Stocks advanced to six-month highs as investors welcomed the International Monetary Fund plan to boost its bailout fund to contain Europe’s debt crisis. The IMF said it is looking to raise up to $500 billion in additional lending resources to reach the target of $1 trillion in potential global financing needs in the coming years. Also, Goldman Sachs reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat forecasts, and spiked almost 7%. Producer prices fell 0.1% in December, while economists expected a rise of 0.1% during the month. Tech stocks rose following gains from semis and Yahoo, which gained 3.2% on news that co-founder Jerry Yang resigned from the Internet company’s board of directors. Among other tech stocks, Apple continued to climb, rising 1.0% ahead of an event scheduled for Thursday morning in New York that is expected to focus on the publishing or educational markets. On the downside, Research In Motion lost 1.1% after Samsung Electronics denied a report that it was considering making a bid for the co. In the evening trade EBay was up 2.2% after strong earnings. Implied volatility inched lower on huge trading volumes.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Extended gains
Stocks advanced to six-month highs as investors welcomed the International Monetary Fund plan to boost its bailout fund to contain Europe’s debt crisis. The IMF said it is looking to raise up to $500 billion in additional lending resources to reach the target of $1 trillion in potential global financing needs in the coming years. Also, Goldman Sachs reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat forecasts, and spiked almost 7%. Producer prices fell 0.1% in December, while economists expected a rise of 0.1% during the month. Tech stocks rose following gains from semis and Yahoo, which gained 3.2% on news that co-founder Jerry Yang resigned from the Internet company’s board of directors. Among other tech stocks, Apple continued to climb, rising 1.0% ahead of an event scheduled for Thursday morning in New York that is expected to focus on the publishing or educational markets. On the downside, Research In Motion lost 1.1% after Samsung Electronics denied a report that it was considering making a bid for the co. In the evening trade EBay was up 2.2% after strong earnings. Implied volatility inched lower on huge trading volumes.
