Market briefing---Bob (fast)
Asia markets---Gene (slow)
>> welcome back to “world financial report”. i’m lane bajardi in new york. recapping the day on wall street the dow jones industrial average seeing a gain of 64 points at 9,191. the s&p 500 as well, up for the day by 3.5 points at 977. very different story in the nasdaq, composite down eight points on the session or half percent at 1,644. the most actives at the nasdaq, intel and sun micro pulling lower, while sirius satellite radio was up a dime. on the boyg board we see micron technology at the top of the list heading lower. and mcdonald’s and exxon mobil heading higher. both dow components there, checking the performance of the major indexes for the week, the dow better by 4/10 of 1 percent, the s&p was down a quarter percent. the nasdaq sliding more than 4%. the benchmark 10-year treasury note had its first weekly gain in four. investors snapped up notes sold this week at the highest yields in at least a year. see the 10-year note quoted at 6/32 higher at 4.27%. the five-year note up 2/32 yielding 3.16%. on the short end the two-year is unchanged, three year note is up 2/32. the dollar had the biggest gain in a week versus the euro/dollar as the u.s. currency rose on optimism economic recovery in the u.s. will outpace growth in europe. japan’s benchmark stock indexes rose for the first day in five on friday. gene otani from our tokyo bureau has a preview of what investors should watch for in the week ahead.
>> on monday singapore releases revised second quarter gross domestic product numbers. the economy probably shrank less than initially expected. economists surveyed by bloomberg say g.d.p. probably contracted at an annual pace of 10.4%, that would be less than the 11.8% in a government estimate issued last month. the economy may have done better than expected as a revival in electronics exports helped contain the damage caused by the sars outbreak. better-than-expected growth in the u.s. led to a 19% rise in the country’s june exports. tuesday sees the release of japanese growth figures. the world’s second largest economy probably grew 0.2% in the second quarter. expansion is being driven by rising business spending, helping the economy avoid contraction for a sixth straight quarter. companies such as sharp are spending more on factories and equipment because their earnings are rising. they may also benefit from accelerating growth in the u.s., japan’s biggest export market. still, economists say the gains are weak and structural problems remain that will limit long-term growth. rounding out a week of g.d.p. releases on thursday, taiwan will probably say the economy grew at its slowest pace in more than a year as sars curbed consumer spending in tourism in the region. indonesia will probably say friday that its economy slowed because of faultering exports and declining foreign direct investment. on the corporate earnings front news corporation will release fourth quarter results on wednesday. rupert murdoch’s media company will probably report profit doubled as advertising sales rose at its fox television and broadcast networks. in south korea hynix semiconductor also reports on wednesday. last quarter the worl’s third largest maker of computer memory chips reported a 1.05 trillion won loss as it wrote down inventory and other assets after chip prices tumbled. thursday sees the release of hyundai motor and korean air. korea’s largest automaker will probably announce net income rose 37%, helped by increased sales of grandeur x.g. sudans and santa fe sport utility vehicles. the national carrier will probably report a net loss as sars and a slump in consumer spending discouraged people from traveling overseas. that’s a look at the top stories in the asia pacific over the new week. i’m gene otani in tokyo.
>> and we move on from tokyo to lower new york city. deborah kostroun at the big board with a closer look at this week’s stock trading at the new york stock exchange. deb.
>> well, lane, obviously we saw a lot of choppy trading going on over the past week. and in fact, volume a major part of the story because we really didn’t see a whole lot of it. in fact, in friday’s session at the new york stock exchange, barely crossing 1 billion shares. in fact, we haven’t seen that light of volume since july 3rd. remember, july 3rd was a holiday and before that we really have not had too many days. in fact just about two or three days where we just crossed one billion shares. so that lighter than average volume really having an impact. the dow jones industrial averages closing right near the best level of the day. for the week the s&p 500 we saw a second weekly drop in a row. the skd week in a low losing about a net of three points. for the week leaders in the s&p we saw energy. the big story with energy is that natural gas supplies looks like getting a little bit tight, so a little bit of concern as we head into the winter season that we might not have the supplies there. so a lot of increase in price as well. also food and staple and retail performing quite well. that as winn-dixie it was lower. however, for the week we did see many of the food and staple retail performing quite well, that as the july retail sales having their biggest gain in 13 months. but winn-dixie on friday saying their same store sales coming in a little bit lighter. household goods, another gainer in the s&p. laggards in the s&p 500, these were some of the biggest gainers since the low on march 11. so something that we saw over the past week really kind of giving back some of the gains that we have had. semis, tech hardware and software, the semiconductors among some of the worst performers on the week in the s&p 500. the dow jones industrial average eking out a gain of 35 points. in fact, the dow was the only major index to post a gain this week. however, i should point out that the dow jones industrial average the worst performing index year to date, and the nasdaq still is the best performing index year to date. dow leaders, home depot, a lot of the consumer stocks performing quite well as the concern about interest rates easing just a little bit. wal-mart, of course, saying their quarterly profit going to be better than expected because of better sales. mcdonald’s saying their sales last month up 10%. back to you in the studio.
>> china’s currency policy has been a hot topic around the world, but especially in tuts. coming up, bloomberg contributor gene sperling’s and former economic advisor to president clinton is back from a trip to china. he joins us next with the opinions he has on the won.
