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Stocks Quiet in Europe; US New Home Sales May Show Upturn

BySaxo Bank
AuthorSaxo Bank
Published 02/24/2012, 09:46 AM
Updated 03/19/2019, 04:00 AM
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ES35
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Consolidation ahead of the LTRO programme, will new home sales surprise?

S&P 500 Index futures are up 0.1 percent as stocks are looking to consolidate ahead of next week's second round of ECB's LTRO funding to European banks. The additional liquidity and cheap funding for the banking system could very well be the next upside catalyst for stocks.

Today will be a quiet day at the office for US traders with little news to really move the market. US new home sales for January are expected (15:00 GMT) to come out at 315K up from 307K in December. The latest data on US housing from house prices, foot traffic from prospective buyers and existing home sales have all been better and may point to a definitive bottom in US housing. However, as the chart below of annual new home sales since 200 shows we have a long way back to normalised levels.
Chart - 1
European stocks are mixed, BASF delivers on earnings

Stocks in Europe are mixed with the DAX Index up 0.5 percen and the IBEX 35 Index down 0.7 percent with latter driven down by Banco Santander (-1.1%) and Iberdrola (-1.8%).

Europe's largest chemical maker, BASF, reported 4Q EBIT excluding special items of EUR 1.51 bn. in line with etimates of EUR 1.52 bn. The results were driven by strong growth in emerging markets. The company also announced a EUR 2.50 dividend per share, beating estimates of EUR 2.40. CEO Kurt Bock is confident that global growth will pick up in 2012, providing the foundation for the third consecutive year of record profits. The shares rose 2.9 percent intraday but have since come down and are now trading 0.7 percent higher.

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