Stocks and US equity-index futures gained, the Dollar Index snapped a nine-day slump and oil dropped the most in two weeks after President Barack Obama said Osama bin Laden is dead. Silver sank after CME Group raised the amount of cash traders need for speculative positions.
Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures advanced 0.5 per cent at 7.16 am in New York. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.2 per cent, an eighth day of gains. The Dollar Index added 0.1 per cent after falling 3.4 per cent during its losing streak, South Korea’s won rose against its 16 most-traded peers, and the Swiss franc weakened. Oil lost 1.5 per cent in New York. Silver futures plunged as much as 13 per cent. The yield on the two-year German note climbed four basis points.
Economic reports showed European manufacturing growth accelerated more than estimated in April and South Korean exports climbed to a record, while a US manufacturing index is forecast to signal expansion. Warren Buffett said Berkshire Hathaway would be “delighted” to invest in Japan and elsewhere in Asia.
“This is a positive development in the campaign against terrorism,” said Jonathan Ravelas, chief market strategist at Manila-based Banco de Oro Unibank in Manila. “In the last 10 years, bin Laden’s presence has been a serious threat to global stability. The flipside is this could be followed by retaliation activities from his supporters.”
Futures indicate the S&P 500 may advance when markets open today, following a fourth day of gains on April 29 after companies such as Caterpillar and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co reported earnings that topped analysts’ estimates. Chesapeake Energy, Anadarko Petroleum and Loews are among 13 companies in the S&P 500 scheduled to release quarterly earnings today.
Shares of Cephalon were halted after Teva Pharmaceutical Industries announced plans to buy the drugmaker for $6.8 billion.
More From This Section
The KSE 100 Index, Pakistan’s benchmark stock gauge, slipped 0.2 per cent after rising 0.6 per cent earlier.
The gain in the Stoxx Europe 600 pushed it to a two-month high. The eight-day advance is the measure’s longest winning streak in 10 months. Grifols surged 7.7 per cent as the Spanish maker of blood-plasma products won tentative US anti-trust approval to buy Talecris Biotherapeutics Holdings for $4 billion. Danisco rose 4.3 per cent after DuPont raised its bid for the Danish maker of ingredients and enzymes.
UK equity markets were closed for a holiday today, along with those in China, Hong Kong and Singapore. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.7 per cent.