Thursday Market Close Levels:
- S&P current trading rose 1.88% to 1,261.15.
- Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 208.43 points to reach 12,044.50.
- NASDAQ Index added 2.20% to reach 2,697.97.
- US dollar fell by 0.4878% relative to the euro.
- Gold price appreciated by $36.30 or 2.10% to reach $1,765.90 per ounce.
- Silver gained $0.42 or 1.73% to settle at $34.53 per ounce.
- Price of crude oil per barrel up by $1.52 to reach $94.03.
- Price of corn jumped by 1.3% to $6.535 a bushel.
Top Market Stories for Today:
- News from Europe lifts US stocks: US stocks advanced for the second straight day on the waves of the news that Greece had abandoned holding a vote on the bailout of the financially troubled country while the Eurozone Central Bank cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 1.25% unexpectedly thereby taking the pressure off the planned bailouts for Spain and Italy.
- Shares of Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) rose 7.5% on forecast sales that beat projections.
- Stocks of Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) gained 3.7% upon the release of a favourable earnings estimate.
- Estee Lauder Cos., the maker of Clinique skin care added 18% to reach $118.88 per share for boosting its dividend pay-out to $1.05 per share, making plans for stock split and for releasing an improved profit forecast.
- Hedge Fund sector had $52.2 billion capital inflow January-August 2011 according to a report by Bloomberg.
- Shares of hedge fund firm rose on buyback deal: Shares of the biggest publicly traded hedge fund firm, Man Group PLC (EMG), jumped just as the firm unveiled its plan to buy back $150 million of its stock.
- Asia hedge funds gained over $1.4 billion capital inflow from global hedge fund investors in the third quarter of 2011 as hedge fund managed account continue to gain popularity in Asia according to a report by JP Morgan.
- M&A: The processes needed for the $3.0 billion acquisition of Emdeon Inc. by Blackstone, has been completed. Emdeon is a healthcare revenue and payment cycle management provider and the transaction was duly approved by the shareholders of Emdeon at a special meeting held on Tuesday.
