Stock Market News for April 6, 2010 - Market News
After a long weekend investors came back rejuvenated and sent the Dow Jones industrial average within striking distance of psychologically important 11,000 mark.
Investors, in their first reaction to Friday’s release of the jobs report, turned to stocks in increasing numbers as the employment report helped boost confidence that the economic recovery is slowly beginning to take momentum. Demand for Treasuries waned as investors grew more confident about riskier assets. Declining prices sent the corresponding yield higher, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year notes briefly rising to 4%. Concerns over a record debt supply also weighed on demand. The US Treasury is scheduled to auction $82 billion debt this week, with a record-totalling, $40 billion sale of 3-year notes slated for today.
The Dow, after rising to as high as 10,988 during the session, gained 46.48 points, or 0.4%, to close at 10,973.55. The broader S&P 500 advanced 0.8%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was the best performer of the three, up more than 1%. Strength in Nasdaq was built on Apple shares. Apple rose $2.52, or 1.1%, to $238.49 after the company said it sold more than 300,000 iPads on the first day of the launch of the touch-screen tablet devices. As recovery optimism lifted risk sentiment, the Vix fear factor index fell 2.6% to 17.02.
Shares from the healthcare sector failed follow the broader market and retreated 0.1%. Gainers included oil and gas (+1.7%), basic materials (+1.7%), technology (+1.3%), financials (+1.1%), consumer services (+1.1%), industrials (+1.0%), telecommunications (+0.8%), utilities (+0.7%), consumer goods (+0.2%). Commodities gained, sending shares in US Steel (NYSE:X) and Freeport McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) up 5% and 1.2%, respectively. Strength in energy group was built on Halliburton (NYSE:HAL), up 3.6%, and Chevron (NYSE:CVX), up 1.3%.
Twenty-two of the DJIA thirty closed higher Monday, with gains in American Express (NYSE:AXP) of 2.3%, Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) of 1.6% and Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) of 1.3%.
Meanwhile, reports surfaced Greece is once again seeking an EU-assisted bailout plan that would help it avoid onerous conditions that would come with an IMF-sponsored package. Other news suggested Germany is seeking higher rates on any emergency loans than had been estimated. Nevertheless, despite higher risk appetites, the safe-haven US dollar gained against a basket of currencies, up 0.6%. Declines in the euro followed fears that recent agreement to assist Greece’s finances might collapse.
Today's release of the FOMC meeting minutes at 2 PM ET will be the main event of the day. Yesterday's Board of Governors meeting was widely expected to result in a discount rate hike of as much as 50 bps to 1.25%. Some analysts anticipate an announcement could be released with the minutes this afternoon.
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