Market Update & Important Indicators
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.9% in recent trading. The S&P 500 added 0.8%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.6%. The Dow Jones Transportation Average, an index of 20 of the largest U.S. airlines, railroads and trucking firms, climbed 2.2%, its biggest gain in more than a month. Several banks on Friday saw their share prices fall after reporting strong earnings, including JPMorgan Chase, for example. On Monday though, investors appeared willing to temporarily put those concerns aside. Shares of J.B. Hunt rose 6.3%, the most of any other stock in the S&P 500. Logistic firm C.H. Robinson Woldwide added 3.5%, while rail-road operators Norfolk Southern and Kansas City Southern gained 1.5% each. The US Gold price gained 0.01% to finish at 1345.50 $USD.
The Stoxx Europe 600 closed 0.4%, or 1.46 points, adrift at 377.74, while Germany's DAX was down 0.4% and France's CAC-40 fell 0.04%. The euro gained 0.29% against the dollar to $1.2369 Polymetal International fell 9.3% after an asset-swap deal with the Russian Copper Company. Whitbread shares gained 7.5% on break-up talk after stake-building by activist investors.
Asian stocks' early gains eroded Monday, led by declines in Hong Kong and mainland China over worries about the Hong Kong dollar, though Japanese stocks rose. The currency last week weakened to the bottom of its trading band against the U.S. dollar, leading Hong Kong's monetary authority to try to bolster it by selling $1.23 billion in U.S. dollars to buy Hong Kong dollars. The Hang Seng Index was down 1.6% while the Shanghai Composite Index of big-cap Chinese stocks was down 1.5%. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average finished up 0.3%.
Further gains in energy stocks following last week's surge in oil prices helped buoy Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200. Despite fading from the morning's high, the index finished up 0.2% at 5841.3 to rise for a 2nd day. Woodside Petroleum rose 0.7% while Oil Search gained 0.9% ahead of a quarterly production update and Origin Energy added 2.2% after Macquarie turned bullish on that stock. Most of the big banks edged higher, though CBA fell 0.7% after outperforming its peers Friday.
The London Metal Exchange’s 3-month copper contract increased by 1.2% to 6,876/t. The other base metals were mainly gainers overnight. Lead prices increased by 3.0% to 2,376/t, whilst zinc prices increased 0.6% to 3,125/t. Nickel finished 3.0% higher at 14,307/t, Aluminium gained 5.2% at 2,411/t. Tin Prices fell 0.1% to 21,090/t.
Recent Contacts & Presentations:
Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), Helix Resources (HLX), Pantoro Limited (PNR), Alt Resources Ltd (ARS), Coziron Resources Ltd (CZR), ABM Resources Ltd (ABU), Vital Metals Ltd (VML), Todd River Resources Ltd (TRT), Pacific Energy Ltd (PEA), Carnarvon Petroleum Ltd (CVN), Australian Mines Ltd (AUZ), Australian Finance Group (AFG), Paladin Energy Ltd (PDN), Cooper Energy Ltd (COE), Medibio Ltd (MEB), Botanix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BOT), Salt Lake Potash Ltd (SO4), Golden Mile Resources Ltd (G88), NTM Gold Ltd (NTM), Ausmex Mining Group Ltd (AMG), Matrix C&E Ltd (MCE), Austal Ltd (ASB), Decmil Group Ltd (DCG), Ventnor Resources Ltd, Ausdrill Ltd (ASL), Alice Queen Ltd (AQX), PNX Metals Ltd (PNX), Alliance Resources Ltd (AGS)
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