Wall Street rocks and rolls on Bernanke testimony
MARKET CLOSE: The Federal Reserve chairman gave a dour view of the economy but left investors wondering what he was going to do about it.
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Stocks on Wall Street rose, fell then rose again as Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke gave evidence before the US Senate Banking Committee.
He gave a dour view of the economy but left investors wondering whether the Fed would take any imminent steps to support the US economy.
As the session drew to a close, investors took account of strong results from Coca-Cola and Goldman Sachs, keeping the benchmarks well in the black.
At the close (8am NZ time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 78.33 points, or 0.6%, to 12,805.54.
The S&P 500 index gained 0.7% to 136367 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.4% to 2910.04.
Other markets: Europe down, Asia up
The Stoxx Europe 600 index closed 0.3% lower at 256.09, breaking a two-day winning streak.
The UK FTSE 100 index shed 0.6% to 5629.09. HSBC dropped 1.7% after a US Senate investigation accused the bank of dealing with money launderers and potential terrorist financiers over many years.
Security company G4S tumbled 5.7% on the Olympic Games staff shortage and contract debacle.
The French CAC 40 index closed 0.1% lower at 3176.97 while the German DAX 30 index rose 0.2% to 6577.64,
Asian markets rose. Australia’s S&PASX 200 rose 0.9% to 4140.8. In Japan, the Nikkei was 0.4% higher at 8755.00 after the market was closed for a holiday on Monday.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index was 1.8% higher at 19455.33. Korea's Kospi gained 0.2% to 1821.96 and the Shanghai Composite climbed 0.6% to 2161.19.
Commodities: Oil, gold down
Crude-oil futures turned negative after Dr Bernanke gave no hint that a third round of quantitative easing would occur soon.
Prices tumbled 1.4% to an intraday low of $US87.66 a barrel but recovered to be down 56USc, or 0.6%, at $US87.88 a barrel.
Gold futures ended lower. The August delivery contract declined $US2.10, or 0.1%, to settle at $US1589.50 an ounce in New York.
Currencies: US dollar, euro rise
The euro was at $US1.2256 compared with $US1.2272 late Monday. The US dollar was at ¥79.08 compared with ¥78.86, while the euro traded at ¥96.920 compared with ¥96.76.
The UK pound bought $US1.5622 from $US1.5635, while the dollar fetched 0.9801 Swiss franc from 0.9786 franc.
Nevil Gibson
Wed, 18 Jul 2012
Wed, 18 Jul 2012
© All content copyright NBR. Do not reproduce in any form without permission, even if you have a paid subscription.
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Wall Street rocks and rolls on Bernanke testimony
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