose 39.38 points, or 0.9 percent, to 4,240.67.

Stocks also got a lift from deal news.

Time Warner Cable surged $9.50, or 7 percent, to $144.81 after the company agreed to be acquired by rival Comcast for $45.2 billion in stock. The deal would combine the top two cable TV companies in the United States. Comcast fell $2.27, or 4.1 percent, to $52.97.

The biggest gains in the S&P 500 were posted by utility companies. Gains in these stocks suggest investors are looking to play it safe. Utilities don’t have the best growth prospects, but they pay steady dividends and operate in stable industries.

Stocks opened lower Thursday following lackluster reports on the U.S. job market and retail sales.

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits rose 8,000 last week to 339,000, the Labor Department said. Economist had forecast claims of just 330,000.

A separate report showed that cold weather caused US retail sales to drop in January as Americans spent less on autos and clothing and at restaurants during a brutally cold month. The Commerce Department says retail sales fell 0.4 percent last month, the second straight decline after a 0.1 percent drop in December.

The stock market inched higher throughout the morning. Major indexes turned positive by late morning as investors assessed a handful of encourage corporate earnings reports.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber surged $2.77, or 11.5 percent, to $26.94 after it reported a big earnings gain. Strong sales in the company’s core North American market helped the tire maker’s results.

CBS rose $2.76, or 4.5 percent, to $64.61 after reporting fourth-quarter earnings and revenue growth that beat Wall Street’s expectations. Advertising revenue was flat, but there was growth in content licensing thanks to the sale of shows such as “Hawaii Five-O” for domestic reruns.

Despite the recent signs of stabilization, the stock market is still going through a pullback driven largely by the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut back on its economic stimulus program, said Barry Knapp, the head of U.S. equity portfolio strategy at Barclays.

The stimulus underpinned the stock market’s rally last year, but policy makers have reduced it at each of their last two meetings. The Fed has scaled back its bond purchases from $85 billion a month to $65 billion a month.

Typically, pullbacks that are prompted by a change in Fed policy last between two and three month and push stocks lower by as much as 9 percent, according to Knapp.

“It seems a little too soon for (stocks) to have worked their way through this yet,” said Knapp. “We don’t think the uptrend is going to resume right away, stocks will probably still struggle a bit in the first half of the year.”

In government bond trading, the yield on the 10-year note fell to 2.73 percent from 2.76 percent on Wednesday. The price of oil was little changed at $100.35 a barrel. Gold gained $5.10, or 0.5 percent, to $1,300.10 an ounce.

Among other stocks making big moves:

— Whole Foods dropped $4, or 7.2 percent, to $51.46 after the grocery chain reported fiscal first-quarter profit and revenue that came in below analysts’ forecasts. The company, known for its organic and natural food offerings, also lowered its earnings projections for the year again as the company faces more and more competition.

— Cisco Systems fell 58 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $22.27, after the company reported late Wednesday that weaker revenue and special charges weighed down its second-quarter earnings.—Steve Rothwell

source: business.inquirer.net

US stocks tank ahead of earnings reports

NEW YORK—US stocks tumbled Monday ahead of a raft of corporate reports as earnings season gets into full swing this week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 179.11 points (1.09 percent) at 16,257.94.

The broad-market S&P 500 skidded 23.17 (1.26 percent) to 1,819.20 and the tech-rich Nasdaq lost 61.36 (1.47 percent) at 4,113.30.

Stocks opened modestly lower then traded near the flatline until midday, before steadily selling off all afternoon.

Traders were “likely playing their cards close to the vest before 4Q earnings season and the economic calendar kick into gear,” Charles Schwab & Co. said in a market note.

On Tuesday, before markets open, JPMorgan Chase, the biggest US bank, and Wells Fargo will report earnings and the government will release data on December retail sales covering the important holiday shopping season.

Yoga apparel retailer Lululemon plunged 16.6 percent after lowering its fourth-quarter revenue and earning guidance and highlighting it saw January sales and traffic trends “decelerate meaningfully.”

Fashion retailer Express sank 4.6 percent after lowering its fourth-quarter guidance and reporting weak January traffic to date.

General Motors fell 1.1 percent after signaling it was close to resuming dividends, according to media reports. Its Chevrolet brand won the top car and truck of the year awards at the Detroit auto show.

In merger and acquisition news, Beam, the maker of Jim Beam bourbon, agreed to be acquired by Japan’s Suntory Holdings for $83.50 a share in a $16 billion deal creating the spirit sector’s third-largest player.

Beam skyrocketed 24.6 percent to $83.42.

Google slipped 0.6 percent. After the market closed, the search giant announced it was buying Nest, a smart-home company that makes thermostats and smoke alarms, for $3.2 billion in cash. Shares were up 0.5 percent in after-hours trading.

Chinese search engine Qihoo 360 Technology rose 3.0 percent after a Stifel upgrade from “hold” to “buy,” saying “2014 is the year of significant search monetization for Qihoo, fueling strong revenue growth and potential upside surprise.”

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury slipped to 2.83 percent from 2.86 percent Friday, while the 30-year fell to 3.77 percent from 3.80 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.

source: business.inquirer.net

Asian stock markets subdued after Wall Street slip

MANILA, Philippines — Asian stock markets mostly flitted between gains and losses Wednesday after an improvement in U.S. service industries reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve will reduce monetary stimulus that has propelled stocks higher.

The Institute for Supply Management’s services index rose in October despite forecasts it would soften due to last month’s partial shutdown of the U.S. government. Investors concluded that it makes it more likely that the Fed will start reducing its bond purchases, which have kept interest rates low, within a few months.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng inched up 0.2 percent to 23,091.45 and China’s Shanghai Composite added 0.3 percent to 2,164.64. India’s Sensex reversed early losses to rise 0.1 percent to 20,989.24. Benchmarks in Singapore and the Philippines were slightly lower.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 defied the narrow range, reversing early losses to rise 0.9 percent to 14,359.57.

“Nobody is buying,” said Francis Lun of GE Oriental Financial Group in Hong Kong. “I think the biggest news globally is the IPO debut of Twitter tomorrow,” he said.

Other analyst say investors remain cautious ahead of possible market moving data and policy meetings this week.

They include the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday where it may foreshadow a further reduction to record low interest rates and the advance estimate of U.S. third quarter economic growth due the same day. U.S. October jobs figures are due on Friday.

China’s leaders are also scheduled to meet in Beijing from November 9-12 to craft a new blueprint for the world’s No. 2 economy as its state-led growth model runs out of oomph.

On Wall Street, stocks took a break from a record-breaking run.

Some weak corporate earnings reports on Tuesday held the market back, pushing the major indexes slightly lower.

The S&P 500 index dropped 4.96 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,762.97. The index is nine points below its record close of 1,771.95 set Oct. 29.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 20.90 points, or 0.1 percent, to 15,618.22. The Nasdaq composite added 3.27, or less than 0.1 percent, at 3,939.86.

Benchmark crude for December delivery was up 50 cents at $93.87 in electronic trading at the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.25 to $93.37 a barrel on Monday.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3510 from $1.3476 late Tuesday. The dollar rose to 98.74 yen from 98.51 yen.

source: business.inquirer.net