Thursday March 20, 04:15 PM
US open: Philly Fed gives markets a boost
LONDON (ShareCast) - US shares rallied on a better than expected reading for the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index with a drop in oil prices also giving a boost. Dow Jones (news) is up
100 are 12,199. Nasdaq (NASDAQ: news) has added 14 to 2,224 and the S&P 500 is up 10 at 1,309.Crude prices fell below $100 a barrel while the Philadelphia Fed index improved to minus 17.4 in March from minus 24.0 in February. Economists had forecast an improvement but not by as much. Investors took heart from the figures, despite parcels firm FedEx (NYSE: FDX - news) warning its sees limited earnings growth in the year ahead and weekly dole claimant figures rising 22,000 to 378,000. The February index of leading economic indicators also fell 0.3% after falling 0.4% in the previous month. Company (CPNY3.SA - news) news saw Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC - news) prominent again as big shareholders, including the billionaire Joe Lewis who could lose up to $800m according to reprots, said they would challenge its takeover by JP Morgan. Gold fell again and is now below $920 per ounce.
|
Send Article by Email
