Shares of Google rise above $900 for the first time
US stocks ended with strong gains once again on Wednesday, 15 May 2013. Stocks ended stronger with hopes for ongoing central-bank stimulus bolstering sentiment amid economic reports illustrating a contraction in manufacturing. Equities opened in the red as domestic and foreign economic data reminded investors of a cloudy growth picture. However, the opening strength of defensive sectors quickly overshadowed the early losses, and helped the broader market erase its early weakness.
For the day, the Dow ended higher by 60.44 points (0.4%) at 15,275.9. Nasdaq ended higher by 9.01 points (0.3%) at 3,471.62. S&P 500 ended higher by 8.44 points (0.51%) at 1,658.78.
Consumer staples fared best and energy was the poorest performing of its 10 industry groups. Majority of Dow components ended higher led by Cisco Systems.
Cisco Systems leapt higher after Wednesday's closing bell as the networking giant reported quarterly results that beat Wall Street's projections. Deere fell 4.4% after the maker of agricultural equipment reduced its sales forecast. Macy's shares rose 2.6% after the department-store operator reported profit that exceeded expectations and raised its quarterly dividend.
Shares of Google rose above $900 for the first time as the technology company kicked off a developer conference in San Francisco.
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In overnight news, the Euro currency fell on news of a weaker-than-expected European Union gross domestic product figure. For the sixth quarter in a row, EU GDP came in at negative growth. First-quarter EU GDP came in at minus 0.2%, compared with the fourth-quarter of last year. The GDP data from the EU suggests the European Central Bank will keep its pedal to the metal on its aggressive easing of its monetary policy.
The U.S. dollar index hit a 9.5-month high Wednesday. In the currency market, the dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, rose by 0.4% on Wednesday.
Among economic data expected at Wall Street on Wednesday, April producer prices declined 0.7%, which was cooler than the downtick of 0.5% forecast by the consensus. Meanwhile, core producer prices rose 0.1%, in-line with the Briefing.com consensus. Industrial production fell 0.5% in April after increasing a downwardly revised 0.3% (from 0.4%) in March. The consensus expected industrial production to decline 0.2%.
Manufacturing production declined 0.4% in April after declining 0.3% in March. The drop was in-line with the weakness reported in nearly all of the regional manufacturing surveys. Durable and nondurable goods manufacturing fell 0.6% and 0.1%, respectively. The rate of capacity utilization fell to 77.8% from a downwardly revised 78.3% (from 78.5%) in March. That is the lowest level of capacity utilization since January. Manufacturing capacity utilization dropped to 75.9%, which is the first time since November 2012 that the utilization rate slipped below 76%.
Separately, the Empire Manufacturing Survey for May registered a reading of -1.43, which was down from the prior month's reading of 3.1. Economists had expected that the survey would rise to 3.5.
Crude-oil prices ended mildly higher on Wednesday, 15 May 2013 at Nymex. Prices rose following unexpected decline in the past week's U.S. crude supplies. A strong dollar and mixed economic data at Wall Street put a brake on price rise. Light and sweet crude for June ended higher by $0.09 (0.1%) at $94.3 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday. Prices had dropped to $92.13 during intra day trading.
As per the weekly inventory report, the EIA reported that U.S. crude supplies fell 600,000 barrels for the week ended 10 May. Market had expected a 300,000-barrel climb. The report also showed that gasoline supplies climbed by 2.6 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles added 2.3 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles were expected to fall by 800,000 barrels, while forecasts called for a climb of that same amount for distillates, which include heating oil.
A news report Wednesday said a survey of investment fund managers showed the vast majority of those money managers are shunning the raw commodity sector as an investment asset.
Bullion metal prices ended lower on Wednesday, 15 May 2013. Comex gold prices ended the U.S. day session sharply lower and sank below $1,400 an ounce on Wednesday, logging their lowest close in almost four weeks as the U.S. dollar strengthened, equities climbed and outflows from gold exchange-traded funds continued. Gold for June delivery ended lower by $28.3 (2%) at $1,396.2 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday. July silver ended lower by $0.72 cents (3.1%) at $22.66 an ounce on Wednesday.
For every seven shares falling, eight gained on the New York Stock Exchange, where 742 million shares traded. Composite volume surpassed 3.6 billion.
Indian ADRs ended mixed on Wednesday. In the IT space, Infosys was down 1% and Wipro was up 1.3%. In the Banking space, HDFC Bank was up 1.4% and ICICI Bank was up 2.6%. In the Telecom space, Tata Communication was up 0.8%. In other space, Tata Motors was up 0.6%, Dr Reddys was up 1.2% and Sterlite was up 0.7%.
Tomorrow, the day is once again heavy in terms of economic data. Weekly initial claims, April CPI, core CPI, housing starts, and building permits are all scheduled for an 8:30 ET release. This will be topped off by the May Philadelphia Fed Survey, which is set to cross the wires at 10:00 ET.
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