Las acciones caen, el riesgo de los bonos suben a record mientras los gobiernos Europeos se preparan para la venta de bonos.
El costo de proteger la deuda soberana Europea subio a niveles record mientras los gobiernos se preparan a vender $43 billones esta semana.
Stocks Fall, Bond Risk Rises to Record as European Governments Ready Sales
By Stephen Kirkland - Jan 10, 2011 9:07 AM ET
The euro weakened against 13 of its 16 most-active peers and fell to 107.23 yen as of 11:09 a.m. in Tokyo from 107.32 on Jan. 7. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
Stocks fell for a fourth day and U.S. index futures slipped, while the cost of insuring sovereign debt against default rose to a record as European governments prepared to borrow at least $43 billion this week.
The MSCI World Index lost 0.4 percent at 9 a.m. in New York, and Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures expiring in March slid 0.4 percent. Credit-default swaps on Portugal jumped nine basis points to a peak of 547, according to CMA. That helped push the Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe index higher for a fourth day. The Dollar Index added 0.1 percent, its sixth day of gains, the longest run since June. Oil rose as much as 2.2 percent after a leak at an Alaskan pipeline.
Portugal, Spain and Italy are scheduled to hold their first bond auctions this year after borrowing costs increased at bill sales last week. Germany may be softening its opposition to expanding the 750 billion-euro ($966 billion) rescue facility for the region’s most-indebted countries, after Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief spokesman, Steffen Seibert, declined to repeat the nation’s objections to restocking the fund.
“Europe’s debt woes are dominating market action,” Kathleen Brooks, research director at Gain Capital Group LLC in London, wrote in a report today. “If any of Europe’s large economies need help from the fund, that would require a completely new support system and a large injection. This could spread from a debt crisis to a currency crisis.”
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.7 percent, as more than four companies declined for each that gained. Portugal’s PSI-20 Index tumbled 1.5 percent, while Spain’s IBEX 35 slid 1 percent. Bank stocks led the selloff, with KBC Groep NV, Belgium’s biggest lender, plunging 7.1 percent and Banco Comercial Portugues SA losing 3.3 percent.
Bond Risk
Markit Group Ltd.’s index of credit-default swaps protecting the debt of 15 western European governments rose 0.5 basis point to a record 220, while contracts on Ireland jumped 18.5 to 673, the highest ever, according to CMA.
The extra yield investors demand to hold Belgian 10-year bonds instead of benchmark German bunds was near the most since at least 1993 as a political standoff deepened. The cost of insuring the country’s sovereign debt surged five basis points to a record 253, according to CMA. That’s more than for Italy, whose credit-default swaps fell 1 basis point to 252.
Portuguese 10-year bonds rose, reversing declines, with the yield falling 21 basis points to 7.17 percent. The European Central Bank bought Portuguese government bonds, according to three traders with knowledge of the transactions, who asked not to be identified because the deals are confidential. An ECB spokesman in Frankfurt declined to comment.
Danisco, DuPont
Danisco A/S rallied 25 percent after DuPont Co. agreed to buy the world’s largest maker of food ingredients for $5.8 billion. Smith & Nephew Plc surged 12 percent after Sky News reported the U.K. maker of hip and knee replacements rejected a 7 billion-pound ($10.9 billion) takeover approach from Johnson & Johnson. DuPont lost 1.5 percent.
The decline in U.S. futures indicated the S&P 500 may slip for a third day. The index fell 0.2 percent on Jan. 7 after a government report showed U.S. payrolls increased by 103,000, about two-thirds of the median estimate. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Janet Yellen said yesterday that central bank asset purchases prevented the country from slipping into deflation and will add 3 million jobs to private payrolls. The 10-year Treasury note yield fell two basis points at 3.30 percent.
Duke, Alcoa
Duke Energy Corp. said it agreed to buy Progress Energy Inc. for about $13.7 billion, creating the largest U.S. utility. Duke slipped 0.8 percent in pre-market trading and Progress Energy lost 1.4 percent, and Duke fell 1.2 percent.
Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum producer, unofficially kicks off the fourth-quarter earnings season when it reports results after the close of trading in New York today. The stock rose 1.1 percent.
Emerging-market stocks fell for a fourth day, led by Indonesia and India, amid concern accelerating inflation will drive interest rates higher. The Jakarta Composite Index sank 4.2 percent, the most in two years, while India’s Sensex slid 2.4 percent. Benchmark gauges in China, Thailand, Poland, Turkey and the Czech Republic lost at least 1 percent. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index retreated 1 percent. The Thai bhat led currencies lower, weakening 1.1 percent per dollar.
Oil climbed as high as $89.98 a barrel. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System was closed Jan. 8, forcing companies including BP Plc to suspend 95 percent of production from the North Slope area. BP shares fell 2 percent.
Copper fell for a fifth day, losing 0.5 percent in London as longest losing streak since June, as sliding equity lower imports of metal into China cool the demand outlook.