Stocks: Wednesday’s review

Asian stocks rose, with the benchmark index headed for its highest close since August 2011, as Japanese shares surged on earnings and amid speculation the Federal Reserve will renew its commitment to asset purchases.

Nikkei 225 11,113.95 +247.23 +2.28%

Hang Seng 23,822.06 +166.89 +0.71%

S&P/ASX 200 4,896.69 +7.72 +0.16%

Shanghai Composite 2,382.47 +23.50 +1.00%

Yahoo Japan Corp., owner of the nation’s largest Web portal, surged 17 percent and Koito Manufacturing Co., an automobile lighting equipment maker, jumped 10 percent after raising its full-year profit forecasts.

Yuanta Financial Holding Co. rose 3.9 percent in Taipei after Taiwan said it will allow mainland institutions to invest twice as much in its securities market.

ENN Energy Holdings Ltd., a natural gas distributor, slumped 2.7 percent in Hong Kong on plans to issue convertible bonds.

European stocks dropped the most this year as Saipem (SPM) SpA plunged and a report showed that the U.S. economy unexpectedly contracted in the fourth quarter.

Saipem plummeted 34 percent after cutting its earnings forecasts for 2012 and 2013. Swedbank AB (SWEDA) jumped the most in 32 months after the lender raised its dividend payout ratio to 75 percent of profit after net income more than quadrupled in the fourth quarter. Nordea Bank AB (NDA) rose 3.2 percent after reporting quarterly profit that beat analysts’

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 0.6 percent to 288.63 in London, falling from its highest level since Feb. 18, 2011.

The U.S economy shrank 0.1 percent at an annual rate in the fourth quarter, figures from the Commerce Department showed today. The median estimate of economists had called for the world’s largest economy to expand 1.1 percent. Gross domestic product increased 3.1 percent in the three months through September.

National benchmark indexes retreated in 14 of the 18 western-European markets.

FTSE 100 6,323.11 -16.08 -0.25% CAC 40 3,765.52 -20.30 -0.54% DAX 7,811.31 -37.26 -0.47%

Saipem plunged 34 percent to 20.01 euros, its biggest slide since at least Dec. 1988. The oil and gas contractor lowered its forecast for earnings before interest and taxes in 2012 by 6 percent to about 1.5 billion euros. Ebit will fall to about 750 million euros in 2013, the company said. Italy’s FTSE MIB sank 3.4 percent, its biggest drop since Aug. 2.

Roche Holding AG retreated 1.4 percent to 198.60 Swiss francs. The world’s biggest maker of cancer drugs posted earnings per share excluding some items of 13.62 francs for last year, falling short of the 13.67-franc average analyst estimate.

Imperial Tobacco Group Plc sank 4.3 percent to 2,361 pence after saying profit will decline in the first half of this year. Europe’s second-biggest tobacco company also reported a smaller gain in fiscal first-quarter revenue than analysts had estimated. British American Tobacco Plc, Europe’s largest, dropped 0.8 percent to 3,275.50 pence.

Nordea rose 3.2 percent to 68.45 kronor after Scandinavia’s largest lender said profit increased 7 percent in the fourth quarter. Net income climbed to 840 million euros from 785 million euros a year earlier, the lender said. That beat the average analyst estimate for profit of 765 million euros.

Luxottica Group SpA added 2.3 percent to 34.36 euros, its highest price since its initial public offering on Italy’s stock market in December 2000. The owner of the Oakley and Ray-Ban sunglasses brands said sales rose 14 percent in 2012 to 7.09 billion euros.

Major U.S. stock indexes fell markedly, ending trading in the red, which was associated with the presented results of the session Fed.

The pressure on the index has released before today's trading macroeconomic data, which recorded an unexpected decline of U.S. GDP in the 4th quarter. According to preliminary estimates, the GDP of the United States on the basis of the last 3 months of 2012 dropped by 0.1%. The average forecast of analysts meant an increase of 1.3% after rising 3.1% in the previous reporting period.

Note also that after the results of the current meeting of the Federal Open Market major stock indexes began to decline, falling at the same time in negative territory. It is learned that the Fed will continue to buy monthly mortgage securities in the amount of 40 billion dollars and treasury bonds worth 45 billion dollars. The Fed also said it would continue to buy the securities until a significant improvement in the labor market. In addition, the Fed will keep rates very low until there is inflation below 2.5%. At the same time, the Fed noted that the economy will grow at a moderate pace in the implementation of mitigation policies, and the unemployment rate will decline gradually with mild policy.

Most of the components of the index DOW showing a decrease (23 of 30). At the moment, the leader shares in Boeing Co. (BA, +1.06%). The Boeing Company today released a quarterly report, according to which the resulting profits and revenues in the 4th quarter was above expectations. Maximum loss carry stocks Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM, -1.24%).

All sectors of the S & P is in the red zone. The maximum loss is the basic materials sector (-0%) and industrial products sector (-0.8%). Least of all the consumer goods sector decreased (-0.1%) and utilities sector (-0.1%).

At the close:

Dow -44.08 13,910.34 -0.32%

Nasdaq -11.35 3,142.31 -0.36%

S & P -5.91 1,501.93 -0.39%