Analytics, News, and Forecasts for CFD Markets: stock news — 29-03-2012.

European stocks declined the most in more than three weeks as Standard & Poor’s said Greece may have to restructure its debt again.

European governments are preparing for a one-year increase in the ceiling on rescue aid to 940 billion euros ($1.25 trillion) to keep the debt crisis at bay, according to a draft statement written for finance ministers before they meet in Copenhagen tomorrow. German Chancellor Angela Merkel this week gave her first indication that she is prepared to allow an increase in the firewall.

An indicator of economic confidence in the euro region unexpectedly declined in March. An index of executive and consumer sentiment in the 17-nation euro area dropped to 94.4 from a revised 94.5 in February, the European Commission said.

National benchmark indexes fell in all of the 18 western European markets, except Iceland. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 slipped 1.2 percent, while France’s CAC 40 Index declined 1.4 percent and Germany’s DAX slumped 1.8 percent.

H&M dropped 4.9 percent to 238.1 kronor in Stockholm, the largest decline since September, after reporting first-quarter profit that missed analysts’ estimates as textile costs and markdowns weighed on profitability.

Roche Holding AG, the biggest maker of cancer drugs, fell 1.8 percent to 157 francs after raising its hostile takeover offer for Illumina Inc. by 15 percent to about $6.7 billion.

International Power Plc rallied 5.6 percent to 405 pence as it received an indicative offer from GDF Suez SA of 6 billion pounds ($9.5 billion) for the 30 percent stake it doesn’t already own.

U.S. stocks declined, sending the benchmark gauges lower for a third straight day, after Standard & Poor’s said Greece may have to restructure its debt again.

American equities joined a global slump as S&P said Greece may have to restructure again. In the U.S., initial jobless claims fell 5,000 in the week ended March 24 to 359,000, the lowest since 2008. The median forecast of economists called for 350,000 claims. The economy grew at a 3 percent annual rate in the last three months of 2011, the same as previously estimated, a separate government report showed.

Dow 13,067.86     -58.35 -0.44%, Nasdaq       3,076.58       -28.38 -0.91%, S&P 500    1,394.37       -11.17         -0.79%

Bank of America (ВАС) lost 3.1 percent to $9.45. Citigroup slid 2.9 percent to $35.98.

Best Buy tumbled 9.4 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to $24.11. Chief Executive Officer Brian Dunn trimmed discounts after the holiday shopping season, sacrificing sales to maintain profitability. The retailer is closing big-box stores and cutting jobs to reduce costs while boosting online sales and opening smaller locations.

Some of the largest companies fell after analyst downgrades. American Express (AXP), the biggest credit-card issuer by purchases, dropped 2.8 percent to $57.43 after Wells Fargo & Co. cut the stock to the equivalent of neutral.

Big Lots Inc. sank 6.7 percent, the most since December, to $42.53. The discount retailer’s sales trends are “not as good as we’d hoped,” Charles Grom, an analyst with Deutsche Bank AG, wrote in a note after meeting with the company’s management including Chief Executive Officer Steven Fishman.

Red Hat surged 15 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to a 12-year high of $59.01. The company was surprised by demand for its Red Hat Enterprise Linux software from corporations preparing to move more applications to the so-called cloud, where they can be delivered to users over the Internet, Chief Executive Officer Jim Whitehurst said in an interview. Profit for the current fiscal year will be as much as $1.20 a share, the company projected, exceeding estimates.

Illumina Inc. climbed 4.4 percent to $52.09. Roche Holding AG raised its hostile takeover offer for Illumina by 15 percent to about $6.7 billion, yielding to demands for a higher price from shareholders of the U.S. maker of gene-mapping tools.

Resistance 3:1403 (session high)

Resistance 2:1398 (area of resistance line from Mar 27 and МА (200) for Н1)

Resistance 1:1392 (area of Mar 26 and 28 lows)

Current price: 1390,75

Support 1:1388 (session low)

Support 2:1380 (Mar 23 low)

Support 3:1373 (МА (200) for Н4)

Asian stocks fell for a second day on concern China’s economic slowdown is weighing on company earnings and after orders placed with U.S. factories for durable goods rose less than economists estimated.

Nikkei 225 10,114.79 -67.78 -0.67%

Hang Seng 20,609.39 -276.03 -1.32%

S&P/ASX 200 4,337.9 -5.61 -0.13%

Shanghai Composite 2,252.16 -32.72 -1.43%

PICC Property & Casualty Co. slid 4.1 percent in Hong Kong after China’s biggest non-life insurer reported lower-than- expected net income.

Toyota Motor Corp., Asia’s No. 1 carmaker by market value that gets 28 percent of its revenue in North America, fell 1.7 percent.

Speco Co. led gains among South Korean defense-related companies on a report that North Korea has begun to fuel a rocket it plans to launch.

Asian stocks fell as better-than- expected U.S. consumer confidence failed to encourage buying after the region’s benchmark equities index yesterday gained the most in two months. Japanese shares led losses after the expiration of a deadline for getting dividend payments.

Nikkei 225 10,182.57 -72.58 -0.71%

Hang Seng 20,885.42 -161.49 -0.77%

S&P/ASX 200 4,343.51 +42.18 +0.98%

Shanghai Composite 2,284.88 -62.30 -2.65%

Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea’s biggest exporter of consumer electronics, lost 0.8 percent.

Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Japan’s third-largest bank by market value, paced losses among financial firms.

Gome Electrical Appliances Holding Ltd. slumped 16 percent in Hong Kong after China’s No. 2 electronics retailer missed profit estimates Li & Fung Ltd., the world’s biggest supplier of clothes and toys to retailers, slid 5.3 percent in Hong Kong on a plan to sell shares.

Change % Change Last

Nikkei 225 10,182.57 -72.58 -0.71%

Hang Seng 20,885.42 -161.49 -0.77%

S&P/ASX 200 4,343.51 +42.18 +0.98%

Shanghai Composite 2,284.88 -62.30 -2.65%

FTSE 100 5,808.99 -60.56 -1.03%

CAC 40 3,430.15 -39.44 -1.14%

DAX 6,998.8 -80.10 -1.13%

Dow 13,126.21 -71.52 -0.54%

Nasdaq 3,104.96 -15.39 -0.49%

S&P 500 1,405.54 -6.98 -0.49%