Basic Material Sector

The Weekly Bottom Line : 19/05/2012 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK United States - Global economic concerns ratcheted up this week. Widespread discussion of a Greek exit continued, Spanish banks faced rating downgrades and periphery sovereign debt yields moved higher. - Financial markets have responded to these global worries with increased risk aversion. The S&P is poised to end the week 3% lower, and 10-year treasuries are yielding just 1.7%. - U.S. economic data has proved somewhat more encouraging, but growth is still struggling to breakout beyond a moderate pace. This has kept the possibility of additional monetary stimulus alive even if the threshold remains quite high. Canada - Recent economic indicators are showing a resurgence of strength in the Canadian economy. Strong ...

Wall Street opened green higher on Wednesday, following the three-day slide for the Standard & Poor`s 500 Index, as better than expected housing starts and industrial production reignited optimism about the economy. American equities rose at the opening following governmental reports that showed output at manufacturing, mines and utilities increased 1.1 percent in April. Homebuilders broke the ground on more homes than forecast in the same period. Housing starts rose 2.6 percent to a 717 thousand annual rate last month, the Commerce Department reported early morning. Analysts called for a median annual rate of 685 thousand. Building permits fell to 715 thousand in the same period. Sentiments went somehow neutral with ongoing political crisis in Greece and speculation the nation will ...

The world`s leading economy saw a lack of data being released today yet strong sentiments of pessimism were spread on the EU soil after that it was reported that Greece will most probably exit from the euro currency union and German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party lost a state election, which pulled US shares down within the midday session. Now JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. fell at least 1.7 percent as European lenders slumped. ConocoPhillips and Dow Chemical Co. slid more than 1.1 percent to pace losses in commodity producers while that Morgan Stanley slid 3.5 percent to $14.43. Plus Symantec Corp., the biggest seller of security software retreated 0.8 percent after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its recommendation while that the Bank of America fell 1.7 percent to $7.42 ...

U.S. Stocks slumped at the open on Monday, sending the Standard & Poor`s 500 Index below key 1,350, with basic materials and energy shares falling the most this morning as concerns grew Greece will lose its euro-membership while the country`s political leaders fail to forge a collation government. The Political uncertainty is mounting with four parties failing to find a common ground in order to avoid having to call an inevitable new election in June. Should Greece face new elections next month, markets will start to weigh a referendum on Greece staying in the euro. Leaders of Greece`s main political parties stood rigid in their positions on the country`s debt agreement with European Union to International Monetary fund, making a coalition government barely impossible as European finance ...

European shares dropped by midday trading on Friday on worries from Greece and Spain and after the release of worse than expected earnings by some companies. In Greece, political worries as five days of negotiations between political parties failed to create a new coalition government, thereby casting doubts regarding the adoption of spending cuts vows. Today, the turn is on Pasok leader Evangelos Venizelos to form a government, where his failure means that another election will take place by mid-June. On the other hand, the Spanish government will announce today other measures to clean up Bankia balance sheet in another attempt from the government to regain confidence in the ailing banking sector. In the same context, the European n Commission said it expects the euro area to record ...

U.S. Stocks fell for the third consecutive day this week, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average towards the longest slide since August, as Greece`s political deadlock boosted fears about a worsening debt crisis in Europe. The political morass in Greece remains the biggest threat while the debt-throttled nation faces the odds of not having the rest of the second bailout should the coalition government renounce support for the EU-led rescue. After Greece`s New Democracy party headed by Antonis Samaras late Monday failed to forge a coalition government, Alexis Tsipras, head of the hard-left Syriza party is due to meet Samaras and Evangelos Venizelos of the Pasok Party. Tsipras will give it a shot as political leaders will meet in Athens today to discuss a government coalition. The head ...

U.S. Stocks slipped at the open on Tuesday, driving the Standard & Poor`s 500 Index to its lowest level in almost a month, as Greece Battles to put up a government amid increasing odds the nation could face default on its debt next month. Greece`s pro-bailout conservative party headed by Antonis Samaras late Monday failed to forge a coalition government following weekend election, giving the opportunity to the anti-austerity parity headed by Alexis Tsipras to step up with a new government. The hard-Left Syriza party now has the chance to take the wheel, which could be opposed by the International Monetary Fund and European Union. The coalition government has only 30 days to save the situation, as Greece faces the odds of defaulting on its debt. If truth be told, Greek default risk in on ...

Fundamental Analysis EUR "The U.S. labor-market report will further erode investor confidence" - Markus Allenspach, head of bond research at Julius Baer Group Ltd. European stocks extended weekly losses, after a report showed U.S. companies added fewer jobs than expected in April. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index erased 1.76 per cent to 253.00. Germany’s DAX Index tumbled 1.99 per cent and France’s CAC 40 Index contracted 1.90 per cent. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index lost 1.93 per cent to 5,655.06. USD "We’re still very much on the recovery path, but we’ve got a huge amount of ground to make up in the labor market" - Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates Inc. The number of Americans, who have found a job in the private sector in April, tumbled to 115,000 from 154,000 the ...

U.S. Review Modest Growth on a Broadening Base - The underlying tone of the recent economic reports remains consistent with modest economic growth. Consumer spending ended the first quarter on a solid note and spending is now on track to grow at a 2 percent pace in the second quarter. - Reports from the regional manufacturing surveys showed some weakness but the National ISM report came in stronger than expected. The nonmanufacturing survey, however, came in below expectations. - Nonfarm employment rose by 115,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate fell 0.1 percent to 8.1 percent. Modest Growth on a Broadening Base This week's ISM report came in better than expected, rising 1.4 points to 54.8 in April, which greatly relieves fears built up from the weaker factory orders ...