US, European markets higher

At midday on Wall Street on Wednesday, the markets were higher after the Dow Jones Industrial Average breached the 13,000 level for the first time in its history. The Dow was 0.45 percent higher by the middle of the session to 13,012.69, while the Nasdaq Composite had added 0.44 percent to 2,535.7 and the S&P 500 was up 0.48 percent to 1,487.58. The Nasdaq was helped by the internet retail sector. There were gains in the aerospace sector after a positive earnings report and at least one company in the metals sector was helped by sales rumors. There were declines among home builders after new data showed that while the sales of new homes in the US were up in March, they still were lower than analysts had expected.

The markets were higher in Europe on the session. The Eurofirst 300 gained 0.59 percent to 1,573.36, while the Dax was 1 percent higher to 7,343.08 in Frankfurt and the Paris CAC-40 added 1.04 percent to 5,947.33. Banks were mixed on the news that a consortium of several European banks had offered a bid for ABN Amro (Euronext: AAB; NSYE: ABN) that was higher than an earlier bid.

The London markets were up along with the continental markets. The FTSE 100 was 0.5 percent higher to 6,461.9, while the FTSE 250 gained 0.74 percent to 11,904.2. Aside from mixed results in the banking sector related to the ABN Amro bids, the retail sector saw gains, while several companies that went ex-dividend were lower on the session. Those declines included companies in the utilities, banking, and food and beverages sectors.

Equities markets in Asia were higher on the session. While the Sensex was 0.57 percent higher to 14,217.77 in India, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong dropped 0.18 percent to 20,536.78. Tokyo markets were down by much more. The Nikkei 225 dropped 1.2 percent to 17,236.15, its lowest close in three weeks, while the Topix index was down 1 percent to 1,687.34. The Australian markets were closed for the Anzac Day holiday.

The losses in Tokyo had to do mainly with negative data out of the United States that had investors worried that there would be less demand in the US for products from Japan. The automobile manufacturing sector saw declines. Carmakers and the electronics sector, both heavily dependent on exports, saw losses, while some sectors, including the internet sector, were higher on quarterly reports.

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