NST Online Business Times : latest
NST Online Business Times : latest |
| Selamat Hari Raya to our Muslim readers! Posted: 29 Aug 2011 07:14 PM PDT [unable to retrieve full-text content]Business Times wishes all our readers Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. |
| US stocks rally on consumer spending data Posted: 29 Aug 2011 07:24 PM PDT NEW YORK: US stock markets rallied on Monday as upbeat data on consumer spending lifted hopes that economic growth would pick up speed, while Hurricane Irene caused less damage than feared. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 254.71 points (2.26 per cent) to close at 11,539.25. The broader S&P 500 surged 33.28 points (2.83 per cent) to 1,210.08, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shot up 82.26 points (3.32 per cent) to 2,562.11. The US Commerce Department reported that consumer spending, a pillar of the world's largest economy, rebounded 0.8 per cent in July, after a 0.1 per cent dip in June.
She added: "We had a much better-than-expected scenario in terms of the hurricane hitting the East Coast. There was minimum damage, we are already seeing the debris moved away and transportation is back up and running." Investors also got an unexpected dose of positive news from Europe, where the sovereign debt crisis has been weighing on market sentiment. Two Greek banks, Alpha Bank and Eurobank, announced that they were merging and receiving a sizable Qatari investment, the first bit of good news from Greece's banking sector for some time. Financial stocks rallied. Bank of America surged 8.1 per cent after saying that it would sell half of its stake in China Construction Bank for about $8.3 billion, a move that will help BofA shore up its capital base and ease investor concerns about its health. Citgroup gained 4.9 per cent, while JPMorgan Chase was up 4.0 per cent and Goldman Sachs was up 3.9 per cent. Insurance giant Travelers closed the day with a gain of 5.1 per cent as fears subsided that multi billion-dollar damages from Irene would strain insurers' balance sheets. Airlines soared. American Airlines rose 8.6 per cent, Delta Air Lines was up 5.3 per cent and United Continental gained 3.7 per cent. Last week, some risk-assessment firms predicted that Irene would cause up to $20 billion in total damages in the United States, but by Monday the same companies were putting the figure at about $7 billion. Amazon gained 3.6 per cent after technology research firm Forrester predicted strong sales for the company's upcoming tablet computer and described it as a formidable competitor to Apple's iPad. -- AFP |
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