Stock market fixing:
Nikkei 225 -129.90 -1.0% 13 124.99
Topix -18.46 -1.5% 1 258.81
FTSE -8.60 -0.16% 5,477.50
DAX -17.90 -0.27% 6,543.49
CAC +9.10 +0.20% 4,457.43
Dow -224.64 -1.93% 11,431.43
NASDAQ -22.64 -0.95% 2,355.73
S&P -23.12 -1.79% 1,266.07
10yr Note -1.1300 -0.279% 3.935%
NYMEX Crude Oil +1.44 +1.21% 120.02
Gold -5.10 -0.58% 877.90
Japan Stocks Fall on Concern Provisions to Hurt Bank Earnings
Japan's stocks fell, led by banks, on concern an economic slowdown will
cause financial companies to write down more assets and incur greater
losses from bad loans.
Chuo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. paced a decline in bank shares to the
lowest level in four months after surging credit costs cut profits and
American International Group Inc. posted $5.36 billion in writedowns.
Daikin Industries Ltd., the world's second-biggest maker of air
conditioners, sank the most in 16 years after cutting its forecast.
Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. rose a second day as the yen fell to the
weakest in seven months.
AIG, the world's biggest insurer by assets, yesterday said writedowns
related to the U.S. housing slump wiped out its profit. Losses stemming
from the collapse of the U.S. mortgage market have resulted in more
than $493 billion in asset writedowns and credit losses among the
world's largest financial institutions, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg News.
Chuo Mitsui, the nation's 11th-largest bank, retreated 4 percent to 605
yen. The lender yesterday posted a 52 percent drop in first-quarter net
income as bad loan-related costs more than doubled. Bigger rival
Shinsei Bank Ltd. slumped 6.7 percent to 347 yen, while Mizuho
Financial Group Inc. lost 3.5 percent to 476,000 yen.
Daikin tumbled 11 percent, the sharpest drop since August 1992, to
4,010 yen. The company yesterday cut its annual profit target by 3
percent, citing rising material costs and ``sluggish'' demand in
Europe. Real estate company Ardepro Co. plummeted by its daily limit of
12 percent to 3,630 yen after reversing its annual forecast to a net
loss.
Almost twice as many Japanese companies reporting first- quarter
results have lowered their annual forecasts as those who raised
targets, according to a report today by Shinko Research Institute Co.
Fuji Heavy, the maker of Subaru cars, jumped 4.4 percent to 597 yen,
while Suzuki Motor Corp., which gets more than half its sales outside
Japan, added 2.7 percent to 2,265 yen.
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., the nation's largest telephone
operator, tumbled 6.6 percent, the sharpest dive since May 2007, to
527,000 yen. Profit at the company's two regional units plunged in the
first quarter, it said yesterday.
European Stocks Fall on Growth, Profit Concerns; Aegon Drops
European stocks fell for the first time in three days after European
Central Bank President Jean- Claude Trichet said economic growth will
slow and U.S. jobless claims climbed to the highest level in six years.
Aegon NV, the owner of U.S. insurer Transamerica Corp., declined the
most in six months after second-quarter profit slumped 58 percent.
Dexia SA tumbled 10 percent as the world's largest lender to local
governments said it will provide $300 million to its U.S. bond
insurance unit. British Airways Plc and Next Plc, the U.K.'s
second-largest clothes retailer, slipped after oil rose for the first
time in four days.
Growth will be ``particularly weak'' in the second and third quarter,
Trichet said at a press conference after the ECB kept its benchmark
interest rate unchanged.
Stocks pared declines after a report showed pending home resales in the
U.S. unexpectedly rose in June, signaling lower prices are luring
buyers back into the market.
National indexes decreased in 12 of the 18 western European markets.
The U.K.'s FTSE 100 lost 0.2 percent and Germany's DAX slipped 0.3
percent. France's CAC 40 added 0.2 percent.
Aegon plunged 7.5 percent to 7.64 euros. Net income declined to 276
million euros ($426 million) on higher writedowns and investment
losses. That topped the 343 million- euro median estimate of 10
analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
British Airways lost 4.9 percent to 255 pence. Air France- KLM Group,
Europe's biggest airline, dropped 4.6 percent to 17.44 euros.
Next declined 2.3 percent to 1,029 pence. J Sainsbury Plc, the U.K.'s
third-biggest supermarket company, slid 2.9 percent to 341 pence.
Crude oil for September delivery rose 1.3 percent to $120.04 on the New
York Mercantile Exchange. Yesterday, oil fell to $118.58 a barrel, the
lowest close since May 2.
BP Plc, Europe's second-biggest oil company, added 2.1 percent to 532 pence.
Axa SA, Europe's second-biggest insurer, rallied 4.8 percent to 21.36
euros. First-half profit declined 32 percent to 2.16 billion euros,
beating the 1.93 billion euros estimated by analysts in a Bloomberg
survey.
Barclays Plc, the U.K.'s third-biggest bank, gained 1.6 percent to 375
pence. First-half profit fell 34 percent to 1.72 billion pounds ($3.4
billion) as it took a more ``conservative'' stance in response to
deteriorating credit markets and criticisms that past writedowns were
insufficient. Net income beat the 1.5 billion-pound average estimate of
11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Veolia Environnement SA climbed 9.2 percent to 36.30 euros after the
world's biggest water company said it will sell 1.5 billion euros worth
of assets and reduce costs by 400 million euros.
Grupo Ferrovial SA advanced 4.5 percent to 34.07 euros after U.K.
airports division BAA Ltd., won ``overwhelming support'' from
bondholders for a planned refinancing.
U.S. stocks fell the most in a week after American International
Group Inc.'s unexpected loss dragged down financial shares and Wal-Mart
Stores Inc.'s forecast for slower sales growth sent retailers lower.
AIG, the largest insurer, slumped the most since going public in 1969
as subprime-related writedowns wiped out profit and spurred concern it
will raise more capital. Citigroup Inc., the biggest U.S. bank by
assets, slid after settling regulatory claims it improperly saddled
customers with untradeable bonds. Wal-Mart, the biggest retailer,
tumbled the most in six years.
The S&P 500 erased yesterday's gain as a bigger-than- forecast
increase in jobless claims helped send all 10 of its industry groups
lower. Initial unemployment claims increased by 7,000 to 455,000 in the
week ended Aug. 2, the most since March 2002.
Second-quarter earnings at S&P 500 companies that have released
results are down 21 percent on average from a year earlier, according
to data compiled by Bloomberg. Profits at consumer discretionary
companies have declined 81 percent as higher fuel and food costs crimp
household budgets. Financial earnings are lower by 87 percent.
While three-quarters of S&P 500 companies that have reported
results since July 8 beat or met the average analyst estimates, the
misses have been larger in size, chiefly at automobile companies and
consumer finance companies. In aggregate, results at the 418 companies
that have reported fell short of analyst estimates by 7.2 percent.
That's worse than in the first quarter, when aggregate profit missed
the estimates by 2.7 percent.
