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12 December 2018
 |
| financial markets (The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions) |
Global stock indexes jumped Wednesday to reverse some of their big
losses from the week before. In the U.S., technology companies rallied and
energy companies rose along with crude oil prices. Health care and industrial
companies also jumped, while safer, high-dividend stocks like utilities and
household goods makers were little changed.
KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 index rose 31
points, or 1.2 percent, to 2,668 at 10:10 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average gained 271 points, or 1.1 percent, to 24,641. The Nasdaq
composite jumped 110 points, or 1.6 percent, to 7,142. The Russell 2000 index
of smaller-company stocks added 19 points, or 1.4 percent, to 1,460.
Stocks have gyrated this week after they took
steep losses at the end of the week before. The repeated changes in direction
reflect investors' nervousness about the health of the global economy, as
economic growth is expected to slow down in 2019 and the U.S.-China trade
dispute and rising interest rates could both make that slowdown more painful.
EARLY LEADERS: Among technology companies,
Microsoft rallied 2 percent to $110.79 and Apple added 1.3 percent to $170.87.
Amazon gained 2.3 percent to $1,681 and Netflix jumped 3.6 percent to $274.89
as internet and media companies joined in the gains.
Among industrials, Caterpillar climbed 2.5
percent to $126.27 and Boeing rose 1.4 percent to $326.50. Equipment rental
company United Rentals surged 7.8 percent to $109.76 after it gave strong
forecasts for 2019 and said it will start buying back more stock this month.
The company said it stopped buying its own stock at the beginning of November
following an acquisition.
TURMOIL IN BRITAIN: British legislators
forced a no-confidence vote in Prime Minister Theresa May. The vote is
scheduled for later Wednesday and could end May's tenure and bring even more
chaos into British politics. Lawmakers within the Conservative Party have
expressed frustrations with May over her negotiations of Britain's departure
from the European Union, and many of them want a cleaner break from the trading
bloc. Opposition lawmakers don't want Britain to leave the EU.
The uncertainty has knocked the British pound
sharply lower in recent days, but it rose Wednesday to $1.2622 from $1.2527.
The British FTSE 100 stock index added 1.1 percent.
INFLATION WATCH: U.S. consumer prices were
unchanged in November, according to the Labor Department. Prices had edged up
over the previous seven months. Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy
and food prices, rose 0.2 percent in November and is up 2.2 percent over the
last year. However energy prices fell sharply as the price of crude oil plunged
more than 20 percent in November.
OVERSEAS: The CAC 40 in France surged 2
percent and Germany's DAX rose 1.3 percent. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped
2.2 percent and South Korea's Kospi rose 1.4 percent. The Hang Seng in Hong
Kong added 1.6 percent.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude oil added 0.7
percent to $52.02 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international
standard, gained 1.5 percent to $61.08 per barrel in London.
BONDS: Bond prices slipped. The yield on the
10-year Treasury note rose to 2.89 percent from 2.88 percent.
CURRENCIES: The dollar dipped to 113.29 yen
from 113.40 yen. The euro rose to $1.1361 from $1.1325.The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
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