A late rally saw markets recoup the day’s losses to finally finish in the green on Monday, after news of China stepping in to buy Italian bonds helped soothe the nerves of jittery investors. Initially, markets had been trading in the negative zone as investors were bogged down by fears of a Greek debt-default.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) gained by 0.6% to close at 11,061.12. The Standard & Poor 500 (S&P 500) was up 0.7% to settle at 1,162.27. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 2,495.09, posting a 1.1% gain. The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) traded around 38. Consolidated volumes on New York Stock Exchange, AMEX and Nasdaq were 8.3 billion shares, above last year’s average volumes of 7.6 billion shares. On NYSE, for every 14 stocks that gained, 15 stocks moved lower.
Markets had been trending down initially as fears of Greece defaulting on its debt, possibly signaling the start of a global recession impacted the bourses early in the day. Tensions in the market with regard to the Greek debt situation escalated after a German politician’s suggestion that Greece should opt out of the 17 country coalition that have the Euro as their currency. The opinion of Germany carries more weight owing to the fact that it has one of the strongest economies in Europe. Furthermore, Greece has received financial aid from many banks that would lose their money if it were to go bankrupt. Since US banks have lent money to their Europeans counterparts, this in turn would hit the US economy as well.
Lingering European concerns have been damaging US markets since late last year. What started with Ireland last December, spread to nations like Spain, Portugal and Greece. In recent times, investor sentiment was further bogged down with fears of the continent’s third-largest economy, Italy, facing the heat of the debt crisis. However, yesterday’s news about China stepping in to buy Italian bonds helped soothe frayed nerves. Additionally, the development was significant enough to wash out all the day’s losses and drive US benchmarks higher. According to media reports, Italian government spoke to China Investment Corp. about the possible “significant” buying of Italian bonds.
Additionally, markets were also guided up following Broadcom Corporation’s (NASDAQ:BRCM) announcement of its decision to acquire NetLogic Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ:NETL) for about $3.7 billion. Following the news, NetLogic rose more than 50%.
After technology, financials were among the highest gainers, moving up 1.2% by the end of the day. The SPDR ETF, which is an indicator of the performance of the financial sector in the S&P 500, gained 1.1%. Other major stocks from the banking sector like Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) gained 0.82%, 0.66% and 1.06% respectively.
This week some major reports will bring forth their findings that may have a bearing on the market. Reports to be released include Retail sales, PPI and Initial Claims among others. On Tuesday 13th September, a few companies will be reporting their quarterly earnings including Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRL) and Best Buy (NYSE:BBY).
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