US stocks Thursday closed lower after a surprisingly good retail sales report boosted speculation that the US Federal Reserve could soon scale back its stimulus program.
NEW YORK: US stocks Thursday closed lower after a
surprisingly good retail sales report boosted speculation that the US
Federal Reserve could soon scale back its stimulus program.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 104.10 points (0.66 per cent) to 15,739.43.
The broad-based S&P 500 declined 6.72 (0.38 per cent) to 1,775.50, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 5.41 (0.14 per cent) at 3,998.40
Thursday marked the third straight day of losses after strong gains throughout the year.
Peter Cardillo, director of investment research at Rockwell Global Capital, attributed the decline to a November retail sales report, which showed growth of 0.7 per cent, above the 0.6 per cent expected by analysts.
"The market is positioning itself for a very possible tapering announcement at next week's" Federal Reserve meeting, Cardillo said.
"They have all the evidence needed to act."
The retail sales data follows better economic reports on growth and unemployment, Cardillo said. These reports have fostered speculation the Fed might taper its $85 billion a month bond-buying program at its policy meeting that wraps up Wednesday.
Hotel chain Hilton Worldwide made a successful return to the stock market, gaining 7.5 per cent to $21.50 on its first day of trading following its IPO price of $20.
Social networking company Twitter advanced 5.7 per cent after it unveiled a new form of online advertising through its MoPub platform.
Twitter's rival, Facebook, also scored, rising 5.0 per cent after the S&P 500 announced the company would be added to the prestigious index after the close of trade Friday.
Technology company Oracle fell 2.8 per cent after RBC Capital slashed its rating to "sector perform" from "outperform," citing tough competition from other cloud computing vendors and spending concerns in China. Morgan Stanley also downgraded Oracle due to uncertain growth prospects.
Women's sports attire chain Lululemon Athletica dived 11.7 per cent after issuing a disappointing profit forecast for the fourth quarter. Lululemon projected profits of 78-80 cents per share, below the 84 cents seen by analysts.
General Motors fell 0.3 per cent after announcing it was selling its remaining stakes in Ally Financial and French automaker PSA Peugeot Citroen.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.88 per cent from 2.84 percent Wednesday, while the 30-year increased to 3.90 per cent from 3.88 per cent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 104.10 points (0.66 per cent) to 15,739.43.
The broad-based S&P 500 declined 6.72 (0.38 per cent) to 1,775.50, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 5.41 (0.14 per cent) at 3,998.40
Thursday marked the third straight day of losses after strong gains throughout the year.
Peter Cardillo, director of investment research at Rockwell Global Capital, attributed the decline to a November retail sales report, which showed growth of 0.7 per cent, above the 0.6 per cent expected by analysts.
"The market is positioning itself for a very possible tapering announcement at next week's" Federal Reserve meeting, Cardillo said.
"They have all the evidence needed to act."
The retail sales data follows better economic reports on growth and unemployment, Cardillo said. These reports have fostered speculation the Fed might taper its $85 billion a month bond-buying program at its policy meeting that wraps up Wednesday.
Hotel chain Hilton Worldwide made a successful return to the stock market, gaining 7.5 per cent to $21.50 on its first day of trading following its IPO price of $20.
Social networking company Twitter advanced 5.7 per cent after it unveiled a new form of online advertising through its MoPub platform.
Twitter's rival, Facebook, also scored, rising 5.0 per cent after the S&P 500 announced the company would be added to the prestigious index after the close of trade Friday.
Technology company Oracle fell 2.8 per cent after RBC Capital slashed its rating to "sector perform" from "outperform," citing tough competition from other cloud computing vendors and spending concerns in China. Morgan Stanley also downgraded Oracle due to uncertain growth prospects.
Women's sports attire chain Lululemon Athletica dived 11.7 per cent after issuing a disappointing profit forecast for the fourth quarter. Lululemon projected profits of 78-80 cents per share, below the 84 cents seen by analysts.
General Motors fell 0.3 per cent after announcing it was selling its remaining stakes in Ally Financial and French automaker PSA Peugeot Citroen.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.88 per cent from 2.84 percent Wednesday, while the 30-year increased to 3.90 per cent from 3.88 per cent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
- AFP/ac
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But tweaks made to FTSE ST indices.
ReplyDeleteIn a joint release, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), Singapore Exchange (SGX) and FTSE Group (FTSE) announced that constituents of the Straits Times Index (STI) will be unchanged following the conclusion of its quarterly review.
The STI reserve list, comprising the five highest ranking non-constituents of the STI by market capitalisation, will be (in order of size) Keppel Land, Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust, UOL Group, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings and CapitaCommercial Trusts. Companies in the reserve list will replace any constituents that become ineligible as a result of corporate actions, before the next review.
The STI is widely followed by investors as the benchmark for the Singapore market and is used as the basis for a range of financial products including Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), futures, warrants and other derivatives.
Several changes were made to other indices in the FTSE ST Index Series including the FTSE ST Maritime and FTSE ST Catalist. In the FTSE ST China Top Index, Global Logistic Properties and Keppel Land will replace United Envirotechand Hyflux respectively. Full details of all deletions and additions can be found under the Index Reviews section at www.ftse.com/st.
All changes from this review will take effect from the start of trading on 23 December 2013. The next review is scheduled for 6 March 2014.
The indices are reviewed half-yearly by the independent FTSE ST Index Advisory Committee, in accordance with the index ground rules and reviewed quarterly to fast-track the inclusion of eligible IPO stocks. The FTSE ST methodology is said to ensure the indices accurately represent the investable universe for benchmarking purposes and can be easily replicated as the basis of index-linked products.