For the day, that ended on Tuesday, 20 December 2011, Dow ended higher by 337.32 points, or 2.9% to end at 12,103.6. The Nasdaq gained 80.6 points or 3.2% to end at 2603.73. The S&P 500 gained 35.95 points (3%) to end at 1,241.3. It was best single session gains for US stocks in a month's time.
All ten economic sector ended higher led by industrial, financial, energy and materials sectors. All thirty Dow components ended higher led by JP Morgan Chase and Caterpillar, each rising more than 5%. Bank of America rose more than 3.5% and rebounded from its two year low figure of $5, when it had slumped yesterday.
Ahead of the opening bell, data showed new construction of houses rose 9.3% in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 685,000, the highest U.S. pace since April 2010. Market had expected a rate of 635,000 for last month.
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Investors also got a burst of good news from Europe, where the heavy debt loads and surging borrowing costs of several euro-zone members have helped raise the prospect of a global recession. Spain was able to sell short-term debt at a far lower yield than in the prior month's auction, and yields on its 10-year bonds trading in the secondary market also pulled back to just over 5%.
Among major stocks on the bourses at Wall Street, Navistar International shares jumped 6.5% after reporting that improved performance for its North American truck business lifted fourth-quarter profit to $255 million, or $3.48 a share, from $44 million, or 61 cents a share. Shares of Sprint Nextel rallied 9.3%, leading S&P 500 gainers.
Stocks continued to trade at session highs with heady gains through out the day. Their strength kept pressure on Treasuries. In fact, the benchmark 10-year Note was stuck near its session low during mid day. The depths set by the 10-year Note yesterday marked the Note's lowest yield in more than two months.
In the currency market on Tuesday, the Dollar Index, which weighs the strength of dollar against basket of six other currencies fell by almost 0.5%.
Crude prices ended considerably higher on Tuesday, 20 December 2011 at Nymex. Prices rose in tandem with US stocks on Tuesday. A weak dollar also helped boost prices. Light and sweet crude for January delivery rose $3.34 (3.6%) to $97.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday. The contract expired at the close on Tuesday. February crude became the front-month futures contract. February crude closed up $3.19, or 3.4%, at $97.24 a barrel.
Precious metals ended considerably higher on Tuesday, 20 December 2011 at Comex. While gold ended substantially higher, silver also tacked up decent gains. Gold for February delivery ended higher by $20.9 or 1.3%, to end at $1,617.6 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday. It had climbed to a high of $1,620.8 earlier during the day during intra day trading. On Tuesday, silver prices for March delivery rose $0.66 or 2.3% to end at $29.54.
On the New York Stock Exchange, volume was about 947 million, or roughly in line with the past month's volume.
Indian ADRs ended higher on Tuesday. In the IT space, Infosys ended up 4.2% at $51.47, Wipro ended up 1.9% at $9.91 and Patni ended up 1.6% at $16.48. In the Banking space, HDFC Bank ended up 3.6% at $25.63 and ICICI Bank ended up 3.3% at $25.24. Among others, Tata Motors ended up 2.8% at
$16.61 and Sterlite ended up 1.9% at $6.84.
For tomorrow, MBA Mortgage Index is the only economic report report expected. Other than that, couple of earning reports will also flow in.
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