The stock markets in the United States ended the trading session higher driven by investors’ optimism that Greece would eventually reach a bailout agreement with its international creditors.
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Greece submitted a new proposal that meet most of the demands of the leaders of the European Union. French President Francois Hollande considered the new proposals of the Greek government as “serious and credible.” He also noted that Greece showed its determination to stay in the Eurozone.
Dutch Finance Minister and Eurogroup Chairman, Jeroen Dijsselbloem said the Greece’s proposal was “thorough” while Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi expressed optimism that they might reach an agreement by Saturday. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is still “skeptical,” according to his spokesman Martin Jaeger.
Today, China’s stock markets gained for the second day since June 24, a sign that investors’ sentiment is becoming positive. Last Wednesday, the China Securities Regulatory Commission imposed a new policy banning major shareholders, corporate executives, and directors from selling their stakes in listed companies for six months to prevent the market rout.
[drizzle]Commenting on the market trends; Larry Peruzzi, director of international trading at Cabrera Capital Markets told Bloomberg, “A relief rally today makes sense as the impediments have been temporarily removed. Markets survived a combination of Greek and Chinese body blows and a standing four-hour count to come out swinging Friday.”
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chairperson Janet Yellen stated the possibility of an interest rate increase this year. She also reiterated her previous statement that the pace of the subsequent interest rates hikes would be gradual.
Stephen Carl, principal and head equity trader at Williams Capital Group commented, “Stocks sold off a bit on the Yellen rate hike news, but that’s been balanced out by sentiment around Greece. We’re still getting a nice bounce from yesterday with all the potentially positive Greek news that could come out around them getting a deal done.”
U.S. Markets
- Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) – 17,775.71 (+1.29%)
- S&P 500- 2,078.50 (+1.33%)
- NASDAQ- 5,002.07 (+1.62%)
- Russell 2000- 1,251.21 (+1.38%)
European Markets
- EURO STOXX 50 Price EUR- 3,528.81 (+3.18%)
- FTSE 100 Index- 6,673.38 (+0.91%)
- Deutsche Borse AG German Stock Index DAX- 11,315.63 (+2.90%)
Asia-Pacific Markets
- Nikkei 225- 19,779.83 (-0.38%)
- Hong Kong Hang Seng Index- 24,901.28 (+2.08%)
- Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index- 4,106.56 (+5.36%)
Stocks in Focus
The stock price of Apple increased almost 3% to $123.61 per share today after suffering declines over the past few days. Mac Rumors reported that Apple is expected to release a new version of iPod Touch, iPod Nano, and iPod Shuffle next week. The report indicated that the new iPod Touch will come with a powerful A-based processor with 64-bit architecture.
American Airlines Group climbed nearly 4% to $41.21 per share. The company reported that its total revenue passenger miles (RPMs) increased 2.8% to 20.4 billion in June. Its total capacity rose 2.4% to 23.9 billion available seat miles (ASMs), and its total passenger load factor increased 0.4% to 85.4%. The company also indicated that it would cut its domestic growth plans this year.
The stock price of Cablevision Systems surged more than 7% to $26.69 per share. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, French billionaire Patrick Drahi expressed his interest in acquiring U.S. cable companies such as Cablevision and Cox Communications.
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