A Volatile Week across the Globe
After a tough week sparked by a variety of announcements across the globe, the stock market suffered another loss on Friday, resulting in a weekly decline of just over 1%.
Worries about the health and the transparency of operations at financial services institutions worldwide were revived when JPMorgan Chase, considered among the best in the business, announced that it has tagged $2 billion in trading losses. It mattered little to market participants that such a loss was partially offset by $1.0 billion in securities gains. The stock suffered its worst percentage drop late last summer, while the rest of the financial sector surrendered 1.2%.
Adding to the negative tone were concerns about China’s economy rate after the country’s latest reading on retail sales and industrial production pointed to slower growth.
Participants responded to the stories by sending stocks lower at the open of Friday but the major equity averages began to fight through the selling almost immediately. The effort was led by the technology industry, which climbed out of the red to a solid gain. It also helped the NASDAQ advance ahead of its counterparts.
Although stocks were able to reverse their way out of these declines, momentum was lost when the S&P 500 reached its prior session high. Its failure to extend past that point was followed by a steady decline, which left nearly every sector to settle in negative territory.
As a result of all this activity, the FTSE 100 opened on Friday 1.93% lower. Germany’s DAX index dropped 1.99% in Friday trading and the French CAC 40 experienced losses on Friday of 1.9%.
Across the Atlantic, markets also reacted negatively to China’s announcement of poor economic projections as well as the earnings released in the US.
In Friday trading, the UK’s FTSE 100 index opened up 1.39% lower while the German DAX dropped 1.51% and France’s CAC 40 fell by a factor of 1.83%.
With continued uncertainty in Europe following delays in the Greek government forming a coalition government, it did not assist traders in their confidence in this region.
With all this upheaval across the global markets traded reacted accordingly this past week. The week ahead will definitely be an interesting one for the global binary trading community.
Stocks – Disney Makes their Mark at the Box Office (Ticker: DIS)
This past week, entertainment firm Walt Disney Co.’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger sold $81.6 million in stock after the record-setting box-office performance of “Marvel’s The Avengers” powered the shares to new highs.
The sale of 1.8 million shares took place on May 10th at an average price of $45.36, according to a regulatory filing. Disney closed at a record high on May 9th, after the company outlined plans for an “Avengers” sequel on its second-quarter earnings call.
Iger, who plans to step down as CEO in March 2015, exercised options at a cost of $55 million, according to the filing, suggesting profit of $26.6 million before taxes and commissions. The sales were part of routine financial planning to meet his family’s diversification goals.
Iger became chairman in March, with a contract that runs through June 2016. The company announced in October that it would name a new CEO to succeed him in March 2015.
In addition to the success it’s experiencing with The Avenger’s Disney’s other businesses are contributing to its strength as well. Disney's ESPN network continues to help drive revenue growth for the company and no direct Disney rival has a legitimate competitor to ESPN. Revenue across all segments - media networks, theme parks, studio/entertainment, consumer products and interactive media - jumped during this quarter as well. Media networks revenue jumped 9% to $4.7 billion while operating income at the company's cable networks, including ESPN, rose $143 million to $1.5 billion, the company said in a statement.
As a result of all this positive news, Disney’s stock climbed 0.6% to $45.56 on Friday. The shares have climbed 21% in 2012 so far.
In summary…
What a week across the global markets! With a number of global economic data being released and corporate news hitting the stands, it set the markets moving. What will happen in the weeks ahead, will be interesting to see for the entire trading community.