Monday, May 26, 2008

Foreign Market

Friday, the US stock market in deep red on the back of high oil prices and as investors booked their profits ahead of the long weekend. On the earnings front, retailers like Gap and Aeropostale announced earnings results that surpassed the consensus earnings per share estimate.
On the Merger & Acquisition news, there was report that the Belgium beverage company InBev is interested in acquiring Anheuser-Busch.
On the economic front, the National Association of Realtors announced that the existing home sales for the month of April declined 1.0% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 4.89 million units. This was better than the economists expectations of a decline by 1.6% from the prior month’s annualized sales rate.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dropped by 145.99 points to close at 12,479.63. The S&P 500 (SPX) index decreased by 18.42 points to close at 1,375.93 and the NASDAQ Composite (RIXF) fell 19.91 points to close at 2,444.67.

General Motors Corp. led blue-chip losses, fell by 4.5% after the automaker said it anticipates taking a $1.8 billion hit in the second quarter and further cutting production.

Crude oil futures for the month of June delivery closed higher by $1.38 at $132.19 per barrel on New York Mercantile Exchange. During the intraday trading the crude prices have touched a high of $133.69 per barrel. The prices grew mainly due to the weakening of dollar as against its rival currencies.

The gold prices for the month of June delivery grew by $7.50 to settle at $925.80 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The gold prices ended higher mainly due to the sharp rally in the crude oil prices eased and also the weakening of dollar against the rivals.

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