early afternoon

Shares on Wall Street Waffle

May 10, 2013 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

Shares on Wall Street were mostly flat in afternoon trading on Friday, putting indexes on track to post another strong week after repeatedly reaching new highs.

The length of the recent rally has surprised many, and the upward momentum may be difficult to sustain without further trading catalysts like first-quarter earnings reports, which are nearing an end. The Standard Poor’s 500-stock index ended a five-day streak of record closing highs on Thursday, while the Dow Industrial average broke a two-day streak by dipping modestly.

Still, investors expect shares to generally trend higher, given the Federal Reserve’s accommodative monetary environment and encouraging data on the labor market, including jobless claims on Thursday and last week’s payroll report.

“Between the jobs report, quantitative easing and a zero percent interest rate policy,” said Chris Bertelsen, chief investment officer of Global Financial Private Capital in Sarasota, Fla., “there’s no question that there’s a floor under the market and that it wants to go up, even if some sectors are overdone.”

Shares fluctuated on Friday, and by early afternoon, the S.P. 500 was 0.2 percentflat, while the Dow Jones industrial average was down about 0.2 percent and the Nasdaq was up 0.3 percent. All three of the indexes have gained this week.

“We’re seeing a real rotation out of defensive names and into groups like technology and industrials,” said Mr. Bertelsen, who helps oversee $2 billion in assets. “That’s keeping the market moving and preventing it from plateauing.”

Priceline.com reported first-quarter earnings late Thursday that beat expectations, though its second-quarter outlook disappointed. Shares moved 3.5 percent higher on Friday.

Gap, the clothing retailer, rose 5 percent after reporting strong results.

With 89 percent of the S.P. 500 having reported, 66.7 percent have beat profit expectations, above the average since 1994 of 63 percent. However, only 46.4 percent of companies have beaten revenue expectations, well under the average since 2002 of 62 percent.

Carl Icahn, the activist investor, and Southeastern Asset Management proposed an alternative to a $24.4 billion buyout deal for Dell that involved giving shareholders an option to receive either $12 a share in cash or $12 in additional shares valued at $1.65 each. Shares of Dell rose 0.5 percent on Friday.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/11/business/daily-stock-market-activity.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: clothing retailer, early afternoon, interest rate policy

DealBook: Credit Suisse Expects Profit in Second Quarter

June 29, 2012 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

Arnd Wiegmann/ReutersCredit Suisse will announce its quarterly figures on July 26.

LONDON – Credit Suisse moved to calm investors’ fears on Friday by announcing it expected to report a second-quarter profit.

The European financial giant did not provide specifics on its quarterly figures, which will be announced on July 26.

The statement comes a week after Credit Suisse responded to calls from Switzerland’s central bank that the Swiss firm should increase its capital reserves this year because of Europe’s debt crisis.

The Swiss National Bank had singled out Credit Suisse in its annual financial stability report as a bank that needs to “significantly expand its loss-absorbing capital during the current year.” The country’s central bank said Credit Suisse’s local rival, UBS, should just continue with its efforts to strengthen its capital, the central bank said.

Credit Suisse dismissed the regulator’s calls to strengthen the bank’s cash buffers.

“The Board is confident that management’s plans will continue to ensure that Credit Suisse not only fulfills, but exceeds its regulatory capital requirements,” the bank said in a statement on June 22.

In early afternoon trading, the bank’s share price rose 5.5 percent, as investors reacted positively to Credit Suisse’s announcement that it was profitable in the second quarter of 2012.

Like many of Europe’s largest banks, Credit Suisse has suffered from a reduction of trading activity and a fall in consumer and corporate spending amid the global financial crisis.

The Swiss bank’s profit in the first three months of the year fell to 44 million Swiss francs,or $46 million, from 1.1 billion francs in the first quarter of 2011, mostly because of charges on the value on its own debt.

Article source: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/06/29/credit-suisse-expects-profit-in-second-quarter/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: early afternoon, swiss firm, swiss national bank

With Blackouts and Twitter, Web Flexes Its Muscle

January 19, 2012 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

Some sites blacked out — among them, the English-language Wikipedia, though it was possible to access the encyclopedia through several clever workarounds — while others, including Google and Craigslist, draped their pages with information about the bills, or restricted access.

Many start-ups quickly cobbled together tech solutions to support their cause. HelloFax, for example, created a tool that let people send their representatives faxes voicing their opinions through the Web.

The effort was an unusual orchestration that began gathering steam online late Tuesday night and escalated early Wednesday morning, eventually whipping the Web into a frenzy.

Google said 4.5 million people signed its online petition to Congress, voicing displeasure at the legislation; Twitter said more than two million posts on the subject flowed through the site by early afternoon, nearly four times as many as usual.

Engine Advocacy, a service that helps people call their local members of Congress, said on Twitter that it was averaging roughly 2,000 calls per second, while Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that oversees Wikipedia, said four million people used its blacked-out site to look up contact information for their local representative.

Opponents of the legislation also took their demonstrations into the real world in New York, San Francisco and Seattle, but drew relatively modest numbers of protesters. Still, for a group that tends to be more comfortable showing solidarity from behind the warm glow of a computer screen — by changing a profile picture or reposting a favorite motto — it was a considerable showing.

The New York rally, organized by a tech industry trade group, attracted about a thousand protesters in Midtown Manhattan.. Sebastian Delmont, 38, who works at StreetEasy, a real estate search site, said about half of his co-workers attended the protest. “Our worry is that they are building something like a Great Firewall, like in China and the Middle East,” he said.

In Washington by Wednesday morning, several lawmakers had reconsidered their support of the bills — one in the House, one in the Senate. The legislation is intended to curtail copyright abuses by preventing American search engines and Web sites from directing users to the mostly foreign sites that allow for the distribution of stolen materials like music, movies, television shows, software and other content.

The tech industry has argued that the bills are too broad, threaten free speech, stifle innovation and most likely will not even effectively eliminate piracy.

A freshman senator, Marco Rubio of Florida, a rising Republican star, announced that he would no longer back the Senate bill, the Protect Intellectual Property Act, or PIPA, which he had co-sponsored. Senator John Cornyn, the Texas Republican who heads the campaign operation for his party, urged Congress take more time to study the measure.

“Concerns about unintended damage to the Internet and innovation in the tech sector require a more thoughtful balance, which will take more time,” he posted on his Facebook page at 9 a.m.

Supporters of the bills, like major media and entertainment companies, struggled to get their message out, but found the going rough. “It’s very difficult to counter the misinformation when the disseminators also own the platform,” said Cary H. Sherman, chairman and chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America, a trade group that represents the United States music industry, referring to Google and Facebook.

Mike Nugent, executive director of Creative America, a coalition of major entertainment companies and industry unions, said he was taking the long view on the issue and not focusing on the Internet protests this week. “We’re digging in for a tough fight over the next week and in the longer term,” he said.

On Wednesday, the corporate group began its second nationwide advertising campaign in print, radio and television to push the legislation. A banner ad with the headline “What to Do During an Internet Blackout” appeared on select Web sites and on a Times Square billboard. Suggestions included: “Read a book. Listen to music. Go to a movie. Watch the game. Tune into a show” — all copyrighted content the legislation intends to protect.

Brian Chen, Amy Chozick and Jonathan Weisman contributed reporting.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=2366308edb187818e070437405c94fc0

Filed Under: Business News Tagged With: blackouts, early afternoon, real estate search

Italian Senate Approves Austerity Measures

November 11, 2011 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

In Athens, leaders of both main parties said they were finalizing details of a national unity government, part of European political efforts to step back from the brink of chaos.

The Italian Senate voted with unusual speed to approve the austerity measures, thus enabling the lower house to complete parliamentary approval of the package on Saturday. Opposition senators did not vote, allowing the legislation to pass by a margin of 156 to 12.

Mr. Berlusconi promised this week to step down once the measures were approved, permitting a new leader to be appointed as the head of a technocrat government.

Mario Monti, a former European commissioner, has been widely mentioned as a likely front-runner, and he could take over as early as Monday.

In Greece, following similar maneuvers to replace elected leaders with respected, veteran officials known for expertise rather than popularity at the polls, Lucas Papademos, the prime minister-designate chosen by the two main political parties, was set to announce his cabinet by early afternoon, although, throughout the process of replacing the former prime minister, George A. Papandreou, such deadlines have frequently slipped.

Initially expected at 2 p.m. local time, the announcement was put back for two hours and Greek media speculated that there was disagreement over the composition of a new cabinet. The delay was not officially explained.

Days of political turmoil roiled bond markets this week, pushing the cost of borrowing in Italy to levels that economists regard as unsustainable and adding to the pressures on politicians.

By one measure, though, the promised changes in Greece and Italy seemed to have calmed investors: the leading stock market indexes in Britain, France and Germany all posted modest gains in Friday trading.

At the same time, the White House seemed to be showing growing impatience with Europe’s efforts to prevent their debt crisis from plunging the entire global economy into retreat.

Late Thursday, President Obama called Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Giorgio Napolitano of Italy.

Speaking at a meeting of Asia and Pacific Economic Cooperation countries in Hawaii, Timothy F. Geithner, the United States treasury secretary, said Thursday: “The crisis in Europe remains the central challenge to global growth. It is crucial that Europe move quickly to put in place a strong plan to restore financial stability.”

He also urged Asian and Pacific economies to take up the slack as Europe confronts slowing economic growth. “We are all directly affected by the crisis in Europe,” he said, “but the economies gathered here are in a better position than most to take steps to strengthen growth in the face of these pressures from Europe.”

In Rome, to prolonged applause from other lawmakers, Mr. Monti took a seat in the upper house for the first time on Friday after he was appointed a senator for life. Mr. Monti has already held talks with President Napolitano and the speaker of the Senate, strengthening speculation that he is the leading candidate to succeed Mr. Berlusconi.

The legislation approved by the Senate is aimed at reducing Italy’s 1.9 trillion euro, or $2.6 trillion, public debt and boosting growth, but the European Union has already said that Italy will need to take further measures.

The proposed legislation includes selling 15 billion euros of state assets and increasing the retirement age to 67 from 65 by 2026. The new law also foresees a liberalization of closed professions and labor laws, a gradual reduction in government ownership of local services and tax breaks for companies that hire young workers.

Gaia Pianigiani reported from Rome, and Alan Cowell from London. Niki Kitsantonis contributed reporting from Athens.

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Filed Under: Business News Tagged With: early afternoon, greek media, maneuvers

DealBook: Anglo American Sells Chilean Stake for $5.39 Billion

November 10, 2011 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

Yonhap, via European Pressphoto AgencyCynthia Carroll, the chief executive of Anglo American.

LONDON — Anglo American has agreed to sell a 24.5 percent stake in its Chilean copper assets to the Mitsubishi Corporation for $5.39 billion, the largest mining acquisition ever by Japanese company.

The deal, which was outlined late on Wednesday, thwarts plans by Chile’s state-owned copper producer Codelco to exercise its option early next year to buy a 49 percent stake in Anglo American’s local operations, known as Anglo American Sur.

Under terms of the deal, Mitsubishi will acquire a stake of almost 25 percent in Anglo’s two mines and one copper smelter in Chile. The purchase will roughly double the Japanese company’s yearly copper output. Mitsubishi put up a promissory note for $5.39 billion, which is due on Nov. 10, Anglo American said in a statement.

The deal values Anglo American Sur’s total operations at $22 billion.

“Mitsubishi brings both its global reputation as an industrial powerhouse and extensive experience as an existing investor in Chile,” Anglo American’s chief executive, Cynthia Carroll, said in a statement. “The terms of the transaction completed with Mitsubishi highlight the inherent value of A.A.S. as a world class, tier one copper business with extensive reserves and resources and significant further growth options from its exploration discoveries.”

Markets reacted positively to the announcement. In early afternoon trading on Thursday in London, Anglo American’s share price had risen 2.8 percent.

The deal, however, will likely face opposition from Codelco. In a statement, the company said the agreement would not affect its plans to acquire a 49 percent stake in Anglo American Sur.

“Codelco will exercise all the means necessary to safeguard its rights,” the company added.

Last month, Codelco said it had reached an agreement with Mitsui Company of Japan to,provide up to $6.75 billion to finance the purchase of the 49 percent stake in Anglo American Sur

The squabble for control of the Chilean operations comes as global demand for copper, particularly from emerging markets, is forecast to rise by almost 50 percent over the next decade.

Anglo American Sur is well positioned to take advantage of this growing appetite for commodities. The subsidiary has access to proven and probable copper reserves of 2.4 billion metric tons, and a further 6.4 billion metric tons of additional resources. The business reported a pretax profit of $1.3 billion last year and gross assets of $4.9 billion.

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Filed Under: Business News Tagged With: early afternoon, mitsui company, tier one

DealBook: Moody’s Cuts Ratings on Three Big Banks

September 21, 2011 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

Moody’s Investors Service cut its credit ratings on Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo on Wednesday, saying that Washington was now less likely to bail out the banks if needed.

“The downgrades result from a decrease in the probability that the U.S. government would support the bank, if needed,” Moody’s said.

The ratings agency said that it did think the government would provide some support to systemically important financial institutions. But the huge bailouts that rescued Bank of America and Citigroup and others during the financial crisis might not happen again, Moody’s said.

“It is also more likely now than during the financial crisis to allow a large bank to fail should it become financially troubled, as the risks of contagion become less acute.” the ratings agency said. It added that the moves “do not reflect a weakening of the intrinsic credit quality” of the bank.

The ratings agency cut Bank of America’s long-term senior debt to Baa1 from A2 and lowered short-term debt to Prime-2 from Prime-1.

Shares of Bank of America were down 3.7 percent in early afternoon trading.

In a statement, Bank of America said: “Moody’s decision to downgrade our credit rating is based on factors external to Bank of America: Their conclusion that the Dodd-Frank legislation will make the U.S. government less likely to support financial institutions in a crisis, and a possible further deterioration of the economy. In fact, Moody’s explicitly stated that the downgrades do not reflect a weakening of the intrinsic credit quality of Bank of America.”

The bank said it had made “significant progress” in improving its capital and liquidity positions.

During the financial crisis, Bank of America received some $45 billion in federal aid, which it has since repaid. The bank has been trying to shore up investor confidence as it continues to struggle with the legacy of tens of billions of dollars in bad mortgage assets. In recent weeks, it has announced an executive shakeup, a streamlining that will cut 30,000 jobs and a $5 billion investment by Warren E. Buffett.

Moody’s also cut its ratings on Citigroup’s short-term debt to Prime 2 from Prime 1, while affirming its A3 long-term rating.

Shares of Citigroup were slightly lower, at $26.85. In a statement, the bank said: “We completely disagree with Moody’s change to Citigroup’s short-term rating. It does not accurately reflect the significant progress Citi has made since Moody’s last rated Citi more than two-and-a-half years ago.”

And Moody’s lowered its rating on Wells Fargo’s senior debt to A2 from A1. Its Prime-1 short-term rating was affirmed. Its shares were up 0.8 percent in afternoon trading.

In June, the ratings agency had put Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo on review for a possible downgrade.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=602fac1a5a2dc7eb775ec54ebfa6446d

Filed Under: Business News Tagged With: bank of america, early afternoon, financial crisis

Fresh Worries About Europe Shake Global Stock Markets

September 12, 2011 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

The FTSE 100 in Britain sank 2.9 percent and the Euro Stoxx 50 index of euro-zone blue chips was off 4.7 percent. The DAX in Germany dropped over 4 percent, and the CAC 40 in France tumbled 5 percent by early afternoon despite a fresh volley of efforts by the French government and one of the hardest-hit banks, Société Générale, to calm nerves.

Stocks on Wall Street were expected to open lower. Dow futures were down 2 percent while Standard Poor’s 500 futures fell 2.3 percent. Asian markets also slumped. The Nikkei 225 index closed down 2.3 percent, and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 4.2 percent.

The euro also continued to decline rapidly against the dollar, dipping below $1.35 from $1.41 just over a week ago. Rapid swings like this in currencies are worrisome because they make it hard for businesses to calculate their costs and re-price goods and services quickly in response.

Exporters in the United States especially can hardly afford to see the dollar strengthen sharply at a time when the economy is in danger of slipping back into recession.

Previewing the week, Carl Weinberg, the chief economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, N.Y., declared markets to be “in destabilized mode.”

“What has to happen this week to make it better, we don’t know, because we’ve never seen this before,” he added.

Worries about the health of Europe’s banks have taken on outsized dimensions in recent weeks, contributing to significant volatility in stock markets worldwide. Investors have grown increasingly suspicious that Europe’s efforts to contain the crisis that began in Greece are unraveling.

The Greek finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, warned over the weekend that the Greek economy would be likely to shrink 5.3 percent this year — a sharp downward revision from the previous forecast of a contraction of 3.8 percent. This would make it even more challenging for Greece, which has been at the center of the continent’s debt woes, to pay its debts.

The stock price of Société Générale and BNP Paribas, both globally interconnected French banks considered too big to fail, plunged up to 12 percent in early trading Monday as investors braced for a possible downgrade to their credit ratings. Moody’s Investor Services had recently warned about their exposure to Greek sovereign debt.

While any downgrade was expected to be small, it would likely fan further turmoil in financial markets, just as the Standard and Poor’s downgrade of the United States by one notch stoked greater volatility than originally anticipated.

Société Générale attempted to head off trouble Monday with a statement before markets opened, saying that it holds relatively little in the way of troubled government bonds from Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal or Spain.

The bank said that it was stepping up efforts to reduce costs and strengthen its balance sheet, and that it planned to free up €4 billion, or $5.4 billion, of capital by 2013 through the sale of assets.

The governor of France’s central bank, Christian Noyer, also sought to put out the flames on Monday. “No matter what the Greek scenario, and whatever measures must be passed, French banks have the means to face up to it,” he said in a statement.

That did little to placate the concerns. After trading at €40 in early July, the shares had slid to just above €15 Monday — a level that is considered a key psychological threshold. In what may be a self-fulfilling spiral, investors have been questioning why the shares would be trading so low if the bank is as healthy as its executives and the French government say it is.

The biggest banks in Europe, especially in France, hold billions of euros’ worth of Greek bonds, and investors fear that even a partial default by Greece would sharply diminish the value of those assets, eroding what are perceived to be already weak capital positions.

The latest slide in the currency and stock markets had been set off by the resignation of Jürgen Stark, a key German official at the European Central Bank, on Friday, which highlighted policy discord within the E.C.B.

A much-anticipated jobs program speech by President Barack Obama, meanwhile, had done little to lift the global malaise about the prospects for U.S. economic growth. The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard and Poor’s 500 index both slumped 2.7 percent on Friday.

China, however, remains one of the world’s main engines of growth, although the pace is moderating, data released Monday showed.

Exports from China in August were up 24.5 percent from a year earlier and imports climbed 30.2 percent. Local banks extended nearly 580 billion renminbi, or $90.8 billion, in loans, in the same month, which was more than analysts had expected.

Bettina Wassener contributed reporting from Hong Kong.

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Filed Under: Business News Tagged With: blue chips, early afternoon, finance minister

Renewed Worries About Europe Shake Asian Markets

September 12, 2011 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

The Nikkei 225 index closed down 2.3 percent, and in Australia, the S. P./ ASX 200 slumped 3.7 percent by the end of trading.

In Singapore, the Straits Times index was 2.6 percent lower by midafternoon, and in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng fell 4 percent. The Sensex index retreated 2.3 percent by early afternoon in India.

Key European markets also were expected to fall at the open.

The markets in mainland China, Taiwan and South Korea were closed for a holiday.

On the foreign exchange markets, the euro was trading at $1.356 to the dollar, having fallen sharply on Friday.

The slide in the currency and stock markets had been set off by the resignation of Jürgen Stark, a key German official at the European Central Bank, on Friday, which appeared to signal policy discord within the E.C.B., shaking already fragile market sentiment in Europe and the United States.

A much-anticipated jobs program speech by President Barack Obama, meanwhile, had done little to lift the global malaise about the prospects for U.S. economic growth.

The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard and Poor’s 500 index both slumped 2.7 percent on Friday. In Europe, DAX in Germany plunged 4 percent, the CAC 40 in France lost 3.6 percent, and the FTSE 100 in Britain closed down 2.4 percent.

Asian markets had missed the selloff at the end of last week, but the worries about Europe caught up with them on Monday, as investors ignored unexpectedly strong import, export and bank lending data from China that were released over the weekend.

The data were latest of a string of statistics showing that the world’s second- largest economy, after the United States, remains on a firm footing: Growth is slowing but at a modest pace, while the Chinese authorities have ample room to prop up the economy by opening the lending spigot, or lowering interest rates again, if needed.

The bank loans data released over the weekend, for example, showed that the central bank “is easing its control over credit growth as an attempt to address the funding difficulties faced by some sectors, especially the small- and medium-sized enterprises,” Yao Wei, a China economist at Société Générale in Hong Kong, commented in a research note on Monday.

As for the trade data, Qu Hongbin, co- head of Asian economics research at HSBC, said in a research note that the solid export growth suggested that external demand, especially from emerging markets, has held up well despite the turbulence in the global financial markets.

At the same time, he said, the import data showed that domestic demand remained strong.

“Going forward, China’s exports will likely soften in the coming months thanks to the likely slackness with developed markets,” Mr. Qu said. But he added that a “total collapse” of exports is unlikely.

Analysts at DBS in Singapore said, “For now, the global recovery story is still underpinned by leading indicators heading up in the U.S. and China.”

The resignation of Mr. Stark, however, “will keep investors extremely cautious this week,” they said.

Adding to the jitters were new doubts about the health of French banks and about Greece’s ability to stick with key austerity goals.

In Greece, the finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, warned over the weekend that the economy would be likely to shrink 5.3 percent this year — a sharp downward revision from the previous forecast of a 3.8 percent contraction. This would make it even more challenging for Greece, which has been at the center of the continent’s debt woes, to pay its debts.

And in France, government officials braced for possible ratings downgrades by Moody’s Investors Service of France’s three largest banks, BNP Paribas, Société Générale and Crédit Agricole.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/13/business/daily-stock-market-activity.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: barack obama, early afternoon, selloff

Wall Street Gains Push Dow Up for the Year

August 31, 2011 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

On the last day of one of the most tumultuous months for equities this year, the only dip in stocks came from the telecommunications sector, which was dragged down nearly 3 percent by shares of ATT after the news broke that the United States Justice Department would seek to block its proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA.

Otherwise, new data on factory orders and jobs set investors up for a higher trading session that carried over gains from markets in Asia and Europe. The markets finished higher on Tuesday, despite reports on consumer confidence and housing that showed a mixed economic recovery.

On Wednesday, the three main indexes were more than 1 percent higher in the first hour of trading, although their gains were soon tempered by the news of government efforts to block ATT’s $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile, which would create the largest carrier in the country.

In early afternoon trading, ATT shares dipped more than 4 percent, dragging down the overall telecom sector by about 1.5 percent. A rival, Sprint Nextel, was up by more than 7 percent and was the most widely traded share in that sector.

The news about ATT came at the end of a month characterized by high volatility, as choppy economic data renewed discussions about whether the economy was headed for another recession. Concerns about euro zone debt problems and fiscal uncertainty in the United States were among the factors adding to the rough trading.

Wild swings of hundreds of points have set back the three main indexes 3 to 5 percent in the month to date. But on Wednesday, the Dow gained enough ground to turn positive for the year, and in the early afternoon was up 86.96 points, or 0.8 percent, to 11,646.91. The Standard Poor’s 500-stock index, up almost 0.9 percent, and the Nasdaq composite index, up 0.5 percent, were still negative for the year through August, however.

The gains were played out in a market that has been oversold in the past month, said Anthony G. Valeri, a senior vice president and market strategist for LPL Financial.

“It was due for a bounce,” he said of Wednesday’s trading. Whether the gains can be sustained, though, “depends on data and events out of Europe,” Mr. Valeri said.

On Wednesday, a report from the United States Commerce Department showed that factory orders for July rose sharply, at 2.4 percent the largest increase since March. Demand for automobiles and commercial airplane orders propelled the orders.

A report on jobs on Wednesday, this one from ADP Employer Services, showed new jobs on private payrolls totaled 91,000 for August, below forecasts.

Those reports were released ahead of one of the most closely watched data releases the Labor Department’s national report on the job situation on Friday. Analysts were forecasting 70,000 in new nonfarm payroll jobs for August, compared with 117,000 the previous month, while the unemployment rate of 9.1 percent was not expected to change, according to a survey by Bloomberg News. “We are still not seeing job losses, which is what you would see in a recession,” Mr. Valeri said.

Goldman Sachs economists said in a research report that the A.D.P. report, which is used to help estimate the outcome of the national report, could mean lower forecasts for Friday’s numbers.A Federal Reserve report this week that said policy makers earlier this month considered changing the size or composition of the Fed’s balance sheet and reducing the interest rate paid on banks’ excess reserve balances has refocused investors’ attention on the Fed’s next meeting in September. Fed policy makers have agreed to consider other options at that meeting. But some analysts said the Fed might need more information before deciding on further stimulus.

“I think the Fed will want to see more data to prove inflation is stabilizing and the economy might be weaker than expected,” said Mr. Valeri.

The yield on the Treasury’s benchmark 10-year note was little changed at 2.195 percent.

Crude futures for October traded in New York were up 46 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $89.36 a barrel. Gold on the Comex was up 0.4 percent at $1,834 an ounce.

In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 and Germany’s DAX each gained 2.4 percent. In Paris, the CAC 40 rose 3.1 percent. Asia closed broadly higher.

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Filed Under: Business News Tagged With: early afternoon, sprint nextel, trading session

Wall Street Posts Gains Early