Stocks opened down but finished the day in positive
territory on day one of the 2nd quarter. After a strong first quarter, where the 3
major indices finished near or above 10%, stocks rallied to open the month of
April. The quarter started with a merger
and acquisition focus with cosmetics firm Coty Inc. proposing a buyout offer
for Avon Products valued at $10 billion that was later rejected by Avon. In other company news, Groupon shares fell
nearly 17% as the daily deals provider issued a revision to its Q4 2011
results, recognizing changes in the way it accounts for refund reserves. In economic news, the Institute for Supply
Management manufacturing gauge rose to 53.4% last month from 52.$ in February,
right in line with estimates. A reading
of over 50 signals growth. Construction
spending unexpectedly fell 1.1% in February, the Commerce Dept. reported. The drop was the highest in 7 mos. and
followed a 0.8% drop in January. Oil
prices started the day down, but rallied up 1.97% to 105.05. Gold
also added 6 points to 1677. The
US dollar was mixed and the 10 yr. treasury yield was down slightly to
2.19%. 30 yr. mortgage rates were down
to 3.97%. The CBOE Volatility Index was
up 0.84% to 15.63.
