Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The yen and dollar weakened against most of their major counterparts after China’s gross domestic product expanded more than economists estimated and as advances in Asian stocks reduced the appeal of haven currencies.
The Australian dollar climbed versus 15 of its 16 major peers on prospects demand for the nation’s commodities will be sustained in China, Australia’s biggest export market. The yen retreated from near an 11-year high against the euro before U.S. data today projected to show manufacturing in the New York region expanded in January at the fastest pace in eight months. Singapore’s dollar strengthened after a report showed the city state’s exports unexpectedly gained in December.
“The stronger-than-expected China GDP helped boost risk sentiment in the markets a little bit,” said Minoru Shioiri, chief manager of foreign-exchange trading Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. in Tokyo. “Risk assets such as the Aussie dollar and stocks are higher, while the dollar and yen are being sold.”
The yen depreciated 0.4 percent to 97.64 per euro as of 2:13 p.m. in Tokyo after rising to 97.04 yesterday, the strongest level since December 2000. The dollar lost 0.5 percent to $1.2728 per euro, breaking a two-day gain. The greenback was little changed at 76.72 yen. U.S. markets were closed yesterday for a holiday.
China’s economy expanded 8.9 percent in the three months ended Dec. 31 from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said today. Economists in a Bloomberg News survey had estimated an 8.7 percent gain.
‘Hard Landing’
The Australian dollar climbed 0.6 percent to $1.0378 and reached $1.0398, the strongest since Nov. 9. The so-called Aussie appreciated 0.1 percent to 81.54 euro cents, after earlier touching a record high of 81.64. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of shares rose 1.2 percent, boosting the allure of higher- yielding currencies.
Today’s GDP report “certainly allays fears that China is going to see a hard landing and that is generally seen as a positive for the world,” said Jonathan Cavenagh, a currency strategist at Westpac Banking Corp. in Singapore. “It’s hard to get too downbeat in the near term” about the Australian and New Zealand dollars.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s general economic index rose to 11 this month, the highest since May, according to economist projections before the data. Readings higher than zero signal expansion.
Declines in the yen and dollar were limited before the European Financial Stability Facility, Spain and Greece sell bills today amid concern rating cuts by Standard & Poor’s will sap demand for European debt.
EFSF Downgrade
S&P yesterday removed the AAA rating for the EFSF, which is designed to fund rescue packages for Greece, Ireland and Portugal, after reducing the top grades of France and Austria by one level on Jan. 13. The company also downgraded Italy, Portugal and Spain.
The euro area’s bailout fund is scheduled to sell 1.5 billion euros ($1.9 billion) of bills. Greece will also offer bills, while Spain will auction securities maturing in 364 and 518 days.
“You can’t help becoming fairly pessimistic about the euro,” said Marito Ueda, senior managing director in Tokyo at FX Prime Corp., a currency margin company. “The EFSF’s downgrade limits options available for European leaders to overcome the sovereign crisis, and poor results at today’s auction are likely to lead to euro selling.”
The common currency has lost 4.2 percent over the past six months, according to the Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The yen has risen 9.3 percent, the best performance among the 10 currencies tracked by the gauges, while the dollar has advanced 7.4 percent.
Greek Talks
Greece will resume talks tomorrow with the Institute of International Finance, which represents private creditors, Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos has said. The Washington- based IIF broke off talks last week after failing to agree with the government about how much money investors will lose by swapping their bonds.
“Greece will default very shortly because even the debt exchange that has been proposed is a default by our definition,” Moritz Kraemer, S&P’s managing director of European sovereign ratings, said yesterday in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “It’s a distressed exchange.”
A German index of investor and analyst confidence in the economic outlook was minus 49.4 in January, according to a Bloomberg News survey of economists before the ZEW Center for European Economic Research releases the data today. While it would be an improvement from minus 53.8 in December, the gauge would be below zero for an eighth month.
Singapore’s dollar advanced 0.4 percent to S$1.2861 versus its U.S. counterpart after non-oil domestic exports jumped 9 percent last month from a year earlier, compared with the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey for a 1.2 percent decrease. A surge in pharmaceutical overseas sales offset a slump in electronics shipments.
(businessweek.com)
Showing posts with label US. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US. Show all posts
Monday, 16 January 2012
China Statistics Chief: Should Be 'Confident' In 2012 GDP Outlook
BEIJING (Dow Jones)--China should be "confident" of its economic performance this year, despite gloomy economic prospects for the European Union and the U.S., Statistics Bureau Chief Ma Jiantang said Tuesday.
"The fundamentals for China's stable, relatively fast economic growth in the medium to long term haven't changed... For the economy in 2012, we should still be full of confidence," Ma said at a press briefing.
He said China's fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth of 8.9% is "within a normal range," and consistent with the government's macro-economic policy goals.
Ma made his remarks shortly after the bureau announced China's gross domestic product data. The 8.9% on-year growth in the fourth quarter of 2011 was slower than the previous quarter's 9.1% rise, but faster than economists' expectations for an 8.6% expansion. For the 2011 full year, China's GDP rose 9.2%, compared with a 10.4% expansion in 2010.
Ma said China should maintain its proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy as the external economic environment is complicated.
Weakness in Europe and the U.S. are widely expected to hurt China's export growth this year, particularly in the first half.
Ma noted that China still faces medium- and long-term price pressures, with the longer-term pressures stemming from rising wages and land costs.
"It looks like China's biggest domestic economic challenge is still maintaining stable, relatively fast growth while also ensuring relative stability in price levels and making progress in (economic) restructuring," he said.
China has adopted tighter monetary policies to prevent inflation from spiraling out of control, but Beijing has more recently eased up on its monetary curbs.
Ma said he didn't see big challenges arising from local government debt or weakness in the real estate market, though these areas need to be monitored.
Economists have said these two areas pose the greatest risks to the nation's banking system.
Ma also said China should accelerate its economic restructuring and aim for relatively fast and balanced economic growth.
-By Owen Fletcher, Dow Jones Newswires; 8610 8400 7702; owen.fletcher@dowjones.com
"The fundamentals for China's stable, relatively fast economic growth in the medium to long term haven't changed... For the economy in 2012, we should still be full of confidence," Ma said at a press briefing.
He said China's fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth of 8.9% is "within a normal range," and consistent with the government's macro-economic policy goals.
Ma made his remarks shortly after the bureau announced China's gross domestic product data. The 8.9% on-year growth in the fourth quarter of 2011 was slower than the previous quarter's 9.1% rise, but faster than economists' expectations for an 8.6% expansion. For the 2011 full year, China's GDP rose 9.2%, compared with a 10.4% expansion in 2010.
Ma said China should maintain its proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy as the external economic environment is complicated.
Weakness in Europe and the U.S. are widely expected to hurt China's export growth this year, particularly in the first half.
Ma noted that China still faces medium- and long-term price pressures, with the longer-term pressures stemming from rising wages and land costs.
"It looks like China's biggest domestic economic challenge is still maintaining stable, relatively fast growth while also ensuring relative stability in price levels and making progress in (economic) restructuring," he said.
China has adopted tighter monetary policies to prevent inflation from spiraling out of control, but Beijing has more recently eased up on its monetary curbs.
Ma said he didn't see big challenges arising from local government debt or weakness in the real estate market, though these areas need to be monitored.
Economists have said these two areas pose the greatest risks to the nation's banking system.
Ma also said China should accelerate its economic restructuring and aim for relatively fast and balanced economic growth.
-By Owen Fletcher, Dow Jones Newswires; 8610 8400 7702; owen.fletcher@dowjones.com
Friday, 13 January 2012
Euro Heads for Weekly Advance on Italy Bond Gains, ECB Optimism
Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The euro headed for its first weekly gain versus the dollar in six weeks as Italian bonds advanced and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said policy makers have averted a credit shortage.
The 17-nation currency strengthened earlier as Italy prepared to auction notes today. The Dollar Index was poised for its first weekly decline in three weeks before a U.S. report that economists said will show consumer confidence improved this month, reducing demand for the U.S. currency as a haven.
“Investors will focus on the outcome of today’s Italian bond auction,” Valentin Marinov, a senior foreign-exchange strategist at Citigroup Inc. in London, wrote in a note to clients. “Indications of resilient private demand could help the euro extend its gains further, especially against the dollar and yen.”
The euro was little changed at $1.2829 at 9:57 a.m. in London, having strengthened 0.9 percent this week, the first five-day advance since the period ended Dec. 2. The currency was was little changed at 98.38 yen, after advancing as much as 0.5 percent. The dollar fell 0.1 percent to 76.69 yen.
Italy will sell bonds due in 2014 and 2018 today after the nation’s borrowing costs more than halved at an auction of one- year bills yesterday. Italy’s 10-year yield fell 12 basis points, or 0.12 percentage point, today to 6.52 percent. Spanish 10-year yields dropped four basis points to 5.10 percent.
Stabilization Signs
Draghi said the central bank’s massive injection of cash into the financial system last month is beginning to flow through into credit markets. “There are tentative signs of stabilization of economic activity,” he said in Frankfurt after the ECB’s policy meeting yesterday. Policy makers kept the benchmark rate at a record low of 1 percent after two straight quarter-point reductions.
The Dollar Index, which IntercontinentalExchange Inc. uses to track the greenback against the currencies of six major U.S. trading partners, dropped 0.1 percent to 80.739, having declined 0.6 percent this week.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary consumer confidence index rose to 71.5 for January from 69.9 in December, according to a Bloomberg survey before today’s report.
The dollar has depreciated 0.7 percent in the past week, the second-worst performance among the 10 developed-nation currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The euro has risen 0.2 percent.
Gains in the euro may be tempered as it approaches levels of so-called resistance at $1.2860 and $1.2933, according to Karen Jones, head of fixed-income, commodity and currency technical analysis at Commerzbank AG in London. These represent last-year’s low and a short-term down channel, she wrote today in a note to clients.
(businessweek.com)
The 17-nation currency strengthened earlier as Italy prepared to auction notes today. The Dollar Index was poised for its first weekly decline in three weeks before a U.S. report that economists said will show consumer confidence improved this month, reducing demand for the U.S. currency as a haven.
“Investors will focus on the outcome of today’s Italian bond auction,” Valentin Marinov, a senior foreign-exchange strategist at Citigroup Inc. in London, wrote in a note to clients. “Indications of resilient private demand could help the euro extend its gains further, especially against the dollar and yen.”
The euro was little changed at $1.2829 at 9:57 a.m. in London, having strengthened 0.9 percent this week, the first five-day advance since the period ended Dec. 2. The currency was was little changed at 98.38 yen, after advancing as much as 0.5 percent. The dollar fell 0.1 percent to 76.69 yen.
Italy will sell bonds due in 2014 and 2018 today after the nation’s borrowing costs more than halved at an auction of one- year bills yesterday. Italy’s 10-year yield fell 12 basis points, or 0.12 percentage point, today to 6.52 percent. Spanish 10-year yields dropped four basis points to 5.10 percent.
Stabilization Signs
Draghi said the central bank’s massive injection of cash into the financial system last month is beginning to flow through into credit markets. “There are tentative signs of stabilization of economic activity,” he said in Frankfurt after the ECB’s policy meeting yesterday. Policy makers kept the benchmark rate at a record low of 1 percent after two straight quarter-point reductions.
The Dollar Index, which IntercontinentalExchange Inc. uses to track the greenback against the currencies of six major U.S. trading partners, dropped 0.1 percent to 80.739, having declined 0.6 percent this week.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary consumer confidence index rose to 71.5 for January from 69.9 in December, according to a Bloomberg survey before today’s report.
The dollar has depreciated 0.7 percent in the past week, the second-worst performance among the 10 developed-nation currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The euro has risen 0.2 percent.
Gains in the euro may be tempered as it approaches levels of so-called resistance at $1.2860 and $1.2933, according to Karen Jones, head of fixed-income, commodity and currency technical analysis at Commerzbank AG in London. These represent last-year’s low and a short-term down channel, she wrote today in a note to clients.
(businessweek.com)
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Most Asia Stocks Rise on U.S. Economic Optimism
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Ethan Devine, a partner at Indus Capital Partners LLC, talks about the scandal at Japan camera maker Olympus Corp. Olympus shares rose the most in more than two months yesterday on optimism the company will survive a delisting threat and after its auditors took legal action against executives over a $1.7 billion accounting fraud. Devine speaks with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television's "First Up." (Source: Bloomberg)
Asian stocks swung between gains and losses as optimism about the U.S. economy tempered concern Europe’s debt crisis is worsening ahead of a German bond sale.
James Hardie Industries SE (JHX), a maker of building materials that gets most of its sales in the U.S., climbed 3 percent in Sydney. AU Optronics Corp. (2409), a supplier of liquid-crystal displays to Nokia Oyj and Dell Inc., gained 4.4 percent in Taipei. China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. fell 3.7 percent amid concern competition will increase among mainland telecoms.
“There are more positive signs particularly on employment” and consumer spending in the U.S., saidStephen Halmarick, Sydney-based head of investment markets research at Colonial First State Global Asset Management, which oversees about $150 billion. “The outlook in the U.S. is for modest growth this year, and that’s better than Europe. Expectations are Europe will be in a recession.”
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.1 percent to 116.23 as of 3:22 p.m. in Tokyo, having swung between gains and losses at least eight times. About three shares rose for every two that fell on the measure. The gauge advanced 0.9 percent last week as manufacturing growth from China to the U.S. bolstered confidence in the global economy.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index increased 0.9 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 0.3 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.3 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index lost 0.4 percent.
China Inflation
China’s Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) decreased 0.2 percent on concern inflation will hamper the government’s ability to ease lending curbs. A report due tomorrow will probably show consumer prices rose 4 percent in December, according to analysts’ estimates.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.2 percent today. The gauge rose 0.9 percent in New York yesterday as global equities rallied amid bets that China will ease monetary policy to spur growth in the world’s second-largest economy.
Exporters advanced as U.S. employers hired 4.15 million workers in November, 107,000 more than in the prior month, the Labor Department said yesterday. A survey by Chief Executive magazine showed confidence among American CEOs rose last month to the highest level since May.
James Hardie rose 3 percent to A$7.12 in Sydney. AU Optronics climbed 4.4 percent to NT$14.30 in Taipei. LG Display Co. (034220), the world’s second-largest LCD maker by sales, gained 2.7 percent to 26,800 won in Seoul.
Europe Risk
“The strong outlook and underpinnings of the U.S. economy are much more important to the Asian market outlook than European uncertainty,” said Sandy Mehta, Hong Kong-based chief executive officer of Value Investment Principals Ltd. “We think the Europe situation remains difficult and presents risk, but much of this is already discounted by investors and the situation will be more stable by mid-year.”
Reports today may show Germany’s economic growth slowed last year and Spanish industrial production shrank by the most since 2009. Spain will auction as much as 5 billion euros ($6.4 billion) of bonds due 2015 and 2016 tomorrow, while Italy is scheduled to sell 12 billion euros of bills. Germany will auction 4 billion euros of five-year notes today.
Raw material producers advanced after the London Metals Exchange Index (LMEX), which tracks prices of six primary metals including aluminum and copper, rose for a third day yesterday. Aluminum prices may rise more than 6 percent by the end of the quarter as processing companies replenish inventory to meet demand, said Vedanta Resources Plc, India’s biggest producer.
Apple’s iPhone
BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), the world’s biggest mining company, increased 1.5 percent to A$36.18 in Sydney. Jiangxi Copper Co., China’s largest producer of the metal, advanced 1.7 percent to HK$17.88 in Hong Kong. Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd., the nation’s No. 1 supplier of the light metal, climbed 2.6 percent to HK$3.62.
Chinese phone companies declined today amid concern increasing competition will hurt profit as China Telecom Corp., the nation’s third-largest carrier, moves closer to getting government approval to offer Apple Inc.’s iPhone.
China Unicom, the mainland’s only iPhone distributor, sank 3.7 percent to HK$15.84. China Telecom lost 1.4 percent to HK$4.22.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) lost 17 percent in 2011 as China took steps to cool its property market and Europe struggled to resolve its debt crisis. The S&P 500 Index broke even for the year and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 11 percent. Stocks in the Asian gauge were valued at 12.2 times estimated earnings on average as of yesterday, compared with 12.3 times for the S&P 500 and 10 times for the Stoxx 600.
Tokyo Electric Power Co., the utility at the center of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear disaster, declined 6.1 percent to 202 yen. Tepco, as the company is known, is in talks with banks to borrow as much as 2 trillion yen ($26 billion) to help stave off bankruptcy.
To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan Burgos in Singapore at jburgos4@bloomberg.net; Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at ynohara1@bloomberg.net
(bloomberg.com)
Asian stocks swung between gains and losses as optimism about the U.S. economy tempered concern Europe’s debt crisis is worsening ahead of a German bond sale.
James Hardie Industries SE (JHX), a maker of building materials that gets most of its sales in the U.S., climbed 3 percent in Sydney. AU Optronics Corp. (2409), a supplier of liquid-crystal displays to Nokia Oyj and Dell Inc., gained 4.4 percent in Taipei. China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. fell 3.7 percent amid concern competition will increase among mainland telecoms.
“There are more positive signs particularly on employment” and consumer spending in the U.S., saidStephen Halmarick, Sydney-based head of investment markets research at Colonial First State Global Asset Management, which oversees about $150 billion. “The outlook in the U.S. is for modest growth this year, and that’s better than Europe. Expectations are Europe will be in a recession.”
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.1 percent to 116.23 as of 3:22 p.m. in Tokyo, having swung between gains and losses at least eight times. About three shares rose for every two that fell on the measure. The gauge advanced 0.9 percent last week as manufacturing growth from China to the U.S. bolstered confidence in the global economy.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index increased 0.9 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 0.3 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.3 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index lost 0.4 percent.
China Inflation
China’s Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) decreased 0.2 percent on concern inflation will hamper the government’s ability to ease lending curbs. A report due tomorrow will probably show consumer prices rose 4 percent in December, according to analysts’ estimates.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.2 percent today. The gauge rose 0.9 percent in New York yesterday as global equities rallied amid bets that China will ease monetary policy to spur growth in the world’s second-largest economy.
Exporters advanced as U.S. employers hired 4.15 million workers in November, 107,000 more than in the prior month, the Labor Department said yesterday. A survey by Chief Executive magazine showed confidence among American CEOs rose last month to the highest level since May.
James Hardie rose 3 percent to A$7.12 in Sydney. AU Optronics climbed 4.4 percent to NT$14.30 in Taipei. LG Display Co. (034220), the world’s second-largest LCD maker by sales, gained 2.7 percent to 26,800 won in Seoul.
Europe Risk
“The strong outlook and underpinnings of the U.S. economy are much more important to the Asian market outlook than European uncertainty,” said Sandy Mehta, Hong Kong-based chief executive officer of Value Investment Principals Ltd. “We think the Europe situation remains difficult and presents risk, but much of this is already discounted by investors and the situation will be more stable by mid-year.”
Reports today may show Germany’s economic growth slowed last year and Spanish industrial production shrank by the most since 2009. Spain will auction as much as 5 billion euros ($6.4 billion) of bonds due 2015 and 2016 tomorrow, while Italy is scheduled to sell 12 billion euros of bills. Germany will auction 4 billion euros of five-year notes today.
Raw material producers advanced after the London Metals Exchange Index (LMEX), which tracks prices of six primary metals including aluminum and copper, rose for a third day yesterday. Aluminum prices may rise more than 6 percent by the end of the quarter as processing companies replenish inventory to meet demand, said Vedanta Resources Plc, India’s biggest producer.
Apple’s iPhone
BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), the world’s biggest mining company, increased 1.5 percent to A$36.18 in Sydney. Jiangxi Copper Co., China’s largest producer of the metal, advanced 1.7 percent to HK$17.88 in Hong Kong. Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd., the nation’s No. 1 supplier of the light metal, climbed 2.6 percent to HK$3.62.
Chinese phone companies declined today amid concern increasing competition will hurt profit as China Telecom Corp., the nation’s third-largest carrier, moves closer to getting government approval to offer Apple Inc.’s iPhone.
China Unicom, the mainland’s only iPhone distributor, sank 3.7 percent to HK$15.84. China Telecom lost 1.4 percent to HK$4.22.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) lost 17 percent in 2011 as China took steps to cool its property market and Europe struggled to resolve its debt crisis. The S&P 500 Index broke even for the year and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 11 percent. Stocks in the Asian gauge were valued at 12.2 times estimated earnings on average as of yesterday, compared with 12.3 times for the S&P 500 and 10 times for the Stoxx 600.
Tokyo Electric Power Co., the utility at the center of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear disaster, declined 6.1 percent to 202 yen. Tepco, as the company is known, is in talks with banks to borrow as much as 2 trillion yen ($26 billion) to help stave off bankruptcy.
To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan Burgos in Singapore at jburgos4@bloomberg.net; Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at ynohara1@bloomberg.net
(bloomberg.com)
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Stocks edge higher on earnings hopes
NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. stocks rose Tuesday after aluminum producer Alcoa issued an outlook that suggested improving prospects for the global economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index and the Nasdaq composite index all jumped close to or more than 1% in the first few minutes of trading. Late Monday, Alcoa CEO Klaus Kleinfeld predicted that global aluminum demand will increase 7% in 2012.
Fourth-quarter revenue for Alcoa (AA) topped expectations and the results gave investors hope for a strong earnings season in the U.S. They also are looking to a new round of talks in Berlin for progress in solving Europe's debt crisis. European markets are sharply higher.
Stock trend
Dow Jones industrial average, five trading days
On the negative side, luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co. (TIF) reported weak holiday sales growth in the U.S. and Europe, and shares dropped more 6.4% in early trading.
The U.S. economy has shown signs of strength recently, and investors are hoping that will boost corporate earnings results due to be announced in coming weeks. In particular, improvement in the U.S. labor market has raised the possibility of a recovery in American consumer spending, one of the main motors of global economic growth.
The European Central Bank said Tuesday that the amount of overnight deposits that the region's banks held with it rose to 481.9 billion euros, or $613 billion, on Monday, breaking the record 463.6 billion euros set only a day before.
The high deposits mean banks are keeping spare cash in a safe place even though they earn low interest. They also reflect large amounts of cash put into the banking system from ECB emergency loans of 489 billion euros taken up by more than 500 banks in late December.
Dutch electronics giant Royal Philips Electronics NV kicked off Europe's corporate earnings season by warning that its fourth-quarter profit was less than expected due to a weak European market that made it difficult to charge customers as much as it wanted to for light bulbs.
Overnight markets in Asia were marginally higher, thanks to improving economic data out of the U.S., said Cameron Peacock of IG Markets in Melbourne.
The optimism was tempered by news that China's import growth decelerated sharply in December in a new sign the world's second-largest economy is slowing.
Benchmark crude for February delivery rose $1.46 to $102.77 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 25 cents to settle at $101.31 in New York on Monday.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The Dow Jones industrial average, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index and the Nasdaq composite index all jumped close to or more than 1% in the first few minutes of trading. Late Monday, Alcoa CEO Klaus Kleinfeld predicted that global aluminum demand will increase 7% in 2012.
Fourth-quarter revenue for Alcoa (AA) topped expectations and the results gave investors hope for a strong earnings season in the U.S. They also are looking to a new round of talks in Berlin for progress in solving Europe's debt crisis. European markets are sharply higher.
Stock trend
Dow Jones industrial average, five trading days
On the negative side, luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co. (TIF) reported weak holiday sales growth in the U.S. and Europe, and shares dropped more 6.4% in early trading.
The U.S. economy has shown signs of strength recently, and investors are hoping that will boost corporate earnings results due to be announced in coming weeks. In particular, improvement in the U.S. labor market has raised the possibility of a recovery in American consumer spending, one of the main motors of global economic growth.
The European Central Bank said Tuesday that the amount of overnight deposits that the region's banks held with it rose to 481.9 billion euros, or $613 billion, on Monday, breaking the record 463.6 billion euros set only a day before.
The high deposits mean banks are keeping spare cash in a safe place even though they earn low interest. They also reflect large amounts of cash put into the banking system from ECB emergency loans of 489 billion euros taken up by more than 500 banks in late December.
Dutch electronics giant Royal Philips Electronics NV kicked off Europe's corporate earnings season by warning that its fourth-quarter profit was less than expected due to a weak European market that made it difficult to charge customers as much as it wanted to for light bulbs.
Overnight markets in Asia were marginally higher, thanks to improving economic data out of the U.S., said Cameron Peacock of IG Markets in Melbourne.
The optimism was tempered by news that China's import growth decelerated sharply in December in a new sign the world's second-largest economy is slowing.
Benchmark crude for February delivery rose $1.46 to $102.77 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 25 cents to settle at $101.31 in New York on Monday.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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