Rallies in the streets of New York and Washington after the death of Osama bin Laden haven’t translated into stock market rallies.
The Dow Jones industrial average, which hit a three-year high on Friday, rose as much as 65 points early on Monday but was up 26 points, or 0.2%, to 12,836 at about 11:15 a.m. PDT. Broader indexes were mixed, and declining stocks slightly outnumbered winners on the New York Stock Exchange.
Bin Laden's death sent shockwaves through equities, futures and energy markets around the world. U.S. futures jumped close to 100 points around the time the news was released, the Japanese Nikkei 225 climbed 1% and oil prices tumbled. However, more than 12 hours after the release, the market effects became more muted.
Reaction to his death also was muted in European stock markets, most of which closed little changed.
The same was true in Middle Eastern markets. The main Saudi Arabian stock index added 0.5% for the session. In Israel, the Tel Aviv 100 index slipped 0.1%.
Indeed, a continuous stream of strong first-quarter results from big-name players like Apple (AAPL: 345.79, -4.34, -1.24%) and Ford (F: 15.42, -0.04, -0.29%) ignited a rally that sent the blue chips higher by 4% last month and left the Nasdaq close to its highest mark in a decade.
Chrysler said Monday it posted a quarterly profit of $116 million in the first quarter of 2011 -- its first quarterly profit since emerging from bankruptcy.
Silver, this year’s hottest commodity, suffered a steep sell-off at the outset of Asian trading on Monday, but that was before word of Bin Laden’s death. After trading as low as $42.20 an ounce overnight, a drop of 13.1% from Friday’s close, the metal ended futures trading in New York at $46.08 an ounce, off $2.51, or 5.2%, from Friday.
But gold edged up 70 cents to $1,556.70 an ounce, a new nominal record high.
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