Background
- There was a further rise for a second day as less Americans than predicted filed unemployment claims.
- Major companies announced up to a value of $22 billion in terms of takeovers.
- There was a doubling of LinkedIn Corp’s value as it made an entry with its initial public offering.
- Commodities however registered a significant fall.
- The MSCI World Index of stocks of 24 developed markets rose by 0.5% after a 5-day slump.
- The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index also registered an advance by 0.2%.
- The 10-year treasury yield dipped by a basis point with sugar and nickel falling by over 4.5% causing the Standard & Poor’s GSCI index to drop by 1.1%.
European Market
Of the 19 main industry groups in Stoxx 600, 18 of them showed an advance for each one that fell. There was a jump in Vestas Wind Systems by 3.4% after being awarded a contract to supply 111 turbines to the US. British Petroleum increased by 1.6 % as Bank of America gave advice to buy shares.
Asian Performance
There was a decline in by 0.3% in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index following the report by Japan on its economy. There was also a fall in the Nikkei 225 Stock Average by 0.4% following the Japanese earthquake and subsequent recession.
