Current situation on stock markets by Martina Janeckova

Wall Street seems to get a break from the huge sell-off of the past two days following a report that Citigroup Inc. might put itself up for sale. The stock of the company lost 26 percent on Thursday alone and Citigroup hasn’t made a profit in the past four quarters, unlike JPMorgan Chase & Co. or Bank of America Corp. On Thursday, the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 6.7 percent to its lowest close since April 1997, while the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 445 points, or 5.6 percent, to its lowest close since March 2003. On early Friday, Dow futures contracts rose 270, or 3.61 percent, to 7,757, Standard & Poor's 500 index futures ascended 25.70, or 3.43 percent, to 774.00, and the Nasdaq 100 index futures advanced 36.50, or 3.51 percent, to 1,076.00. This rise wasn’t necessarily a surprise because sharp market declines, such as the one over the past two days, attract some bargain hunters. Also better-than-expected results from Dell Inc. offered some reassurance, because even though it reported a 5 percent fall in its third-quarter profit and a 3 percent drop in revenue, the earnings were still higher than expected by Wall Street. Bond prices fell, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.14 percent from 3.00 percent late Thursday and the yield on the three-month Treasury bill increased to 0.52 percent from 0.01 percent. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell. Overseas, stocks rose on Friday, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 2.70 percent, Britain’s FTSE 100 advanced 0.74 percent, Germany’s DAX index rose 0.39 percent and France’s CAC-40 increased by 0.82 percent.

by Martina Janeckova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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edited by Beata Biskova