Stocks Could Rally On Retail Sales, Euro Hopes
– The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Friday, with sentiment likely to remain upbeat on hopes that a G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting held over today and tomorrow could thrash out a viable solution for Europe’s debt woes. Additionally, earnings news from Google is expected to have a cascading positive influence on the tech sectors.
An economic report released short while ago showed that retail sales rose by more than expected and this should allay some concerns surrounding the slowdown domestically. The focus now shifts to a consumer sentiment report due for release shortly after the markets open. These positive catalysts should serve to alleviate fears from some negative rating actions announced earlier in the global trading day.
Standard & Poor’s lowered its rating on Spain to “AA-”, while Moody’s warned of possible downgrades of some European and U.S. financial institutions. Additionally, consumer price inflation report released from China and Europe also suggested stubbornly higher inflation levels, which comes in the way of any potential easing measures to kickstart the sagging global growth.
U.S. stocks scrambled to a mixed close on Thursday, as disappointing Chinese trade data and bank earnings weigh on the markets despite the release of a couple of fairly positive domestic economic reports. The major averages opened lower and remained mostly below the unchanged line until late afternoon trading. Thereafter, the averages showed divergence, with the Dow Industrials continuing to languish below the unchanged line before closing down 40.72 points or 0.35 percent at 11,478.
The S&P 500 Index got a small reprieve in the afternoon only to pull back in late trading and close down 3.59 points or 0.30 percent at. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite recovered in the afternoon, ending up 15.51 points or 0.60 percent at 2,620.
Nineteen of the thirty Dow components closed lower, with Bank of America (BAC) leading the slide with a 5.47 percent drop. JP Morgan Chase (JPM) retreated 4.82 percent, while Exxon Mobil (XOM), Travelers (TRV), American Express (AXP) and Boeing (BA) also showed notable losses. On the other hand, Verizon (VZ), Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco Systems (CSCO) and Intel (INTC) saw some degree of buying interest.
Gold and bank stocks were among the worst performing sectors of the day, while biotechnology, airline and technology stocks advanced.
Commodity, Currency Markets
Crude oil futures are jumping $2.14 to $86.37 a barrel after declining $1.34 to $84.23 a barrel on Thursday. The previous session’s pullback came amid the release of the weekly inventory report, which showed that crude oil inventories rose by 1.3 million barrels to 337.6 million barrels in the week ended October 7th. Inventories continued to be in the upper limit of the average range for this time of the year.
Similar Posts:
