While you were sleeping: Eyes on Egypt

While you were sleeping: Eyes on Egypt

(BusinessDesk) February 3 - Stocks on Wall Street were mixed, fluctuating around two-year highs. Investors were also concerned about riots in Egypt.

Supporters of Egypt President Hosni Mubarak and anti-Mubarakprotesters clashed in Cairo as the government rejected international calls for the leader to end his 30-year-rule now. The violence is the worst in the nine-day uprising against Mubarak since protesters fought street battles last Friday.

Recent Wall Street gains gave investors another reason to pause. Yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 12,000 for the first time since June 2008, while the S&P 500 also finished the day at the highest level in more than two years.

"We are pushing into the technical resistance. They [indexes] have moved awfully far on the short-term, intermediate and even long-term basis," Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co in Oregon, told Reuters.

In early afternoon trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was steady. The S&P 500 Index slipped 0.23%. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged 0.02% higher.

Broadcom Corp dropped after it reported margins that fell short of analysts’ estimates.

Investors welcomed updates from Electronic Arts Inc and Time Warner Inc, which both gained after their earnings surpassed expectations.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department today said it would keep its long-term borrowing at steady levels and warned that the federal debt limit could be reached as soon as April 5.

The Treasury plans to sell US$72 billion in its quarterly sales of long-term debt next week, in line with the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of bond dealers.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year note climbed five basis points to 3.49% at noon in New York, according to BGCantor Market Data.

The euro was down 0.2% at US$1.3804. The greenback was up 0.3% at 81.55 yen

Investors are eyeing the European Central Bank meeting this week for indications on interest rates.

North Sea Brent crude oil futures rose to the highest level since September 2008 on concern the unrest in Egypt was spreading across the Middle East and north Africa.

ICE Brent for March gained 30 cents to US$102.04 a barrel by 1500 GMT, after earlier rising as high as US$102.18. U.S. crude advanced 60 cents to US$91.37.

"We suspect that the [as] yet unresolved political standoff in Egypt will likely keep oil prices fairly well bid, at least for the balance of the week," Edward Meir, senior commodities analyst at brokers MF Global, told Reuters.

Credit Suisse analysts agreed, according to Reuters, saying price risks would remain "skewed to the upside" as long as tensions in Egypt remained unresolved: "We expect oil prices to ease once tensions fade due to ample global inventories."

Copper hit another record high today, on expectations for a sustained global economic recovery and limited supplies.

Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange climbed to a record US$9,988.25 a tonne, up from US$9,945 on Tuesday.

"This is an investment darling," Danske analyst Arne Lohmann Rasmussen, told Reuters. "With a cheap [U.S.] dollar and strong data, and if people are looking for a bit of risk then copper is an obvious choice."

(BusinessDesk)

© Scoop Media