U.S. stocks sink to lowest 2011 level as investors fear Japan nuke crisis fallout
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Investors scared of Japan’s nuclear crisis took refuge in U.S. Treasury notes to lessen exposure to risky assets sending two of the three main indexes to their lowest level for the year on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 242 points or 2 percent to 11,613 cutting its 2011 gains to 0.3 percent. All 30 components were down led by IBM, General Electric and American Express.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index shed 25 points or 1.95 percent to close at 1,257, a 0.06 percent loss for 2011.
The Nasdaq Composite Index slid 50 points or 1.89 percent to 2,617.
Oil for April delivery rose 80 cents or 0.8 percent to settle at $98 a barrel.
Gold futures for April delivery climbed $3.30 to $1,396 an ounce.
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Dow dives as Saudi Arabia demo dispersal rattles Wall Street
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost hold of the 12,000 level on Thursday as a violent dispersal of a rally in Saudi Arabia unnerved Wall Street investors already worried of unrest in Libya.
The blue chip index reeled from a 228-point or 1.9 percent dive closing at 11,985, the worst drop since August 11. The top losers were Exxon Mobil, Caterpillar, and Chevron weakened by a potential for oil disruption in the world’s largest oil supplier.
Selling were also driven by reports that the U.S. trade balance in January widened to $46 billion and the rise of initial unemployment benefit claims to 397,000 for the week ending on March 5.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index shed 25 points or 1.9 percent to close at 1,295.
The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 51 points or 1.8 percent to 2,701.
Crude oil for April delivery fell $1.68 to $103 per barrel.
Gold futures for April delivery dipped $17.60 to settle at $1,412 an ounce.
 
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U.S. stocks rally, Dow post best gain in 3 months
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks rallied on Thursday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting its best and largest gain since Dec. 1 as investors reacted positively to a drop in weekly jobless claims and a retreat in oil prices.
The blue chip index surged 191 points or 1.6 percent to close at 12,258 as the Labor Department reported 368,000 initial jobless claims in the week ending Feb. 26, the lowest weekly figure since May 31, 2008.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 22 points or 1.7 percent to 1,331 led by oil refiner Valero Energy.
The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 51 points or 1.9 percent to 2,799.
Oil for April delivery declined 35 cents to $102 a barrel. The decline was spurred by news that Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi hinted of negotiating with protesters through the mediation of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Gold futures for April delivery fell $21.30 to $1,416 an ounce.
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Wall Street enjoys third straight month of gains despite Mid-East anxieties
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – The U.S. stock market coasted to its third monthly gain on Monday with the three major indexes closing higher to end February on a positive note despite last week’s big decline caused by anxieties from the Middle East turmoil.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 96 points or 0.8 percent to end at 12,226. For the month, the gain was 2.8 percent.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 7 points or 0.5 percent to close at 1,327 and post a February gain of 3.2 percent.
The Nasdaq Composite Index did not move remaining at 2,782, still 3 percent up for the entire month.
For the first quarter, the three stocks indexes rose 5 percent.
Meanwhile, oil for April delivery was down 91 cents to $97 a barrel.
Gold futures for April delivery was up 60 cents to close at $1,410 per ounce.
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U.S. stocks in third day of losses, Nasdaq rebounds
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks ended mixed on Thursday with the blue chips and S&P 500 index extending losses for a third straight session day as oil prices retreated.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 37 points or 0.3 percent to close at 12,068.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was a tick off or 0.2 percent at 1,306.
The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 15 points or 0.5 percent to 2,738.
Crude oil futures for April delivery lost 30 cents with a barrel settling at $97 after trading above $100 in the early trading hours.
Gold futures for February delivery rose $1.80 or 0.1 percent to $1,416 an ounce.
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Fed improves ability to handle big bank failures
D.C., Washington, United States (AHN) – U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee Thursday that the Feb has improved its ability to handle big bank failures. He said the improvement the past 24 months was partly because of the Dodd-Frank Act that revamped financial regulation as an aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007-08.
As regulator, the Fed must be very aggressive and not give banks the too much room, particularly in weak areas such as risk management, Bernanke said. He admitted not all the rules of the Act had been implemented, but the Fed had started to place tighter risk standards.
Aside from Bernanke, the chairman of the other regulatory agencies over financial institutions such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the acting Comptroller of the Currency also appeared before the senate committee. They provided updates on how their agencies were enacting and implementing new rules and regulations mandated by the Act, signed in July 2010.
The CFTC and the SEC have a combined proposed 64 new regulations that would impact parts of the financial markets and issued eight final and four interim rules.
As part of the Fed initiative to prevent big bank failures, the agency ordered the 19 largest U.S. banks to test their capital levels against another recession with an unemployment rate above 11 percent.
The banks stress-tested their loans, securities, earnings and capital performances versus three possible economic outcomes. The banks submitted the results of their tests last month to the Fed, which will finish the review in March.
Some of the banks include those that plan to hike dividends reduced during the financial crisis. The stress test ensures that banks’ capital bases are strong enough to withstand a double-dip scenario before they begin returning capital to shareholders.
On Thursday also, the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing in which bank regulators queried about the Fed proposal to require debit card issuers to reduce by up to 90 percent the interchange fees. The same issue was tackled in the Senate hearing.
Bernanke and FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair opined that a two-tiered system, where smaller banks would be exempt from the interchange fee reduction, might now work because merchants may not accept debit cards from smaller institutions to whom they have to pay higher interchange fees.
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Wal-Mart downgrade pulls Dow down
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Blue-chip stocks dipped on Monday pulled down by J.P. Morgan Chase’s downgrading of Wal-Mart Stores shares from overweight to neutral.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 19 points or 0.2 percent to 12,254 as investors were also unresponsive to President Barack Obama’s announcement of a proposed $3.7 trillion budget.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 2.54 points or barely 1 percent to 1,330.
The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 7.2 points or 0.3 percent to end at 2,817.
Oil for March delivery was up 14 cents settling at $85.72 a barrel.
Gold futures for April delivery jumped $6.60 to $1,367 an ounce.
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Dow in 8th-day high as S&P, Nasdaq falls
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – The Dow survived a dull trading session on Wednesday managing a 7-point run before the closing bell rang to extend its gain streak to eight days.
Walt Disney Co.’s strong quarterly earnings and Hewlett-Packard’s new tablet computer provided the photofinishing 0.06 percent boost that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 12,240 points.
A dip in the shares of Southwestern Energy Co., Cliffs Natural Resources and Wells Fargo weighed on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, which slipped 4 points or 0.3 percent to end at 1,321.
The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 8 points or 0.3 percent to 2,789.
Federal Reserves chief Ben Bernanke’s statements to a U.S. House of Representative panel that it will take years for the unemployment rate to normalize and concerns over growing U.S. debt caused pessimism among investors.
Oil for March delivery was down 23 cents to $86.71 a barrel.
Gold futures for April delivery rose $1.40 to close at $1,365 an ounce.
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Stocks end higher on positive economic data
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks ended higher on Thursday boosted by a better than expected rise in the nonmanufacturing index, a 3.6 percent jump in productivity in 2010, rise in factory orders and decline in jobless benefits applications.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 20 points or 0.2 percent to 12,062 with Cisco Systems Inc., AT&T Inc., Bank of America Corp. as the top gainers.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 3 points or 0.2 percent to close at 1,307 with cosmetics maker Estee Lauder as the bigger gainer for reporting higher-than-expected profit and sales for the second fiscal quarter.
The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 4 points or 0.2 percent to 2,754. Sears Holdings and Ross Stores were among the big gainers in the tech-heavy index.
Oil for March delivery declined by 21 cents closing at $90 a barrel.
Gold futures for April delivery rose $4 to settle at $1,336 an ounce.
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Stocks up slightly but still below key 2008 levels
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – The Dow and S&P 500 breached the 12,000 and 1,300 early in the trading before closing below the key psychological levels on Thursday. Mixed economic data and corporate earnings kept the marks elusive to the two indexes.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was just 10 points shy of the 12,000 mark last hit on June 19, 2008 closing 4.46 points or 0.04 percent higher to 11,990 with GE, Home Depot, United Technologies and Caterpillar among the top gainers.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was just half a point away from 1,300 last hit on Aug. 28, 2008 gaining 2.91 or 0.22 percent to settle at 1,299.54 with movie distributor Netflix the biggest gainer after reporting that subscribers now number above 20 million.
Investors were unclear of the economic outlook Thursday reading the 2 percent jump in pending home sales in November as contradictory to the surprise jump in jobless claims.
The Nasdaq Composite Index, meanwhile, gained 16 points or 0.58 percent to end at 2,755.
Oil for March delivery declined $1.69 to settle at $85.64 a barrel.
Gold futures for February delivery was down $14.50 closing at $1,318 per ounce.
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