Share Trading Tips

US markets ended flat in the absence of any economic data. Nasdaq hits fresh 52-week high. Dow Jones ended up 3 points at 10567, Nasdaq ended up 18 points at 2359 and S&P 500 ended up 5 points at 1145.6. US Bank Index was up 2.2% amid talks that Senate Democrats will propose to expand the Volker Rule with new limits on proprietary trading by banks and nonbank financial firms. Dow Futures were flat.

Asian markets opened marginally in the green. Nikkei 225 was up 0.9% (GDP data released), Hang Seng, Taiwan Weighted, Shanghai Composite, Kospi, Straits Times were up 0.3%. In Europe, CAC was up 0.8%, DAX was up 0.86% and FTSE was up 0.68%. CBOE VIX was up 3.6% at 18.57. SGX Nifty was up 0.2%.

Global News:

Japan’s GDP rose at an annual 3.8% in Q4, slower than preliminary estimate of 4.6%. Bank of Korea keeps benchmark rate unchanged at 2%. There are talks that Brazil-based Vale is seeking to raise iron-ore prices.

Global Movers & Shakers:

Citigroup was up 3.6% after the company issued a $ 2 billion preferred offering at $ 25 and yield of 8.5%. Citigroup has gained over 15% in the past five days. Fifth Third was up 2.7%, PNC was up 2.15%, SunTrust was up 2.6%, Comerica was up 2.2% on talks that Barclays is considering buying a U.S. retail bank. In Tech stocks, Broadcom was up 3.8%, Google was up 3% and Intel was up 1.3%.

US Economic News:

Wholesale inventories for January stood down 0.2% against expected increase of 0.2%. Treasury’s budget estimated deficit stood at $ 220.9 billion, in line with $ 222 billion consensus.

Commodities:

CRB Commodity Index was down 0.6% at 274.6. Gold was down 1.3% at $ 1108.2/ounce. Oil was up 0.7% at $ 82.09/bbl, hit $ 83 during the day on back of smaller-than-expected inventory build of 1.43 bn bbls. Baltic Dry Index rose 0.6%.