Wall Street expected to rise - February 28, 2011
The U.S. stock market should open up on Monday. Futures on Standard Poor's 500 and Nasdaq 100 advancing 1.09% respectively at 1316.90 points and 1.56% at 2344 points. Friday, despite continued unrest in the Arab world, the NYSE has closed in the green, encouraged by the commitment of Saudi Arabia to keep oil production and rising Boeing. The Dow Jones was awarded and 0.51% at 12,130 points, the Nasdaq rose 1.58% to 2758 points and the Standard & Poor's 500 gained 1.06% to 1319 points. Over the whole of last week, however, the balance remains negative. In five days, the Dow Jones dropped 2.1%, the Nasdaq dropped 1.9% and the Standard Poor's 500 fell 1.7%.
Investors should still have their eyes on the situation in the Arab world.In Libya, the opposition, strong control of several eastern and western cities, was preparing to march on Tripoli, where Colonel Gaddafi, deaf to international pressure, continued to minimize the insurgency. The tensions have spread Sunday to Oman, Sultanate strategically at the mouth of the Gulf, with clashes between police and protesters that left at least two deaths. Faced with these tensions, crude prices were again on the upside, a barrel of Brent North Sea exceeding $ 113.
Investors should also focus their attention on the series of macroeconomic indicators expected across the Atlantic.In the U.S. they watched in particular, income and expenditure survey for the month of December (14:30), PMI purchasing managers in Chicago for the month of February will give an idea of the strength of growth in the Midwest (15:45) and promises of home sales in January (16h).
On the currency markets, the euro continues to rise, still supported by speculation about the anticipated increase in interest rates by the European Central Bank for the fight against inflation when the monetary policy committee of the institution meets Thursday. About 11:20 am in Paris, the euro bought 1.3839 dollars against 1.3749 dollars on Friday night.
NYSE Euronext seeks to reassure Paris
The yuan rose to its highest level in nearly seventeen years on Monday morning, with a reference rate set at 6.5752 yuan to one dollar.Established by the central bank, this rate determines the point at which the currency can fluctuate plus or minus 0.5%. The Chinese currency reacts to statements by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. The head of government reiterated yesterday the need to conduct an assessment "gradual" in the Chinese currency, arguing that a stronger yuan would help fight inflation.
According to the Financial Times, a fund managed by JPMorgan Chase is preparing to take a 10% stake in the microblogging site Twitter, in a transaction valuing the $ 4.5 billion.In early February, the Wall Street Journal on his side spoke of preliminary discussions between one side of Twitter and Facebook groups internet or Google on the other hand, that one or the other might be willing to pay 8-10 billion dollars to acquire.
NYSE Euronext seeks to reassure on the weight of Paris in the merger with Deutsche Börse. "The trading and listing" will remain in Paris, "said NYSE Euronext. "It was in Paris that will return the management of European cash markets, namely trading and listing, and management technology services group," said Dominique Cerutti, General Director of NYSE Euronext in Les Echos . "The title of the new group will be listed in Paris, as well as Frankfurt and New York. There also is a strong sign of recognition of the French financial, "he added.Moreover, when asked about a possible hostile bid-cons of the Nasdaq OMX platform on transatlantic Mr. Cerutti has described as "theoretically possible", while stressing believe in the "superiority" of the merger with German stock exchanges. NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Börse have announced mid-February their intention to merge to create the first exchange operator in the world, gathering places in New York, Frankfurt, Paris, Lisbon, Amsterdam and Brussels.
Also note, Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett's company, announced Friday after the close of Wall Street, a 43% increase in profits on a year in the fourth quarter. Warren Buffett is also more optimistic about U.S. growth. He announced a resumption of the property market within a year.Moreover, he wishes to use an early part of the 38 billion dollars of liquidity of his company to make further acquisitions.
For its part, the Japanese company Fujifilm Holdings said Monday it would buy two subsidiaries of the U.S. group Merck biopharmaceuticals, including facilities in the United States and the United Kingdom. The Japanese company specializing in video technologies, but its activity in the medical field, and the American pharmaceutical company did not specify the amount of the transaction, valued by the business daily Nikkei at 40 billion yen (350 million).
The Pentagon officials must explain to EADS on Monday the reasons for their choice in favor of Boeing. The American won the contract of the century for 179 tankers worth $ 35 billion.
Also note, Microsoft to unveil tomorrow the French version of its search engine with Bing clear objective to compete with Google, widely prevalent in this area. With 91.5% of searches on the Internet in France, Google comes in effect today, far ahead Bing second with only 3.4% of requests in January, as the barometer of AT Internet.