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NEW YORK (Reuters) – World stocks fell slightly but hovered just shy of six-week highs on Tuesday as Wall Street extended a year-long advance, while a rising yen signaled some investors are growing more risk averse.

Sterling hit a one-week low against the dollar on data showing a widening UK trade deficit and comments by Fitch Ratings that the UK sovereign credit profile has deteriorated.

Oil prices slipped from eight-week highs on expectations of a rise in U.S. crude inventories and a stronger dollar.

Robust corporate performance and upbeat fourth-quarter corporate results on Monday helped investors push the benchmark MSCI world stocks above their break-even level since December. But expectations that the economic rebound could be lackluster for years have kept investors from diving deeper into equities, and sparked some profit-taking.

“Earnings are coming through quite nicely and I think there is still a fair degree of confidence, which is helpful for companies,” said Mike Lenhoff, a strategist at Brewin Dolphin in London. A slight pullback in Europe appeared to be investors booking profits, he added.

The MSCI world equity index (.MIWD00000PUS: Quote, Profile, Research) stood at 300.56, down just 0.04 percent, after a higher U.S. session helped it recover earlier losses.

At the U.S. close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI: Quote, Profile, Research) rose 11.86 points, or 0.11 percent, to 10,564.38. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (.SPX: Quote, Profile, Research) climbed 1.95 points, or 0.17 percent, to 1,140.45 and the Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC: Quote, Profile, Research) increased 8.47 points, or 0.36 percent, to 2,340.68.

One year ago, Wall Street hit a more than 12-year low in the wake of the financial crisis. The Dow has since rallied about 62 percent.

“This past year was one of the most powerful rallies in history, and with the recent gains we’ve had, it makes sense that we’re going to move sideways for a while,” said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors in New York.

Airline and transport stocks rose after UAL Corp’s (UAUA.O: Quote, Profile, Research) chief financial officer said the company’s United Airlines was clearly seeing signs of recovery. UAL gained 3.66 percent to $18.16, off an earlier high of $19.29. The ARCA Airline index (.XAL: Quote, Profile, Research) added 2.91 percent.

Shares of Apple Inc (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) jumped nearly 2 percent to $223.02 ahead of the company’s iPad launch. It reached a record high at $225 earlier.

In Europe, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index (.FTEU3: Quote, Profile, Research) closed down 0.08 percent at 1,052.55, as banking stocks fell and miners declined on the firmer dollar.

The parent of the Airbus planemaker, EADS (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) ,lost 2.8 percent after it posted heavy losses in 2009 and scrapped its dividend. It also ruled out a solo bid for a lucrative U.S. tanker contract, leaving Boeing Co. (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) closer to snaring the contract worth up to $50 billion. Boeing shares in New York rose 0.8 percent to $67.79.

U.S. crude oil fell 0.46 percent to $81.41 a barrel, after hitting an eight-week peak above $82 a day earlier. Forecasts for growing U.S. crude inventories tempered recent bullish sentiment.

“Forecasts of yet another build in U.S. crude stocks show the disconnect between the fundamentals of oil supply and demand, which are quite bearish, and hopes of economic recovery, which are bullish,” said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.

In other commodities, spot gold prices fell $1.65, or 0.15 percent, to $1120.30. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index (.CRB: Quote, Profile, Research) declined 0.69 percent.

The dollar (.DXY: Quote, Profile, Research) gained 0.14 percent against a basket of major currencies. The dollar fell 0.35 percent to 89.94 yen while the euro lost 0.20 percent to $1.3601.

The yen was boosted by repatriation flows by Japanese exporters ahead of the fiscal year-end, as well as risk aversion on concerns peripheral euro zone economies could face debt problems similar to those of Greece.

Sterling fell as low as $1.4935 ,and recently traded at $1.4993, down from $1.5066 a day earlier. Fitch also said urgency for fiscal adjustment was greatest for Britain, Spain and France among the larger AAA sovereigns.

U.S. Treasury debt prices rose ahead of a $40 billion three-year note auction as the securities are used as hedges for a heavy slate of corporate bond issuance.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes traded 3/32 point higher, pushing their yields down 0.01 percentage point to 3.70 percent.

article source: bestgrowthstock

Move would triple CAT’s US output of earth-moving machines

*Would allow Japanese plant to focus on Asian demand

*Would create hundreds of jobs in CAT’s US operations

(Recasts first sentence, adds details on proposed move,

industry background, changes dateline previously NEW YORK)

By James B. Kelleher

CHICAGO, March 11 (Reuters) – Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said

on Thursday it may build a new hydraulic excavator plant in the

United States, a move that could triple its current U.S. output

of the earth-moving machines and add hundreds of jobs to its

recession-ravaged payroll.

The world’s largest maker of construction and mining

equipment, currently manufactures in Japan all but two of the

hydraulic excavator models it sells in North America. The two

non-Japanese made models are produced in a plant in Aurora,

Illinois.

The machines are essentially modern-day versions of what

used to be called steam shovels. They are often equipped with

buckets and used by builders to dig in confined areas.

A Caterpillar spokesman said that if the company decides to

build the new U.S. plant, Caterpillar would concentrate all its

excavator production for North America at the facility.

The proposed move would free up excavator capacity at the

Japanese plant, permitting it to better serve the fast-growing

Asian markets on its doorstep.

It would also allow the Aurora facility — which makes a

variety of other construction-related equipment including

wheeled dozers and soil compactors — to simplify its

operations and ramp up production of those tools when the

hard-hit markets it serves eventually rebound.

Caterpillar said a final decision on the move would come

“at a later date.” Even so, news of the study provided a ray of

hope in a sector that has not seen a lot of light recently.

The U.S. economic downturn that began in December 2007 has

been especially brutal for manufacturing workers, who absorbed

a disproportionate share of the job losses associated with the

slump.

Manufacturing generates less than 12 percent of U.S.

economic output and accounts for less than 9 percent of the

jobs in the country. Yet it accounted for more than 26 percent

of the 8.4 million layoffs in the downturn, according to the

U.S. Department of Labor.

Last year alone, the U.S. manufacturing sector shed 11.4

percent of its total workforce — the largest one-year

percentage drop since the Great Depression, dwarfing even the

10.4 percent drop seen in 1945, when America’s victorious

industrial war machine throttled back production.

Caterpillar alone has laid off more than 30,000 full-time

and contract workers, many of them in the United States, over

the past two years as it scrambled to bring its output of

construction and mining equipment, and diesel and turbine

engines, in line with fast-falling demand.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – World stocks hovered at six-week highs on Tuesday as hopes of economic recovery helped U.S. equities extend a year-long bull market, while a rising yen signaled some investors are growing more risk averse on nagging worries about European debt levels.

Sterling hit a one-week low against the dollar, weighed by data showing a widening UK trade deficit and comments by Fitch Ratings that the UK sovereign credit profile has deteriorated.

Oil prices slipped back from eight-week highs on Tuesday on expectations of a rise in U.S. crude inventories and a slightly stronger dollar.

Robust corporate performance and upbeat fourth-quarter corporate results on Monday helped investors push the benchmark MSCI world stocks above their break-even level since December. But expectations that the economic rebound could be lackluster for years have kept investors from diving deeper into equities, and sparked some profit-taking.

“Earnings are coming through quite nicely and I think there is still a fair degree of confidence, which is helpful for companies,” said Mike Lenhoff, a strategist at Brewin Dolphin in London. A slight pullback in Europe appeared to be investors booking profits, he added.

The MSCI world equity index (.MIWD00000PUS: Quote, Profile, Research) gained 0.13 percent, erasing losses as U.S. shares firmed at the New York open.

At midday in the United States, the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI: Quote, Profile, Research) rose 39.45 points, or 0.37 percent, to 10,591.97. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (.SPX: Quote, Profile, Research) climbed 4.70 points, or 0.41 percent, to 1,143.20 and the Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC: Quote, Profile, Research) increased 15.30 points, or 0.66 percent, to 2,347.51.

One year ago, Wall Street hit a more than 12-year low in the wake of the financial crisis. The Dow has since rallied about 62 percent.

“This past year was one of the most powerful rallies in history, and with the recent gains we’ve had, it makes sense that we’re going to move sideways for a while,” said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors in New York.

Airline and transport stocks rose after UAL Corp’s (UAUA.O: Quote, Profile, Research) chief financial officer said the company’s United Airlines was clearly seeing signs of recovery. UAL gained 8.35 percent to $19, while the ARCA Airline index (.XAL: Quote, Profile, Research) added 3.63 percent.

Shares of Apple Inc (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) jumped more than 2 percent to a record high at $224.41 ahead of the company’s iPad launch.

In Europe, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index (.FTEU3: Quote, Profile, Research) closed down 0.09 percent at 1,052.55 points, as banking stocks fell and miners declined on the firmer dollar.

The parent of the Airbus planemaker, EADS (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) ,lost 2.8 percent after it posted heavy losses in 2009 and scrapped its dividend. It also ruled out a solo bid for a lucrative U.S. tanker contract, leaving Boeing Co. (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) closer to snaring the contract worth up to $50 billion. Boeing shares in New York rose 1.1 percent.

U.S. crude oil fell 0.22 percent to $81.69 a barrel, after hitting an eight-week peak above $82 a day earlier. Forecasts for growing U.S. crude inventories tempered recent bullish sentiment.

“Forecasts of yet another build in U.S. crude stocks show the disconnect between the fundamentals of oil supply and demand, which are quite bearish, and hopes of economic recovery, which are bullish,” said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.

In other commodities, spot gold prices rose 25 cents, or 0.02 percent, to $1122.20 and the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index (.CRB: Quote, Profile, Research) fell 0.51 percent.

The dollar (.DXY: Quote, Profile, Research) gained 0.28 percent against a basket of major currencies. The dollar fell 0.38 percent to 89.92 yen while the euro lost 0.39 percent to $1.3575.

The yen was boosted by repatriation flows by Japanese exporters ahead of the fiscal year-end, as well as risk aversion on concerns peripheral euro zone economies could face debt problems similar to those of Greece.

Sterling fell as low as $1.4935 ,and recently traded at $1.4982, down from $1.5066 a day earlier. Fitch also said urgency for fiscal adjustment was greatest for the UK, Spain and France among the larger AAA sovereigns.

U.S. Treasury debt prices rose ahead of a $40 billion three-year note auction as the securities are used as hedges for a heavy slate of corporate bond issuance.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes traded 3/32 point higher, pushing their yields down 0.01 percentage point to 3.70 percent.

article source:  bestgrowthstock