DJI - NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - U.S.
stocks climbed on Tuesday in a broad rally, recovering from sharp declines
sparked by a "bogus" Associated Press tweet about explosions at the
White House.
A false tweet by hackers of two
explosions at the White House that injured U.S. President Barack Obama provoked
a steep drop in stocks, before they quickly recovered minutes later.
Thomson Reuters data showed the
benchmark S&P 500 index fell 14.6 points, or 0.93 percent, in the space of
3 minutes when the tweet hit the market. With the S&P 500 valued at about
$14.6 trillion at the time of the false tweet, the plunge briefly wiped out
$136.5 billion of the index's value.
"If that was true that had
happened, that’s a justified selloff, but because people suffer from
information overload, people tend to overreact and don’t wait to substantiate
things - that is the downside to a 24-7 news cycle," said Jason Weisberg,
managing director of Seaport Securities Corp in New York.
"You want instantaneous
pricing, you want all the advantages of the technology, well then, you have to
live by the negatives that the speed and expediency provide."
The move was a reminder of the May
6, 2010, tumble in markets now known as the "flash crash," when the
Dow industrials dropped more than 600 points, eventually piling up a loss of
about 1,000 points, in a few minutes before recovering.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 152.29 points, or 1.05 percent, to close at 14,719.46. The Standard &
Poor's 500 Index gained 16.28 points, or 1.04 percent, to
finish at 1,578.78. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 35.78 points, or 1.11 percent, to end at 3,269.33.
Netflix Inc shares jumped 24.4
percent to $216.99 while Coach shot up 9.8 percent to $55.55. They were the
S&P 500's two biggest percentage gainers.
"We are encouraged to see the
market focusing on fundamentals, because we had been in a period where the
macro trade was pretty much driving things - whatever the global macro event was
or political event was seemed to be affecting the movement of the markets for a
period of time," said Paul Mangus, head of equity research and strategy at
Wells Fargo Private Bank in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Oils - NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - Brent
crude oil edged lower on Tuesday in reaction to weak manufacturing data in
China and Europe, but it closed above $100 a barrel for a second straight day
as it drew some support from strong gains in U.S. equity markets.
The flash HSBC Purchasing Managers'
Index fell to 50.5 in April from 51.6 a month earlier as new export orders
shrank in China.
The PMI's 50-point level divides
growth from contraction from the month before. The data followed
lower-than-expected GDP growth for China in the first quarter, which helped
spark a sharp sell-off last week.
There was also a surprise decline in
business activity among German companies, although the overall euro zone
services PMI rose slightly and met economists' forecasts.
"People are worried about a
slowdown in China and Europe, but I think with the stock market going higher
today, Brent is going to rebound a bit," said Mark Waggoner, president at
Excel Futures in Portland, Oregon.
June Brent crude settled down 8 cents at $100.31 a barrel after falling by more than $1.50 in
earlier trading. U.S. crude for June deliverysettled down 1 cent at $89.18 a barrel after falling more than $1 earlier.
CBOT Soybean - Soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade ended mixed, with front-month May lifted by firm cash markets due to
scarce supplies of old-crop U.S. soybeans and soymeal, traders
said.
· Back months pressured by forecasts for improved warmer and drier crop weather beginning next week in the U.S. crop belt. Recent heavy rainfall has brought most areas out of drought status, boosting crop production prospects.
· May soybean contract broke through resistance at its 50- and 100-day moving averages but pared gains late in the session on spillover pressure from corn and wheat. New-crop November soybeans set a 10-month low.
· Global soymeal supplies are likely to remain tight into May and possibly even June because of a slow start to exports of South America’s new soybean crop this year, oilseeds analysts Oil World said.
· Argentina is likely to export more soyoil in coming months because of weak international demand for its soyoil-based biodiesel - Oil World.
· USDA said private exporters reported sales of 392,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans to China for delivery in 2013/14.
· An elderly man in eastern China died of bird flu on Tuesday, bringing the death toll from a strain that recently emerged in humans to 22. China has culled thousands of birds and shut down some live poultry markets.
BMD CPO - SINGAPORE, April 23 (Reuters) -
Malaysian palm oil futures inched up on Tuesday as a drop in prices to 4-month
lows in the previous session attracted some buyers, although gains were limited
by slowing export demand.
A preliminary reading on Tuesday
showed manufacturing growth in China slowed in April, further weighing on
riskier assets such as shares and some commodities after disappointing economic
data last week triggered a sharp market sell-off.
But traders said palm oil prices
drew some support from bargain hunting after tumbling to a 4-month low the
previous day on sluggish exports and bearish external factors.
"We see some bargain hunting
today, but overall sentiment is still volatile especially on the macroeconomic
front. Support remains at 2,250 ringgit," said a trader with a foreign
commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur.
The benchmark July contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 0.8 percent to close at 2,272
ringgit ($743) per tonne. Prices fell to 2,250 ringgit on Monday, a level not
seen since Dec. 14.
Total traded volumes stood at 35,888
lots of 25 tonnes each, slightly more than the average 35,000 lots seen so far
this year.
SLUGGISH PALM EXPORTS
Malaysian palm oil exports for April
1-20 fell 6.4 percent to 864,206 tonnes from 922,987 tonnes shipped during
March 1-20, cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance said.
Sluggish exports could prevent
end-stocks from easing below the psychological 2-million-tonne mark, putting
more pressure on palm oil prices. Inventory level fell to 2.17 million tonnes
in March, down 11 percent from February's 2.44 million tonnes.
In other markets, Brent crude fell
below $99 a barrel after weaker-than-expected manufacturing data from China and
Germany darkened the outlook for fuel demand.
The flash HSBC Purchasing Managers'
Index fell to 50.5 in April from 51.6 the month before as new export orders
shrank in China. The PMI's 50-point level demarcates growth from contraction
from the month before.
In other vegetable oil markets, U.S.
soyoil for July delivery edged down 0.6 percent in late Asian trade.
The most-active September soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodities Exchange fell 1 percent.
