*from www.bloomberg.com, May 3, 2013 (To view original article click here.)
Take Away #1: U.S. stocks rallied, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaching 15,000 for the first time.
Key Facts and Figures:
- The Dow climbed 157.14 points, or 1.1% to 1,595.41 at 1:33 p.m. in New York and surged as high as 15,009.59
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 106.19 points, or 0.7%, to 14,807.14.
- Germany’s DAX Index rose 2% to close at a record.
Take Away #2: Copper surged the most since 2011 to lead commodities higher.
Key Facts and Figures:
- Copper surged 6.6% to $3.3085 a pound in New York, headed for the biggest increase since October 2011.
- The U.S. is the biggest buyer of the metal after China.
- Zinc increased 3.6% to $1,885 a ton.
- Nickel advanced 3.7% to $15,225 a ton.
- Glencore Xstrata Plc said it will cease production at its Sinclair nickel mine in Western Australia on May 15.
- West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 2% to $95.89 a barrel after jumping 3.35 yesterday.
- Natural gas added 0.6% after the futures tumbled 7% yesterday, their biggest drop in nine months.
Take Away #3: Treasuries slid as faster-than-forecast employment growth bolstered optimism in the world’s largest economy.
Key Facts and Figures:
- Ten-year Treasury yields, which reached the lowest level of the year yesterday jumped 12 basis points to 1.75% for the biggest gain since September.
- U.S. payrolls expanded by 165,000 workers last month and revisions to the prior two months added a total of 114,000 jobs to the employment count.
- The median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey called for an increase of 140,000 positions.
Take Away #4: The employment report overshadowed other data showing weaker-than-forecast growth in service industries and a drop in factory orders.
Key Facts and Figures:
- The Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index decreased to 53.1 in April from 54.4 a month earlier.
- The reading is less than the median economist forecast for a reading of 54.
- The 4% drop in factory orders reported by the Commerce Dept. was the biggest since August and followed a revised 1.9% gain the prior month that was smaller than previously estimated.
Take Away #5: Industrial, commodity, consumer, technology, and financial shares jumped at least 1.2% to lead gains in nine of the 10 main industry groups in the S&P 500.
Key Facts and Figures:
- Caterpillar Inc., Alcoa Inc. and 3M Co. surged at least 3.9% to lead the Dow’s gain.
- Kraft Foods Group Inc. climbed 6.9% as first-quarter profit beat estimates.
- American International Group Inc. rose 5.8% as operating earnings surpassed projections.
- LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD) tumbled 10% after forecasting second-quarter sales that missed analysts’ projections.
Take Away #6: The S&P 500 rallied 0.9% yesterday as the European Central Bank cut its key interest rate and U.S. jobless claims unexpectedly fell.
Key Facts and Figures:
- The Federal Reserve said May 1 it will keep buying bonds at a monthly pace of $85 billion while standing ready to raise or lower purchases as the economy changes.
- The benchmark U.S. equities index is up 2.2% over the past five days, poised for a second straight weekly gain.
- The U.S. bull market entered its fifth year in March.
- The S&P 500 has surged almost 140% from a 12-year low in 2009, driven by better-than-estimated corporate earnings and three rounds of bond purchases by the Fed.
- Of the 404 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported results so far, 73% exceeded analysts’ earnings predictions while 53% missed on sales.
- Profit at S&P 500 companies rose 2% in the first three months of the year, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Take Away #7: In Europe, the Stoxx 600 extended its weekly gain to 1.7% and it trading an almost five-year high.
Key Facts and Figures:
- Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc slid 5.7% after posting a bigger decline in operating profit than analysts had estimated.
- BNP Paribas SA added 2.4% as France’s largest lender reported first-quarter profit that exceeded analysts’ estimates.
- The bonds of Europe’s lower-rated nations pared or reversed gains after rallying earlier.
- Spain’s two-year note yield was little changed at 1.54% after dropping below 1.5% for the first time since April 2010.
- Yields on Italy’s benchmark 10-year debt added six basis points to 3.82% after sliding to as little as 3.68%, the lowest in more than seven years.
- Portugal’s 10-year bond yields declined 15 basis points to 5.50% and Greek rates slid 49 basis points to 9.80%, the least since 2010 for both.
Take Away #8: The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 0.6% and is up 2.1% in five days, heading for its biggest weekly gain in four months.
Key Facts and Figures:
- The Shanghai Composite Index advanced 1.4%, rebounding from a four-month low.
- Russia’s Micex added 2.3%.
- India’s Sensex index dropped 0.8% as the central bank said there was “little space” for further monetary easing after policy makers cut interest rates for a third consecutive meeting.
*To view original article from www.bloomberg.com click here.