Stocks: Monday’s review

Asian stocks rose, extending last week’s advance, as Japanese shares led gains on speculation the next Bank of Japan governor will deploy aggressive monetary easing. Hong Kong developers fell after the city doubled taxes on some property transactions.

Nikkei 225 11,662.52 +276.58 +2.43%

S&P/ASX 200 5,055.77 +37.62 +0.75%

Shanghai Composite 2,325.82 +11.66 +0.50%

JFE Holdings Inc., Japan’s No. 2 steelmaker by market value, jumped 8.6 percent for the second-biggest advance on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index.

Beach Energy Ltd. rose 5.8 percent in Sydney after Chevron Corp. agreed to partner with the energy company on gas exploration.

Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. fell 2.2 percent, pacing declines among Hong Kong developers.

European stock markets closed down growth, as the focus of many investors now are the results of the elections in Italy.

The cost of Pearson Plc fell 3.7% to 1,171 pence, while showing the biggest drop since July 27, after the Financial Times said that projected operating profit for 2013 will match last year.

Shares of Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc (RB /) fell 3% after fixing with the largest drop since May, after it was reported that U.S. regulators have agreed to two nenazvanym generics manufacturers to manufacture tablets.

The cost of Deutsche Boerse AG jumped 5.6 percent to 49.30 euros, showing the biggest gain since June 29, after four people familiar with the situation, but who wanted to remain anonymous, said the possible merger talks.

Stoxx Europe 600 Index (SXXP) fell less than 0.1 percent to 288.40 at the close of trading.

National indexes rose in 14 of the 18 western European markets.

FTSE 100 6,355.37 +19.67 +0.31% CAC 40 3,721.33 +15.05 +0.41% DAX 7,773.19 +111.28 +1.45%

PostNL cost rose by 6.6% to 1.97 euros, while showing the largest gain since January 21, after it was reported that fourth-quarter profit before interest and tax amounted to 219 million euros ($ 290 million). Note that according to the average forecast profit was $ 144 million.

BP Plc shares rose 1.6% to 451.2 pence on the background of the fact that today the commencement of the proceedings of the rupture of oil in the Gulf in 2010.

Growth indexes started the session, but could not be kept in the highs, and finished trading significantly lower.

The pressure on the indices have reports on the parliamentary elections in Italy. Note that now is counted and there is a possibility that after the elections the two chambers of parliament will be controlled by different parties. This increases the political risks in the country, with the result that the government will be more difficult to cope with the tasks aimed at the conclusion of the national economy of the crisis.

Market participants' attention was also focused on the approximation of a curtailment of the U.S. budget (must come March 1). Earlier, U.S. President Barack Obama said that "even if sequestration occurs, it does not threaten the global economy, since its value is relatively small" ($ 85 billion this year). However, Obama also acknowledged that the slowdown in the U.S. economy is a negative impact on the world.

It should be noted that economists have no definite opinion as to how much will be negative for the sequestration of the U.S. economy, but no doubt that in the case of sequestration of the budget situation in the U.S. economy worsen, no.

Investors also expect performances Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke before the U.S. Congress (semi-annual report on monetary policy the Federal Reserve). Previous performances chapter Fed in Congress in most cases proved positive for the markets, so it is likely that, after coming Bernanke markets receive a new batch of optimism. Optimism, in particular, can provide assurance of commitment to further monetary stimulus.

Most of the components of the index are in the red DOW (27 of 30). More than the others fell in the share price Bank of America Corporation (BAC, -3.37%). Leader with shares in McDonald's Corp. (MCD, +1.47%).

All sectors of the S & P showed a negative trend. More than the others dropped the financial sector (-2.0%) and industrial products sector (-1.9%).

At the close:

Dow -216.56 13,784.01 -1.55%

Nasdaq -45.57 3,116.25 -1.44%