U.S. Stock Market Gets a Boost

As of Monday, the fortunes of the U.S. stock market were going pretty downhill. The major stock index, Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), saw their day’s business close at 12090 points, which is 80 points lower than that at that at the start of the day. The reason behind this market slump was found to be the continued crisis in Libya which meant that the price of crude oil remained high. The other major factor influencing the market was the drop in price of technology stocks after the semiconductor sector had to go through the process of downgrade.


However, Tuesday brought about a change in the market fortune. The news of an impending end to the Libyan crisis with reports of Moammar Gadhafi seeking ways to step down brought about a reduction in the price of crude oil. This prospect of a peaceful settlement to the problem aided the stock market to start their business on Tuesday in a slightly better state. The stock prices were more than that at hour on Monday.

Among the companies whose stock value are under spotlight at the moment is the convenience store operative Urban Outfitters Inc. Value of their shares are predicted to fall after the owners published a report showing the sales and profit of the last quarter to be less than the current investment market situation was supposed to generate. In Globex, electronic transactions were heightened with the fall of crude oil price to $105.08, 36 cents less than it had been on Monday. At one point in the day’s trade, the price of oil fell to $103.33, an intraday low.

In European stock markets too, things were looking up. The progress of the day saw some increase in the prices of stocks. The stock index of German DAX 30 was up by 0.2 percent. In the Asian stock market, majority of the stocks finished their day with gains. The Japanese stock index of Nikkei 225 Average ended their day’s business with a 0.2 percent increase.

The futures stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJH11) were calculated at 12105 points, an increase by 27 points. Stock index of Standard and Poor’s 500 (SPH11) also reported notable gains with the value of futures stocks rising by 4.50 points. They ended their day at 1313.60 points. Nasdaq 100 registered an increase in the value of future stocks too which at the close of the day’s business had increased by 2.75 points to 2327.25 points.

The day was more or less quite with only one notable meeting scheduled to take place. It was between U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the President of European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet and Axel Weber, the outgoing president of the German Bundesbank. Among the currencies, price of the U.S. dollar rose against the yen and the euro. While the euro price dropped by 0.3 percent to $1.3925, versus the yen it rose to ¥82.462, an increment of 0.2 percent. Initial round of the deal between the Boeing Co. and the Hong Kong Airlines Ltd. was concluded. By this deal, the Boeing will sell 38 jets to the Hong Kong Airlines Ltd.