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Markets News Afternoon: Oil prices plunge 6% in London and New York on dollar and US weekly jobless benefits rise
By Finfacts Team
May 5, 2011 - 5:14 PM
Oil prices fell almost 6% in London and New York
today following a rise in US jobless numbers and a gain in the dollar after the
European Central Bank kept rates on hold.
US New Weekly Jobless Claims:
In the week ending April 30, the figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims
was 474,000, an increase of 43,000 from the previous week's revised figure of
431,000. The 4-week moving average was 431,250, an increase of 22,250 from the
previous week's revised average of 409,000.
The number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending
April 23 was 3,733,000, an increase of 74,000 from the preceding week's revised
level of 3,659,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,700,750, a decrease of 1,250
from the preceding week's revised average of 3,702,000.
A spring break holiday in New York, a new
emergency benefits program in Oregon and car plant shutdowns caused by the
earthquake in Japan were the main reasons for the rise, a Labor Department
spokesman said.
GM: General
Motors Co., the largest US carmaker, today reported first-quarter profit that
beat analysts’ estimates as US sales jumped.
Net income more than tripled to $3.37bn, or $1.77 a share, from $1.07bn, or 55
cents, a year earlier, GM said today in a statement.
Revenue jumped 15% to $36.2bn.
US Markets
In New York Thursday, the Dow fell
48 points or 0.38% to 12,676.
Peripheral Debt Unlikely to Harm German Exports - Economist; "Spain is a different issue, but the other three countries are relatively small and they won't hurt German exports much. I don't expect them to to have a huge impact on the German economy anyway. In the Spanish case, that's a little different, Spain is a much stronger importer of German goods," Lars Feld, member of the German Council of Economic Experts told CNBC in a discussion on the impact of peripheral Europe's debt crises. However, he added that in the case of Spain, the German economy would not be too harmed, due to much larger markets in northern Europe and Asia:
