Stock Market Watch

Stocks Finish Higher

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Stocks ended higher in trading today as hopes that the euro zone debt crisis will be contained lifted sentiments. However, all three major indexes shed some of their gains in late trading after reports that Standard & Poor’s has put all euro zone nations on watch for downgrade.

Earlier in the day, stocks had risen sharply after leaders of France and Germany called for a new treaty to implement greater fiscal discipline among euro zone countries. The meeting between the French President and the German Chancellor comes a few days ahead of the important European Union summit.


Over the weekend, Italy’s new prime minister, Mario Monti announced budget cuts worth euros 30 billion. Following the announcement from Monti, yields on Italian government bonds fell, indicating that market participants believe that Italy is less likely to default now.

The Dow Jones ended the day 0.65% higher at 12,097.83, the S&P 500 ended the day 1.03% higher at 1,257.08, and the Nasdaq ended the day 1.10% higher at 2,655.76.

All sectors in the S&P 500 ended the day sharply higher. Financials were the best performers in the S&P 500, followed by Transportation stocks. Financials ended the day 1.51% higher, while Transportation stocks ended the day 1.50% higher. Basic Materials stocks ended the day 1% higher. Technology stocks ended the day 1.11% higher.

Among the major gainers in trading today were Affymax Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFY), which ended the day 19.24% higher at $6.26, SuccessFactors Inc. (NYSE: SFSF), which ended the day 51.43% higher at $39.75, and Taleo Corporation (NASDAQ: TLEO), which ended the day 19.84% higher at $39.50.

European markets ended mostly higher today as investors hoped for more concrete measures from policymakers at the summit on Friday to contain the debt crisis. The FTSE 100 Index in London ended the day 0.28% higher at 5,567.96, and the CAC 40 Index in Paris ended the day 1.15% higher at 3,201.28.

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edliston
Post Written By: Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.


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Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing.

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