The stock markets in the United States gained as investors wait for any development on the Greece debt crisis. The leaders in the European region conducted an emergency summit in Brussels regarding Greece.
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Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was also in Brussels today to obtain financial aid and to prevent his country’s exit from the Eurozone. The banks and the stock market in Greece will remain closed until Wednesday.
The Greek government promised to European leaders that it would submit a written economic proposal. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that there were only a few days left to reach an agreement.
Brad McMillan, chief investment officer at Waltham Massachusetts, told Bloomberg, “We’re really starting to get over the fear of Greece.
Economically it really doesn’t matter that much. It was a very real risk, and pullbacks were rational. When you see a reaction to a market event and that event doesn’t seem to be having much impact at all, then that reaction can reverse very easily.”
Today, the S&P 500 reached session highs after declining below its 200-day moving average.
Commenting on the market trends, Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Boston Private Wealth told CNBC, “We broke the 200- day moving average…and around that time the market began to stabilize.” He noted that the S&P 500 reached a support level at 2,045 points, and the index rebounded since then.
On the other hand, Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Capital commented, “I think there are two factors here: one is a technical bounce on the S&P from the 2,045 support level, and another is the [International Monetary Fund] warning the Fed not to raise rates again.”
Aside from the Greek debt crisis, investors will also focus their attention on the corporate earnings for the second quarter. Alcoa will kick off the earnings session tomorrow.
U.S. Markets
- Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) – 17,777.85 (+0.53%)
- S&P 500- 2,081.48 (+0.53%)
- NASDAQ- 4,429.46 (+0.11%)
- Russell 2000- 1,247.43 (+0.04%)
European Markets
- EURO STOXX 50 Price EUR- 3,294.19 (-2.11%)
- FTSE 100 Index- 6,432.21 (-1.58%)
- Deutsche Borse AG German Stock Index DAX- 10,676.78 (-1.96%)
Asia-Pacific Markets
- Nikkei 225- 20,376.59 (+1.31%)
- Hong Kong Hang Seng Index- 24,975.31 (-1.03%)
- Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index- 3,928.00 (-1.76%)
Stocks in Focus
The stock price of Altria Group climbed more than 3% to $51.68 per share. Nine brokerage firms covering the stock recommended a Buy rating. Sixt analysts have a short-term price target of $57 per share for Altria’s stock.
Depomed surged more than 37% to $28.49 per share. The company received an unsolicited acquisition offer from Horizon Pharma in an all-stock transaction valued at $29.25 per share. Depomed noted that Horizon’s proposal was similar in all material respects to its previous in May, which was rejected by its board of directors. At the time board concluded that the offer was not in the best interest of Depomed shareholders.
Freeport-McMoRan declined more than 3% to $17.25 per share primarily due to the declining prices of copper. Investors are concerned about the potential weakening of demand for raw materials from China.
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