The turmoil in Greece sent European shares lower in early trading. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.9% to 5,388.93 and Germany's DAX slid 1% to 6,335.93. France's CAC-40 was down 0.4% at 2,036.30.
Wall Street was also headed for a lower opening, with Dow Jones industrial futures losing 0.1% to 12,589. S&P 500 futures were 0.2% down at 1,325.90.
Asian benchmarks recorded sharp losses earlier in the day.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index dropped 1.1% to close at 8,801.17, its lowest close since January 30, amid discouraging economic news. Core private-sector machinery orders fell 2.8% in March, the first drop in three months, Japan's Cabinet Office said.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng plummeted 3.2% to 19,259.83 and South Korea's Kospi fell 3.1% to 1,840.53. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 2.4% to 4,165.50 amid sliding commodities prices.
Newly elected Greek leaders - hotly divided over how to resolve the country's economic crisis - failed to form a new government on Tuesday. That means new elections must be held in June.
Some investors fear a win by parties that oppose unpopular austerity measures necessary for Greece to qualify for urgently needed bailout money. Without the money, the country would probably default on its debt and leave the euro.
"The Greek crisis will continue to frustrate markets, keeping sentiment under pressure," analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong said.
Mainland Chinese shares also lost ground, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index falling 1.2% to 2,346.19. The Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 1.4% to 942.04. Shares in real estate, cement producers, furniture makers and financial companies weakened.
Asian Stocks Tumble On Greece Woes - NASDAQ
(RTTNews.com) - Stocks fell sharply across Asia on Wednesday, as news that Greece will hold a second election in June increased uncertainty over the future of the euro region. Investors fear that a Greek exit from the eurozone, a strong position against austerity measures and a disorderly debt default could lead to fatal consequences and make sovereign debt problems worse.
The consequences of even an orderly exit by Greece from the eurozone poses great risks and the spillover effects are difficult to assess, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said, clouding the global economic outlook.
Commodities came under heavy selling pressure and the euro tumbled to a fresh 4-month low against the greenback, as investors priced in a Greek exit from the 17-member euro zone. Italian and Spanish 10-year yields soared and speculation was rife that Moody's Investors Service will 'significantly' downgrade 21 Spanish banks within a week following a cut of credit ratings on 26 Italian banks on Monday.
Japanese shares fell, with the Nikkei average falling 1.1 percent to a three-and-a-half month low, after Greece said it will hold a fresh election in June, adding to concerns over Spanish banks and slowing global growth. Earlier in the session, the benchmark index fell below the 8,800 points mark for the first time since February 1. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange also finished 1.1 percent lower.
Among euro-sensitive exporters, Canon lost a percent and Nikon fell 3.3 percent. Other exporters such as Honda Motor, Toyota and Panasonic shed over 2 percent each on concerns over slower growth in China, Japan's biggest trade partner, after media reports suggested China's biggest four banks barely issued any new yuan loans in the first two weeks of May.
China-linked Komatsu fell 2.5 percent and Fanuc dropped 1.2 percent. Mizuho Financial Group gained 1.8 percent after it reported robust net profit for the fiscal year through March, largely due to an improvement in credit-related costs.
In economic news, core machine orders in Japan contracted a seasonally adjusted 2.8 percent from a month earlier in March, the Cabinet Office said today - falling for the first time in three months. The headline figure beat forecasts for a contraction of 3.5 percent following the downwardly revised 2.8 percent increase in February. However, on a yearly basis, core machine orders fell 1.1 percent - well shy of expectations for a gain of 4.4 percent after climbing 8.9 percent in February.
China's Shanghai Composite index fell 1.2 percent after the state-run Shanghai Securities News said combined net lending for the country's four biggest banks was almost zero in the first two weeks of May, extending the previous month's weak credit growth.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell a whopping 3.2 percent as weak lending data for the mainland's big banks intensified fears about the slowing Chinese economy. HSBC Holdings,which has the biggest weighting in the Hang Seng Index, lost 2.4 percent.
Australian shares fell sharply, as weak leads from global markets amid deepening worries over Greece's political turmoil sapped appetite for risk. Both the benchmark S&P/ASX and the broader All Ordinaries index fell about 2.4 percent each. Resource stocks suffered heavy losses, with BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Fortescue falling 4-5 percent. Mineral sands producer Iluka Resources fell 2 percent and gold miner Newcrest slumped 4.3 percent.
In energy stocks, Oil Search, Santos and Woodside dropped 2-3 percent. ANZ fell 2.3 percent as the nation's third-largest lender unveiled plans to invest another A$300 million to support business growth in China. Westpac and NAB fell around a percent each, Commonwealth lost 1.7 percent and investment bank Macquarie Group tumbled 3.9 percent.
Toll Holdings plummeted 15.2 percent after the transport and logistics group said it expects underlying earnings to fall this fiscal year due to weakness in the global apparel sector. CSR declined 1.5 percent after the building products maker said Australia's housing construction industry will remain in the doldrums in the year ahead. Shares of Industrea soared 43 percent after General Electric said it would buy the mining equipment firm for about A$470 million.
South Korea's Kospi average tumbled 3.1 percent, extending losses for a sixth day, as mounting worries that Greece may default on its debts heightened global economic uncertainties. Blue-chip memory chip makers bore the brunt of the selling following reports that Apple Inc had placed orders with Japanese rival Elpida to buy mobile DRAM chips amounting to a whopping 50 percent of the volume produced at the bankrupt manufacturer's Hiroshima factory. SK Hynix plummeted 8.9 percent, while Samsung Electronics slumped 6.2 percent.
New Zealand shares lost ground, dragged down by pay TV company Sky Network Television after the nation's anti-trust regulator said it would launch an investigation into the company's content contracts with internet service providers that may be hindering competition. Shares of the News Corp-controlled firm plunged 7 percent, while the benchmark NZX-50 index shed 0.6 percent.
Gold miner Oceanagold tumbled 3.5 percent as gold prices fell for a fourth consecutive session. Among heavyweights, Telecom fell 1.2 percent and Fletcher Building lost a percent, but Contact Energy added 1.5 percent. Exporter Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which derives more than half of its revenue in U.S. dollars, climbed 3.9 percent, as the kiwi dollar fell to a 4 1/2-month low against the greenback.
India's benchmark Sensex was last trading down 1.7 percent on capital outflow worries after the rupee tumbled 67 paise to hit a record low of 54.46 against the dollar, succumbing to growing risk aversion due to the euro zone crisis and amid concerns about India's widening current account and fiscal deficits.
Elsewhere, Indonesia's Jakarta Composite, Malaysia's KLSE Composite and Singapore's Straits Times index all fell around 1.6 percent each, while the Taiwan Weighted average lost 2.2 percent.
U.S. stocks fell for a third consecutive session overnight, with the major averages ending at their worst closing levels in over three months, as news that Greece is heading for a fresh general election dented sentiment, overshadowing a batch of relatively solid economic data on home-builder confidence and activity in the New York manufacturing sector.
Consumer prices were flat in April and retail sales barely grew, in line with estimates. The Dow shed half a percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 0.3 percent and the S&P 500 dropped 0.6 percent.
For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com
Best Summer Stocks And Books - Forbes
This article originally appeared in the May 21, 2012 issue of Forbes magazine.
I know it may seem passé in the age of iPads, eReaders and Kindles, but one of my passions is collecting books, especially investment classics. I didn’t know it at the time, but the first classic I read was in 1959 when I was 8 years old. It was my father Phil Fisher’s New York Times Best Seller Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits. I complained about it cutting into my summer vacation and didn’t really understand it, but it probably sparked my love for investing books.
During my adult life I reckon that I have collected more than 1,000 books on investing alone. Many cost as little as a few dollars, and some were free because they were thought of as basically worthless by the seller in a yard sale or junk store. Classic books in classical fields are widely recognized by would-be collectors but not so much the ones I like to collect.
One of my favorites is a tiny book a quarter-inch thick called Stock Market Manipulation by Edwin Lefèvre. It looks like nothing, but it is probably worth $500 or more.
Another equally as valuable is my 1938 edition of Lefèvre’s Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, complete with dust jacket. Mine was store-bought in 1996 for $30. (I also have 1923 first editions without the jacket.) Demand for this title grows as publishers keep creating new editions that sell well and promote early editions.
Of course Benjamin Graham and David Dodd’s Security Analysis is an alltime classic. Good-quality first editions can cost $5,000 to $25,000. Here’s a book destined to gain in value: Roger Babson’s pre-1929 Business Barometers for Anticipating Conditions (see my Aug. 22, 2011 column). It now costs $5 to $30. But I think a good copy will be worth $500 in 20 years.
Like anything else, collecting has nuances and tricks. A great guide is Modern Book Collecting (1992) by Robert Wilson. Pick up a used copy at AbeBooks.com. AbeBooks is probably the best used-book search engine in the world.
There is another benefit to collecting investment classics. Learning from them may lead you to make wiser decisions and ultimately help you build your wealth. So read a few classics this summer and consider these stocks for your portfolio:
Malcolm S. Forbes said, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” I say, Ken loves Barbie. And the American Girl! And, of course, Fisher-Price! What’s not to love with Hot Wheels? As the saying goes, you can tell it’s Mattel (MAT, 32); it’s swell. The company isn’t a fast grower, but it’s a classic and sells at just 12 times 2012 earnings and has a 3.9% dividend yield.
Drugmaker Forest Laboratories (FRX, 34) has a checkered past—too much of one big patent-expired antidepressant (Lexapro)—and 2010 criminal settlements and allegations.
That’s all in the past. The future is brighter with a great stream of 17 new and upcoming products for varying ailments, including antipsychotic Cariprazine and antidepressant Viibryd.
Forest is among the 100 largest global R&D spenders. Thirty-five years ago I fathomed the price-to-research ratio—for buying good firms at less than ten times annual R&D spending. FRX is a rare qualifier. It also sells for 18 times March 2013 earnings.
US STOCKS-Futures rise as Merkel comments calm investors - Reuters UK
* Merkel comments ease investor concerns over Greece
* BHP Billiton warns on commodities, global investors
* Futures up: Dow 39 pts, S&P 5.6 pts, Nasdaq 5.5 pts (Updates prices, adds comment, byline)
NEW YORK, May 16 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday after hitting three-month lows overnight with traders citing comments from German Chancellor Angela Merkel about keeping Greece in the euro zone as calming markets.
Futures bounced back from steep overnight losses hit as investors worried about Greece's political and financial crisis. Merkel's comments at a joint press conference with French President Francois Hollande were seen partly alleviating those fears.
"The market was pretty weak overnight, futures were under a lot more pressure, but Merkel made a comment reiterating she wants Greece to stay in the euro and that appears to have stabilized futures," said Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services in Charlotte, Vermont.
"That is, if they are willing to keep up with their agreement, and that "if" is very much under question right now," he said.
Opinion polls show leftists opposed to the terms of the bailout that is keeping Greece afloat would likely win the new election, set for June 17.
Greeks, afraid of the devaluation that would follow an exit from the euro, withdrew at least 700 million euros from their banks on Monday.
S&P 500 futures rose 5.6 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 39 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 5.5 points.
Wednesday's data diary features housing starts for April at 8:30 a.m. (1230 GMT), followed by industrial production figures at 9:15 a.m. (1315 GMT), with both expected to show an improvement from the previous month.
The minutes from the Federal Reserve's April meeting, due at 2 p.m. (1800 GMT), will be scrutinized for any discussion on the health of the labor market as investors debate the likelihood of more stimulus measures.
The Fed meeting took place before the first Greek election, so they will not likely include clues on how the Fed is going to respond if the European crisis deepens, said Windham Financial's Mendelsohn.
Adding to pressure over commodities and mining stocks, BHP Billiton, the world's biggest miner, said it expects commodity markets to cool further and that investors have lost confidence in the longer-term health of the global economy.
Facebook Inc increased the size of its initial public offering by 25 percent and could raise as much as $16 billion as strong investor demand for the No. 1 social network trumps debate about the company's long-term potential to make money.
U.S. stocks fell for the eighth day in the past 10 on Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 63.35 points, or 0.50 percent, to close at 12,632.00. The S&P 500 Index lost 7.69 points, or 0.57 percent, to 1,330.66. The Nasdaq Composite fell 8.82 points, or 0.30 percent, to close at 2,893.76. (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos, editing by Dave Zimmerman)
Stocks, Euro, Commodities Decline on Greek Crisis Concern (Update 4) - Bloomberg
U.S. equity-index futures advanced, signaling the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index may snap a three-day drop, after a report showed housing starts rose more than estimated. European stocks swung between gains and losses, commodities fell and Treasuries retreated.
S&P 500 futures added 0.5 percent at 8:45 a.m. in New York after sinking 0.5 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index (SXXP) slid less than 0.1 percent. The S&P GSCI gauge of 24 raw materials dropped to the lowest in almost five months as oil slipped 1.4 percent to $92.70 a barrel. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note jumped three basis points. The Dollar Index (DXY) erased an earlier gain of 0.4 percent, trading less than 0.1 percent lower.
U.S. builders broke ground on more homes than anticipated in April, according to data from the Commerce Department before a report that may show industrial output increased. Stocks fell earlier on concern a new election in Greece may threaten spending cuts required to secure 240 billion euros ($306 billion) in bailouts. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande said they would consider measures to spur Greece’s economy as long as voters committed to austerity.
“As the pressure builds in Europe, you need to see another mini crisis before policy makers will step in, and we’re not there yet,” said Andrew Pease, Sydney-based chief investment strategist for the Asia-Pacific region at Russell Investment Group, which manages about $150 billion.
Lowest Close
The S&P 500 closed yesterday at the lowest level since February. J.C. Penney Co. (JCP) plunged 13 percent in German trading after the department-store chain reported a first-quarter loss and sales that fell more than analysts projected.
Housing starts rose 2.6 percent to a 717,000 annual rate from March’s revised 699,000 pace that was stronger than previously reported, Commerce Department figures showed. The median estimate of 80 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a rise to 685,000. Building permits, a proxy for future construction, fell from a more than three-year high. Industrial production rose in April, a separate Federal Reserve release is projected to show. The Fed will also release minutes from its latest meeting.
The Stoxx 600 has retreated 9.8 percent from this year’s high on March 16. A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S tumbled 6.2 percent after saying its container line will at best break even this year, falling short of analyst estimates for a profit. Banco Espirito Santo SA, Portugal’s biggest publicly traded lender by market value, sank 4.7 percent as first-quarter profit dropped 84 percent.
The GSCI gauge of commodities dropped 0.8 percent bringing this year’s decline to 2.2 percent. Gold declined 0.5 percent to $1,536.57 an ounce. Copper slipped 1.4 percent. Palladium dropped as much as 1.1 percent to the lowest since Nov. 30.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 2.2 percent. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland stocks sank 3.5 percent and South Korea’s Kospi index slipped 3.1 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.2 percent, and benchmark gauges in Russia, India and Hungary lost more than 1 percent.
To contact the reporters on this story: Stephen Kirkland in London at skirkland@bloomberg.net; Sungwoo Park in Seoul at spark47@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stuart Wallace at swallace6@bloomberg.net
US STOCKS-Wall St to rise at open, volatility expected - Reuters UK
* Merkel comments ease investor concerns over Greece
* Trading still expected to be volatile
* BHP Billiton warns on commodities, global investors
* Futures up: Dow 59 pts, S&P 6 pts, Nasdaq 12 pts (Updates prices, adds comment, data)
NEW YORK, May 16 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were set to open higher on Wednesday with traders citing comments from German Chancellor Angela Merkel about keeping Greece in the euro zone as calming markets.
But they cautioned that trading throughout the session is likely to be volatile, tracking developments in Europe.
Futures bounced back from steep overnight losses hit as investors worried about Greece's political and financial crisis. Merkel's comments at a joint press conference with French President Francois Hollande were seen partly alleviating those fears.
"The market was pretty weak overnight, futures were under a lot more pressure, but Merkel made a comment reiterating she wants Greece to stay in the euro and that appears to have stabilized futures," said Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services in Charlotte, Vermont.
"That is, if they are willing to keep up with their agreement, and that "if" is very much under question right now," he said.
Opinion polls show leftists opposed to the terms of the bailout that is keeping Greece afloat would likely win the new election, set for June 17. Greeks, afraid of the devaluation that would follow an exit from the euro, withdrew at least 700 million euros from their banks on Monday.
U.S. housing starts rose more than expected in April in another sign of a nascent housing recovery, even though permits for future building fell after touching a 3-1/2 year high the prior month.
"Nice to see some turnaround," said David Carter, chief investment officer at Lenox Wealth Advisors in New York. "However, this housing story is much smaller than news out of Greece and might get easily forgotten."
S&P 500 futures rose 6 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 59 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 12 points.
The minutes from the Federal Reserve's April meeting, due at 2 p.m. (1800 GMT), will be scrutinized for any discussion on the health of the labor market as investors debate the likelihood of more stimulus measures.
The Fed meeting took place before the first Greek election, so they will not likely include clues on how the Fed is going to respond if the European crisis deepens, said Windham Financial's Mendelsohn.
J.C. Penney shares tumbled 15 percent a day after the department store owner scrapped its dividend and its effort to remake itself as an affordable fashion-oriented retail chain took a much bigger-than-expected toll on sales in the first quarter.
Target Corp posted a higher profit and raised its expectations for the year, and its shares rose 1.7 percent in premarket trading.
Adding to pressure over commodities and mining stocks, BHP Billiton, the world's biggest miner, said it expects commodity markets to cool further and that investors have lost confidence in the longer-term health of the global economy.
Facebook Inc increased the size of its initial public offering by 25 percent and could raise as much as $16 billion as strong investor demand for the No. 1 social network trumps debate about the company's long-term potential to make money.
U.S. stocks fell for the eighth day in the past 10 on Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 63.35 points, or 0.50 percent, to close at 12,632.00. The S&P 500 Index lost 7.69 points, or 0.57 percent, to 1,330.66. The Nasdaq Composite fell 8.82 points, or 0.30 percent, to close at 2,893.76. (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos. Additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica, editing by Dave Zimmerman)
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