U.S. stocks are mostly up due in large part to rising oil prices. International problems are still weighing on Wall Street, however, as Greece’s government failed to reach a consensus on a plan to bring its national debt under control. Japan, meanwhile, has reported that exports dropped about 12.5 percent because of problems stemmed from the earthquake and tsunami. Both concerns are not isolated from the U.S. markets, either. Japan’s supply shock has already affected a number of major U.S. companies, and the EU’s inability to handle its problematic economies like Greece, Ireland and Portugal, could quickly spread overseas as well. In the U.S., the government’s stock sale of AIG (NYSE: AIG) shares reduced its holdings acquired from the bailout to 77 percent from 92 percent, and netted the Treasury $5.8 billion on 200 million shares sold. AIG also sold 100 million shares–both priced at $29 per–and raised nearly $3 billion.
Major U.S. Stock Indices
DJIA: 12,391.03 (+0.28 percent)
S&P 500: 1,320.52 (+0.32 percent)
NASDAQ: 2,761.57 (+0.56 percent)
Russell 2000: 819.84 (+1.17 percent)
In other news:
- CNBC anchor and veteran journalist Mark Haines died at the age of 65 last night. [CNBC]
- French finance minister Christine Lagarde is stepping up to the plate and announcing her candidacy for the head of the IMF position. [WSJ]
- The SEC is raising the bounty on companies committing financial fraud with increased payouts for whistleblowers. [Marketwatch]
- If you want to know what’s going on at the Ira Sohn Conference, one of the most important investor conferences in the world. Several names mentioned already: MBIA (NYSE: MBI), Sprint (NYSE: S), AT&T (NYSE: T) and CIT Group (NYSE: CIT). [Dealbreaker]
- Here’s an unfavorable review of HBO’s Too Big to Fail. [ProPublica]
Check back for more news.
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