Daily Market Brief for April 03, 2007
Stocks rallied broadly lifting the Dow Jones Industrial Average by nearly 130 points to a five-week high, as investors cheered a drop in crude oil prices amid easing tensions between the UK and Iran, and with sentiment also lifted by a rise in pending homes sales in February. It is evident that if there is any good news on housing, the market is going to rally because sub-prime-driven volatility has been the big boogeyman for the market.
Today, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 128.00 or 1.03% to 12,510.30, the broader S&P 500 closed up 13.22 or 0.93% to 1,437.77, and the Nasdaq closed up 28.07 or 1.16% to 2450.33.
Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners topped losers by around 3 to 1 on volume of 1.56 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners 19 to 9 on volume of 1.99 billion shares.
The February pending home sales index showed a surprise rise, versus economists' expectations for a decline. The Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in February, rose 0.7% to 109.3 from a downwardly revised level of 108.5 in January. Analysts polled ahead of the realtor report were expecting the index to come in at 108.2.
General Motors (NYSE: GM) reported that it's U.S. sales slipped 4% to 345,418, a bit worse than the forecast of a 1.3% decline. Toyota (NYSE: TM) saw its U.S. sales rise nearly 12% to hit a record 242,675 in the month. Honda (NYSE: HMC) saw sales rise 11% to also top forecasts of only modest gains, as did rival Japanese automaker Nissan (Nasdaq: NSANY). Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia posted narrow gains. Ford reported a 9% decline in sales to 264,975 vehicles.
Shares of Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) advanced 1% on charges from the European Commission that major record companies, including Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG), are forcing Apple to restrict access to music downloads on its iTunes online store by country. If found guilty, companies face a fine of up to 10% of annual global revenue.
Shares of Marshall & Llsley (NYSE: MI) closed up $3.97 to $49.83, on reports that it is set to spin off its payment processing unit Metavante Corp. Additionally, private equity firm Warburg Pincus is expected to buy a stake in the spin-off valued at about $4 billion.
U.S. light crude oil for May delivery fell 2% on the New York Mercantile Exchange after Britain and Iran said diplomacy could end the conflict over 15 British naval personnel held in the Gulf.
