Analytics, News, and Forecasts for CFD Markets: stock news — 04-03-2013.

European stocks were little changed as utility shares rallied, offsetting HSBC Holdings Plc’s biggest retreat since July and a survey that showed China’s services industries slowed last month.

China’s government intensified its three-year campaign to cool the real estate market, ordering larger deposits and stricter enforcement of sales taxes. The People’s Bank of China’s regional branches may implement the measures in conjunction with the price-control targets of local governments, the country’s cabinet said in a statement.

In Rome, a senior aide to Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani said the country will need to hold another election if the center left fails to build a coalition commanding a majority of seats in the Senate.

The finance ministers of the 17-member euro area meet in Brussels today to discuss the planned bailout for Cyprus.

National benchmark indexes dropped in 12 of the 18 western- European markets. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.5 percent, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.3 percent and Germany’s DAX retreated 0.2 percent. Greece’s ASE Index lost 2.1 percent after Russell Investments reclassified the country as an emerging market.

HSBC dropped 2.5 percent to 710 pence after saying pretax earnings fell 5.6 percent in 2012 because of a record settlement for anti-money-laundering sanctions in the U.S. and a charge to revalue its own debt. Profit of $20.65 billion trailed the $23.49 billion estimate of 26 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The lender took a $5.2 billion charge for revaluing its debt.

Anglo American Plc retreated 2.7 percent to 1,849 pence after Nomura Holdings Inc. downgraded the stock to reduce, a rating similar to sell, from neutral. The brokerage said that analysts need to lower their estimates for the company’s earnings this year.

Debenhams slumped 15 percent to 80.7 pence, for the biggest tumble on the Stoxx 600. The second-largest U.K. department store forecast that pretax profit for the first half of the year will decline to 120 million pounds ($181 million) after snow disrupted sales. Comparable revenue dropped 10 percent from Jan. 14 to Jan. 27, the retailer said.

U.S. stock-index futures declined as growth slowed in China’s services industry and American lawmakers signaled federal spending cuts will continue for weeks before they can reach a budget resolution.

Global Stocks:

European stocks were down, which was associated with the fall of Asian stocks, as well as information from China. According to the statement, which was presented today by the State Council, China will increase the down payments and interest rates on second mortgages in the cities, where there was an overgrowth of prices, and ordered to strict compliance sales taxes against the three-year campaign to cool the property market. In addition, the State Council said that the regional offices of the People's Bank of China may implement measures under the price control objectives of local government. Meanwhile, the statement says that the city faced with a relatively large pressure from rising house prices, should tighten restrictions on housing sales.

Cost HSBC fell 3.1% to 705.5 pence, while showing the largest drop in eight months after Europe's largest lender reported a profit before tax declined by 5.6% in 2012 due to a record settlement to combat money laundering in the United States. As it became known, the profit was $ 20.650 billion, compared with forecasts of $ 23.490 billion

Shares of Anglo American Plc (AAL) fell 3.4% to 1,836 pence after Nomura Holdings downgraded the shares to 'sell' from 'neutral'.

Debenhams price fell by 11% to 84 pence, showing the biggest drop in the Stoxx 600. The second-largest seller of Great Britain said that the forecast profit before tax for the first half of this year will fall to 120 million pounds.

Asian stocks dropped, with the regional benchmark index heading for its second day of decline, after China tightened mortgage rules to cool the property market. Japanese shares pared gains.

Nikkei 225 11,652.29 +45.91 +0.40% 

Hang Seng 22,537.81 -342.41 -1.50%

S&P/ASX 200 5,010.52 -75.61 -1.49%           

Shanghai Composite 2,273.4 -86.10 -3.65%

China Resources Land Ltd., a state-owned developer, slumped 9.3 percent in Hong Kong, pacing declines among Chinese real- estate companies. 

Noble Group Ltd., Asia’s biggest commodity trader by sales, dropped 2.6 percent in Singapore after Citigroup Inc. downgraded its rating.

Mitsubishi Estate Co., Japan’s No. 1 developer by market value, rose 3.6 percent after Bank of Japan nominee Haruhiko Kuroda said he will do whatever it takes to end deflation.

Asian stocks rose, with the regional benchmark index heading for its biggest weekly advance in two months. Japanese shares rallied after a drop in consumer prices stoked speculation the Bank of Japan will add to monetary easing to beat deflation.

Nikkei 225 11,606.38 +47.02 +0.41% 

Hang Seng 22,880.22 -140.05 -0.61%           

S&P/ASX 200 5,086.13 -17.95 -0.35%           

Shanghai Composite 2,359.51 -6.09 -0.26%

Mitsubishi Estate Co. jumped 6.1 percent, pacing gains among Japanese developers.

Sony Corp., the maker of Bravia televisions and PlayStation game consoles, rose 3.9 percent after selling a building in Tokyo for 111.1 billion yen ($1.2 billion).

Golden Agri-Resources Ltd. dropped 3.1 percent in Singapore after the world’s second-largest palm-oil producer reported fourth-quarter profit declined 93 percent.

European (SXXP) stocks declined, following nine months of gains for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, as measures of manufacturing in the U.K. and China dropped, while a report showed euro-area unemployment has climbed to a record.

The Stoxx 600 retreated 0.3 percent to 289.02 at the close in London, paring an earlier slide of as much as 1.1 percent.

China’s manufacturing growth unexpectedly slowed last month. The country’s official purchasing managers’ index slipped to 50.1 in February from 50.4 in January, the National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said today in Beijing. The reading compared with the 50.5 median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 31 economists. A number above 50 means that activity increased.

European stocks pared their decline after the Institute for Supply Management’s U.S. factory index increased to 54.2 last month from 53.1 a month earlier. Economists had projected the gauge would decline to 52.5, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey.

National benchmark indexes dropped in 11 of the 18 western- European markets.

FTSE 100 6,378.6 +17.79 +0.28% CAC 40 3,699.91 -23.09 -0.62% DAX 7,708.16 -33.54 -0.43%     

Rio Tinto retreated 2.8 percent to 3,442 pence as a gauge of mining companies posted the largest decline of the 19 industry groups in the Stoxx 600.

Kazakhmys Plc (KAZ) slumped 4.7 percent to 590 pence. Liberum Capital Ltd. downgraded Kazakhstan’s biggest copper producer to hold from buy, citing higher unit costs at its businesses.

Glencore International Plc (GLEN) dropped 2.7 percent to 377 pence. The largest publicly traded commodities supplier said it will miss its March 15 deadline to complete the $33 billion takeover of Xstrata Plc. Glencore said that it needs approval from China before it can conclude the deal. Xstrata slid 3.1 percent to 1,127 pence.

Belgacom plunged 5.6 percent to 20.21 euros after Belgium’s largest phone company forecast earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of 1.69 billion euros ($2.2 billion) to 1.73 billion euros for 2013. The average analyst estimate had predicted Ebitda of 1.75 billion euros this year.

Vopak tumbled 11 percent to 48.90 euros, falling the most since November 2008. The world’s largest oil and chemical storage company reported an 8.5 percent drop in full-year operating profit to 536 million euros.

Deutsche Bank AG lost 4.3 percent to 33.57 euros. Germany’s largest bank was downgraded to sell from neutral at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

U.S. stocks rose, erasing earlier losses in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as better-than- estimated data on consumer confidence and manufacturing offset concerns about federal spending cuts. For the week DOW index rose 0,53%, Nasdaq rose 0,17%, S&P gained 0.05%.
“The sequester panic, if this was 18 months ago, we could have seen multi-hundred point swings in the market,” Kevin Divney, chief investment officer at Beaconcrest Capital Management in Boston, said in a phone interview. “What has happened is that the policy makers have lost credibility with the stock market.”
President Barack Obama met with congressional leaders today as no one predicted a breakthrough to avert $85 billion in federal spending cuts set to start before midnight. Democrats and Republicans are in a standoff over how to replace the cuts totaling $1.2 trillion over nine years. Obama said the spending cuts will cause “ripple effects” throughout the economy and jobs will be lost.
Manufacturing Expands
American factories expanded in February at the fastest pace in almost two years. The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index rose to 54.2, the highest reading since June 2011, the Tempe, Arizona-based group said today.
Consumer spending in the U.S. rose in January even as incomes dropped by the most in 20 years, showing households were weathering the payroll-tax increase by socking away less money in the bank. Outside the U.S., data showed China’s manufacturing slowed for a second month while factory output in the euro area contracted for the 19th straight month.
“A couple economic data points are reminding the market that the sequestration is an issue,” Andres Garcia-Amaya, New York-based global market strategist at JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s mutual funds unit, which oversees $400 billion in assets, said in a phone interview. “It’s an issue that was known, but the underlying fundamental data continued to improve slightly.”
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans said the Fed should press on with $85 billion in monthly bond buying, warning that a premature withdrawal of stimulus risks hobbling the recovery.
“We need to be careful not to undermine our own policies and remove accommodation prematurely, as the Japanese did,” Evans said yesterday in a speech in Des Moines, Iowa.
Most components of DOW index closed in plus (18 of 30). Shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT, +1.51%) advanced more than other components. Shares of Alcoa, Inc. (AA, -1.12%) fell more than other components
Sectors of the S&P closed trading mixed. Most growts showed healthcare sector (+0.5%). Most fell showed sector of conglomerates (-0.8%).
On result of yesterdays session:

Dow +35.17 14,089.66 +0.25%

Nasdaq +9.55 3,169.74 +0.30%

S&P +3.53 1,518.21 +0.23%