The NYSE will start Thursday's meeting in sharp rebound, while Japanese engineers are trying everything possible to cool the reactors at Fukushima and avoid a major nuclear disaster. The Dow Jones climbed 1.09% to 11,738 points, the Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq 100 advancing 1.33% respectively to 1274 points and 1.40% points to 2653 points.
Thursday's meeting, however, promises once again to be febrile given the uncertainties surrounding the nuclear disaster in the archipelago. Wednesday on Wall Street, the Dow Jones dropped 2.04% to 11,613.3 points and ended at its lowest since Dec. 31.
The VIX volatility index, also called "fear index," jumped over 20% Wednesday and flew more than 45% since the beginning of the week.And according to analysts at PFG Best "it is not impossible that the Vix found record levels at the height of the financial crisis, the index could well triple.
In Tokyo on Thursday, the Nikkei closed down 1.44% moderate, affected by the surge in the yen and suspended the efforts of Japanese technicians near the nuclear power plant in Fukushima. For the first time since the nuclear crisis, the Japanese army helicopters dumped in the morning about 30 000 liters of water reactors 3 and 4 of the plant. The results of this operation are not yet known.Moreover, to support the Japanese economy, the Bank of Japan injected 6,000 billion yen (about 54 billion euros) Thursday on the money market, bringing to 34,000 billion yen, its total contribution since Monday.
Inflation at the highest
On the currency markets, the euro continued its rebound against the dollar on Thursday, while the yen was changing to levels not seen since the Second World War against the greenback, buoyed by speculation of remittances in Japan following the devastating earthquake on Friday. 111H00 to Paris, the euro bought 1.4053 dollars against 1.3906 late Wednesday, its highest in four months.
On the macroeconomic front, the meeting was punctuated by the publication of numerous U.S. indicators.The weekly jobless claims were initially declined more than expected in the United States during the week to March 12, at 385 000 401 000 cons (revised) the previous week, said Thursday the Labor Department.
Higher oil prices is being felt in the United States on consumer prices, which have experienced in February their largest increase since June 2009, according to figures released Thursday by the Washington Department of Labor faxless pay day loans.
The industrial production fell unexpectedly in February cons, largely due to mild temperatures that have weighed on the sector of services to communities, according to official statistics released Thursday.According to the U.S. Federal Reserve, production fell 0.1% after an increase of 0.3% (revised from -0.1%) in January.
Guess and FedEX published
The values listed after the close Fifth Third Bancorp has repurchased $ 280 million contract warrant issued to U.S. Treasury for the bailout of banks.
The mail group FedEx (4.91% to 89.47 U.S. dollars) Thursday raised its forecast for revenue and margin for the current quarter and next, an announcement that pushed its way in the exchange pre-market trading. "We expect a continued positive trend increases turnover and margins in the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2012," said Alan Graf, chief financial officer.
Guess (-9.07% to 39.89 dollars) posted net earnings rose to $ 105.4 million, or $ 1.11 per share in the fourth quarter ended Jan. 29, against $ 87.9 million , or 93 cents per share last year.
By contrast, Qualcomm (4.36% to 52.70 dollars) said its deliveries should not be affected by events in Japan, noting that the supply and production within the company was sufficiently diversified in this such situations.
Renaissance Re Holdings (-1.77% to 62.77 dollars) said the floods in Australia will have a negative impact 30 to $ 190 million on first quarter results 2011.The earthquake in Japan should also have a significant effect on the accounts.
For his part, Rollins (1.01% at 19.01 dollars) has announced that its subsidiary, Orkin had opened a new office in Shanghai.
Also note, Apple (2.55% to 338.42 dollars) lost 4.5% Wednesday after an analyst from JMP Securities has degraded the value of the first degradation by an analyst since October. 90% of analysts remains to buy Apple. But, clearly, the group's growth could be affected by events in Japan and greater competition, especially in the segment of mobile phones, experts say Aurel BGC.
ON Semiconductor announced that its turnover in the first quarter 2011 could be affected by the situation in Japan at 2% to 4% of its turnover, due to disruptions in logistics.