By Corinne Gretler - Dec 16, 2011 7:30 PM GMT+0700
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Jim McCafferty, a Hong Kong-based Asia research product manager for Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, talks about the outlook for China economic growth and stocks. McCafferty also discusses the Indian rupee. He speaks with Rishaad Salamat, Angie Lau, John Dawson and Mia Saini on Bloomberg Television. (Source: Bloomberg)
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Stewart Paterson, the Singapore-based co-founder of Riley Paterson Investment Management Pte, talks about Europe's debt crisis and its impact on Asian financial markets. Paterson speaks with Rishaad Salamat on Bloomberg Television's "On the Move Asia." (Source: Bloomberg)
U.S. stock futures rose, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will pare its weekly loss, commodities climbed and the yen weakened as better-than-forecast data signaled the world’s biggest economy is strengthening.
S&P futures expiring in March rose 0.6 percent at 7:24 a.m. in New York, while the Stoxx Europe 600 Index increased 0.1 percent. The yen depreciated against all 16 major peers tracked by Bloomberg and India’s rupee jumped 1.5 percent as the central bank introduced measures to curb currency speculation. Copper led commodities higher.
U.S. initial jobless claims unexpectedly dropped to a three-year low yesterday and Federal Reserve gauges of manufacturing in the New York and Philadelphia regions topped estimates. Singapore’s exports exceeded economists’ projections, while Fitch Ratings boosted Indonesia’s sovereign debt ratings to investment grade. A report today may show the cost of living in the U.S. was little changed in November.
“The downside risk in equity markets, most notably European equity markets at the moment, is very low,” Bob Parker, a senior adviser at Credit Suisse Asset Management, said from London in a Bloomberg Television interview. The firm oversees about $453 billion. “We’re still in a situation where Chinese growth will be maintained above 8 percent in 2012.”
European Stocks Climb
The Stoxx 600 pared an earlier gain of 0.7 percent. The gauge has tumbled 15 percent this year. Rio Tinto Group climbed 2.8 percent, leading a gauge of mining companies higher. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rallied 0.8 percent and the Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) snapped a six-day losing streak.
The gain in S&P 500 futures signaled the U.S. equity benchmark may extend yesterday’s 0.3 percent advance. The S&P 500 has lost 3.3 percent in 2011, the second-best performance among 24 developed markets after New Zealand.
Research In Motion Ltd. dropped 8.8 percent in early New York trading after the smartphone maker delayed the release of a new generation of BlackBerry devices.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rose one basis point to 1.917 percent. U.S. consumer prices probably climbed 0.1 percent in November after falling the previous month, according to a survey of 82 economists before the Labor Department report today. Inflation-linked debt has returned 14 percent to investors this year, set for the biggest annual gain since 2002, an index compiled by Bank of America Corp. shows.
Yen Weakens
The yen fell the most against higher-yielding currencies, dropping 1 percent versus the South African rand and 1.2 percent against the New Zealand dollar. The euro was 0.1 percent stronger at $1.3032 and climbed 0.2 percent to 101.49 yen. The dollar was little changed at 77.87 yen.
Spanish two-year notes rallied for a sixth day, dropping 54 basis points to 3.12 percent, a two-month low. Italian two-year note yields were 49 basis points lower at 5.05 percent.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti won a confidence vote in the lower house of parliament today on a 30 billion-euro ($39 billion) package of austerity and growth measures. A final vote will be held this evening before the package passes to the Senate, which is set to vote on the plan on Dec. 23.
German two-year note yields fell to a record 0.23 percent. Ten-year yields slipped two basis points to 1.93 percent.
The cost of insuring against default on sovereign debt fell, with the Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe Index of credit-default swaps linked to 15 governments declining 4.5 basis points to 378 basis points. Corporate swaps indexes were little changed.
Metals Climb
Copper, zinc and aluminum rose more than 1 percent and gold climbed 1.6 percent to $1,595.64 an ounce, the first gain this week. The S&P GSCI index of 24 commodities was 0.5 percent higher, the first increase in three days. Oil in London advanced 0.6 percent to $104.24 a barrel.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index (MXEF) rose 0.9 percent, snapping six days of losses. Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite Index climbed 1.9 percent and the rupiah appreciated 0.6 percent against the dollar after Fitch Ratings upgraded the country to investment grade yesterday.
The Shanghai Composite Index jumped 2 percent as investors speculated China will cut lenders’ reserve requirements, according to Zheshang Securities Co. India’s rupee led gains in emerging-market currencies, strengthening 1.4 percent from a record low after the central bank announced measures to curb speculation in the foreign-exchange market.
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Rummer in London at arummer@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Nagi at chrisnagi@bloomberg.net
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment