ADVFN III World Daily Markets Bulletin -October 22th, 2012-.

	ADVFN III	World Daily Markets Bulletin
	Daily world financial news

Monday, 22 October 2012

US Market

Earnings In Focus Again As Reporting Season Rolls On Stocks are looking to stabilize after the Sharp decline that ended last week. A negative reaction to the latest batch of earnings reports sent stocks lower on Friday. Corporate profits will remain in the spotlight today. Stocks moved sharply lower on Friday, hurt by some disappointing quarterly reports. The Dow tumbled 205 points. The Nasdaq plummeted 67 points. The S&P 500 plunged 24 points. Earnings news will continue to be in focus today. This week will see another batch of high-profile corporate reports. Caterpillar revealed third-quarter earnings that rose from last year and topped the expectation of market analysts. However, the maker of construction machinery lowered its outlook for the full year. It now expects 2012 sales and revenues to be about $66 billion and profit in a range of $9.00 to $9.25 per share. Investors will also have an eye on events in Europe, as leaders continue to work toward a solution to the region's debt crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it would take more time to establish a euro-area banking supervisor. Speaking after a two-day EU summit last week, the German leader said setting up the regulator should follow a proper timeline. The comments raise doubts about a January 1 deadline set by European Union. Spain's two main trade unions have called for a general strike. The protest is scheduled for November 14 and is aimed at the country's austerity measures. It is meant to coincide with similar strikes in Portugal and Greece. Verizon Wireless is adding Google play apps payments to its phone bills. Wireless customers will soon be able to pay for apps purchased on Google's Play Store and other media as part of their monthly bills. American Greetings has formed a committee to consider a buyout offer. Members of the Weiss family have offered to purchase the company for $17.18 per share in cash. The greeting card maker has formed a special committee of independent directors to weigh the bid. "Paranormal Activity 4" led the box office over the weekend. The latest in the low-budget horror franchise drew $30.2 million. The Ben Affleck-directed thriller "Argo" came in second, with $16.6 million. There was a lackluster session in Asia today. Japan edged up 0.1 percent. China added 0.2 percent. Canadian Market CADUSD Oil Gold Allbanc Please click on the images to view our interactive charts TSX Poised For Cautious Start Canadian stocks may extend losses at open Monday after a recent batch of disappointing corporate earnings reports and as traders were largely unimpressed with the outcome of the EU leaders summit meeting last week as they made little progress to resolve the financial crisis in Greece. Further, investors' sentiment may remain subdued after the Canadian government blocked the $5.22 billion acquisition of Progress Energy Resources Corp by Malaysian state oil company Petronas. Last week, Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, blocked BCE Inc's (BCE.TO) C$3.40 billion takeover of Astral Media, saying that the deal is not in Canadian's best interest at would have left too much industry control in one company's hands. At their summit meeting, European Union leaders agreed to establish a single supervisor for banks in euro area and put in place the required legal framework end this year, so that it can be phased in next year. The European Council said the road map for a Single Supervisory Mechanism plan will be presented at the council's December 2012 meeting, acknowledging the need to "break the vicious circle between banks and sovereigns." Investors may also turn cautious ahead of the interest rate decision from the Bank of Canada, due out tomorrow. U.S. stock futures were pointing to a marginally higher open. On Friday, the S&P/TSX Composite Index snapped its four session winning streak to shed 50.14 points or 0.40 percent to 12,415.98. The price of crude oil was steady above $90 Monday morning on supply worries amid tensions in Lebanon as Lebanese troops and gunmen exchanged fire in Beirut's southern suburbs earlier today. Crude for December added $0.20 to $90.64 a barrel. The price of gold was little changed Monday morning as the U.S. dollar was trading mixed ahead of this week's economic data. Gold for December edged up $1.20 to $1,725.20 an ounce. In corporate news from Canada, telecommunication company BCE Inc. (BCE.TO), the parent company of Bell Canada, confirmed that it is asking the federal Cabinet to take action to address the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission or CRTC's decision to completely ignore its own rules and policies in rejecting in its entirety Bell's acquisition of Québec's largest independent media company Astral Media Inc. (ACM_A.TO). Wireless, Cable and media company Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI_B.TO) announced that it has acquired 11.16 million Class A Subordinate Voting Shares of theScore, Inc. BP Plc (BP, BP_UN.TO) confirmed that it would sell its 50 percent share in TNK-BP to Rosneft (ROSN.L), the major Russian integrated oil and gas company in exchange for $17.1 billion cash and 12.84 percent Rosneft shares currently held in treasury. In economic news from the euro zone, a leading indicator of the German economy declined for the sixth consecutive month in August as large declines in consumer confidence and new orders in investment goods industries more than offset positive contributions from stock prices and the yield spread, data from a survey by the Conference Board showed. The leading economic index decreased 0.3 percent on a monthly basis to 102.3 in August, after falling 0.2 percent and 0.4 percent respectively in the previous two months. Meanwhile, a report from the Eurostat revealed that euro zone government deficit declined for a second consecutive year in 2011, while debt continued to rise. The government deficit fell to 4.1 percent of gross domestic product in 2011 from 6.2 percent in 2010 and 6.3 percent in 2009. European Market FTSE 100 Euronext Dax perf CAC 40 Please click on the images to view our interactive charts European Markets In Positive Territory The European markets reversed early losses and are in positive territory in afternoon trading Monday, as the earnings season gets busier at home and across the Atlantic. The Asian markets were mixed after weak exports data out of Japan and the U.S. index futures are higher. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said it would take more time to establish a euro area banking supervisor, raising doubts about the January 1 deadline set by European Union leaders. The political will to complete the framework for banking supervision now exists, Merkel said on Friday after a two-day EU summit in Brussels. But it should follow a right sequence and it is already quite an ambitious roadmap, she added. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservatives retained power in the northwestern Spain in the weekend regional polls, while separatists made a strong show in the Basque region. The euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is adding 0.40 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is gaining 0.04 percent. The DAX index is advancing 0.02 percent, the French CAC 40 is climbing 0.24 percent and the UK's FTSE 100 is gaining 0.10 percent. Switzerland's SMI is rising 0.19 percent. In Frankfurt, Commerzbank is gaining 3.2 percent and Deutsche Bank is rising 2.2 percent. Salzgitter is climbing 4.5 percent. Credit Suisse raised the stock to "Outperform" from "Neutral." Stratec Biomedical is dropping over 1 percent. Deutsche Bank cut the stock to "Hold" from "Buy." Porsche is losing 1.1 percent, following a broker downgrade. In Paris, BNP Paribas is gaining 1.7 percent. Credit Agricole is up 1.1 percent and Societe Generale is advancing 1 percent. Veolia Environnement is declining 4.4 percent after denying reports of a merger with Suez Environnement. In London, Evraz is gaining 2.9 percent. Anglo American, Randgold and Antofagasta are gaining between 2.9 percent and 1.7 percent. Barclays is adding 1.7 percent and Lloyds Banking is advancing 1.3 percent. BP confirmed that it is in advanced discussions with Rosneft relating to the sale of its 50 percent interest in TNK-BP. The company said no agreement has yet been reached. The stock is marginally higher. Telford Homes is climbing 4.2 percent after a trading update. Bucking the trend, Aggreko is declining 1.7 percent and Johnson Matthey is losing 1.5 percent. Devro expects full-year operating profits to be slightly below its original expectations. The stock is losing 4.6 percent. Philips is jumping 4.2 percent in Amsterdam after posting a significant increase in third-quarter earnings. Home appliances manufacturer Electrolux posted higher profit for the third quarter. The company expects to record restructuring charges in the fourth quarter. The stock is down 0.2 percent. BASF group company Wintershall, through an asset swap, will receive from Statoil, shares in three producing fields Brage, Gjøa and Vega, containing reserves of around 100 million barrels of oil equivalent. Statoil is up 0.1 percent in Oslo. Asian stock markets turned in a mixed performance on Monday, weighed down by worries about the pace of global growth and disagreements between EU leaders over how to resolve the region's debt crisis. China's Shanghai Composite index edged up 0.2 percent ahead of key corporate earnings this week, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed up 0.7 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 edged up 0.1 percent while Australia's All Ordinaries lost 0.6 percent. In the U.S., futures point to a higher open on Wall Street. In the previous session, stocks fell sharply, rattled by disappointing earnings reports. The Dow fell 1.5 percent, the S&P 500 slid 1.7 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 2.2 percent. In the commodity space, Crude for December delivery is adding $0.66 to $91.10 per barrel and December gold is rising $2.4 to $1726.4 a troy ounce. Asia Market Asian Markets Trade Lower On Weak Wall Street Lead Asian stock markets are trading lower on Monday with investors indulging in fairly heavy selling in several front line stocks, tracking cues from Wall Street where stocks tumbled Friday amid some disappointing earnings reports. In the Australian market, mining, energy and healthcare are among the prominent losers. Financial, industrial and property trusts stocks are also mostly trading weak. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index, which declined to 4,522.7 in early trades, is currently down 30.7 points or 0.7 percent at 4,540.4. The broader All Ordinaries index is down 29.8 points or 0.6 percent at 4,563.7, nearly 20 points off the day's low of 4,545.9. Among bank stocks, National Australia Bank is down nearly a percent and Westpac is trading 1.2 percent down, while ANZ Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia are down marginally. Bendigo & Adelaide Bank is down 0.6 percent and Bank of Queensland is trading flat. Top miners BHP Billiton (BHP, BBL) and Rio Tinto (RIO, RIO.L) are down 1 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively. In the energy sector, Woodside Petroleum, Santos, Oil Search and Caltex Australia are trading lower by 0.6 to 1.2 percent, while Origin Energy is bucking the trend and trading marginally up. Treasury Wine Estates shares are down more than 6 percent following the company lowering its financial forecasts after a slow first-quarter performance. The company said its earnings in the first half of the 2012-13 financial year would be 20 percent lower, compared to its earnings in the same period last year. Whitehaven Coal, Fortescue Metals, Iluka Resources, Aurora Oil & Gas, Oz Minerals, James Hardie Industries, SP Ausnet and Primary Healthcare are down 2 to 2.6 percent. QBE Insurance Group, Bluescope Steel, ResMed , PanAust, News Corporation (NWS), Challenger and WorleyParsons are also trading sharply lower. Meanwhile, Fairfax Media is up 3.5 percent and Perseus Mining is trading higher by around 2 percent, while Graincorp is up with a hefty gain of 40 percent. Graincorp has announced that it is reviewing an A$2.7 billion takeover offer from U.S.-based agribusinesses Archer Daniel Midlands (ADM). Graincorp confirmed it had received an indicative, non-binding acquisition proposal from ADM, after the U.S. company last week increased its stake in the Australian business to 14.9 percent. The Japanese stock market opened sharply lower on Monday with investors pressing heavy sales almost across the board, following a significant drop in the country's exports. A weak lead from Wall Street and worries on the earnings front too contributed to the negative start. However, with investors indulging in some bargain hunting at lower levels, the market regained some lost ground towards the end of the morning session. Steel, non-ferrous metals, precision instruments, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and financial stocks mostly traded weak. Shares from railway, services and electric power sections traded mixed. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which declined to around 8,868 in early trades, was down 73.1 points or 0.8 percent at 8,929.5 at the end of the morning session. Amada Co., Nippon Electric Glass, Citizen Holdings and Mazda Motor lost 3 to 4 percent. Mitsubishi Corp. shares lost around 3 percent on a downward revision in earnings forecast due to falling commodities prices. Kobe Steel, Mitsubishi Paper Mills, Furukawa, Ebara Corp., Sumco Corp., Tokyo Electric Power, Pacific Metals, Toho Zinc and Sumitomo Metal Mining lost over 2 percent. JFE Holdings Inc. shares declined on reports of a likely fall in the company's pretax profit for the April to September half-year period. Japan Tobacco Inc., Tokyo Electron, Mitsubishi Chemicals, Mitsui Chemicals, Canon Inc., Japan Steel Works, Pioneer Corp. and Nissan Motor also posted Sharp losses. Among the gainers in the Nikkei index, Sharp Corp. moved up by over 10 percent, Keisei Electric Railway added 4.4 percent and Unitika, Sumitomo Osaka Cement and Hitachi Zosen Corp. gained 2 to 3 percent. Tokyo Tatemono, Mitsubishi Motors, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc., Sumitomo Chemical, Chugai Pharmaceutical, NTT Data and Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma also moved higher. In economic news, Japan saw a merchandise trade deficit of 558.55 billion yen in September, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday. That missed forecasts for a shortfall of 547.9 billion following the downwardly revised deficit of 755.9 billion yen in August. Exports plummeted 10.3 percent on year - also missing expectations for a decline of 9.9 percent following the 5.8 percent contraction in the previous month. Imports were up an annual 4.1 percent versus forecasts for a gain of 2.9 percent after dipping 5.4 percent a month earlier. In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the lower 79 yen range in early deals in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 79.30 to the dollar. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Shanghai, South Korea and Taiwan are trading notably lower. Indonesia, Malaysia, snd Singapore are down with modest losses, while Hong Kong is bucking the trend and trading marginally up. The New Zealand market is closed for a holiday. Markets across the region had turned in a mixed performance on Friday. On Wall Street, stocks declined sharply on Friday, as traders reacted negatively to the latest batch of earnings news, particularly from Microsoft , General Electric and McDonald's . The major averages regained some ground in the final hour of trading but still ended the day firmly in negative territory. The Dow tumbled 205.4 points or 1.5 percent to 13,343.5, the Nasdaq plummeted 67.3 points or 2.2 percent to 3,005.6 and the S&P 500 plunged 24.1 points or 1.7 percent to 1,433.2. Major European markets too moved to the downside on Friday. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index dipped by 0.4 percent, while the German DAX index and the French CAC 40 Index lost 0.8 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively. U.S. Crude oil ended sharply lower on Friday, tracking declining equity markets and a strengthening dollar after some disappointing U.S. existing home sales data, soft earnings, and disappointment over the outcome of the European Union summit meet. Crude for November delivery plunged $2.05 or 2.2 percent to close at $90.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Commodities USDCAD USDEUR USDGBP USDJPY Please click on the images to view our interactive charts Crude Steady Amid Supply Concerns The price of crude oil was steady above $90 Monday morning on supply worries amid tensions in Lebanon as Lebanese troops and gunmen exchanged fire in Beirut's southern suburbs earlier today. Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for December delivery, added $0.56 to $91.00 a barrel Last week, oil shed nearly 2 percent on some mixed macroeconomic data from the U.S. and China. A strengthening dollar and the more than expected increase in U.S. crude stockpile also impacted crude prices, with investors wary of the outcome from the ongoing European leaders summit meeting. This morning, the U.S. dollar was lingering around its one-month low versus the euro and leveling off from a two-week high against sterling. The buck was trading flat against the Swiss franc, while advancing to a fresh three-month high versus the yen. In economic news from the euro zone, a leading indicator of the German economy declined for the sixth consecutive month in August as large declines in consumer confidence and new orders in investment goods industries more than offset positive contributions from stock prices and the yield spread, data from a survey by the Conference Board showed. The leading economic index decreased 0.3 percent on a monthly basis to 102.3 in August, after falling 0.2 percent and 0.4 percent respectively in the previous two months. Meanwhile, a report from the Eurostat revealed that euro zone government deficit declined for a second consecutive year in 2011, while debt continued to rise. The government deficit fell to 4.1 percent of gross domestic product in 2011 from 6.2 percent in 2010 and 6.3 percent in 2009. During this week, traders focus will be on the two-day FOMC meeting ending Wednesday, the Commerce Department's new home sales report for September, the National Association of Realtors' pending home sales report for September, the advance third quarter GDP estimate and the Commerce Department's durable goods orders for September. Also, focus will be on the crude oil inventories data from the API, due out Tuesday after the market hours, and the EIA due out the subsequent day.