Gains were slim on Wall Street at the close Tuesday after an earlier rally withered away in the afternoon on the first year anniversary of the bear market low. Tech stocks had led the market higher by more than 50 points before the bears kicked in.
From this day last year, the Dow and S&P 500 have gained over 60%, while the NASDAQ has rallied more than 80%.
The Dow Jones gained 11.86 points, or 0.11%, to 10,564.38, the S&P's 500 added 1.95 points, or 0.17%, to 1,140.45 and the NASDAQ advanced 8.47 points, or 0.36%, to 2,340.68.
Citigroup climbed 7.3% on reports the US government is in talks with investment bankers about unloading its 27% stake in Citi in the next couple of months.
Insurer American International Group soared 12.6% for no obvious reason.
Heavyweight financials were otherwise mainly within about 1% either side of the gain line. Goldman Sachs rose 1.1%, while Morgan Stanley significantly underperformed to be down 1.8%.
Apple was the best of the tech majors, up 1.8%.
Texas Instruments shed 2% despite the chipmaker announcing an improved first-quarter profit estimate Monday afternoon.
Boeing put on 0.8% as it became the only bidder remaining to build tanker planes for the U.S. Air Force after Northrop Grumman dropped out of the competition. The contract is believed to be worth as much as US$50 billion.
Northrop Grumman shares slid 0.3%.
Chevron dipped 0.2% after disclosing plans to cut 2,000 jobs this year in an effort to reduce costs.
Exxon Mobil added 0.4%.
NYMEX light crude oil for April delivery fell US38 cents to settle at US$81.49 a barrel.
COMEX gold for May delivery fell US$1.70 to settle at US$1,122.90 per ounce.
European Markets
European shares finished mixed as losses among banks and miners were countered by gains from defensive stocks.
The benchmark UK FTSE 100 slid 4.42, or 0.08% to 5,602.30, while the French CAC40 added 6.47, or 0.17% to 3,910.01. The German DAX gained 9.98, or 0.17% to 5,885.89.
In France, Societe Generale and Credit Agricole lost 1.5% and 1.4% as banks took the most points off the markets.
Standard Chartered and RBS were the worst of the major UK banks, down 2.8% and 1.2%.
Deutsche Bank advanced 0.4%.
Miners tracked metals prices lower. BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Anglo American were between 0.5% and 0.7% below the gain line.
Antofagasta rose 1.1% despite slightly missing consensus earnings forecast estimates.
EADS fell 2.8% after the French owner of planemaker Airbus posted a significant full-year loss, abandoned its dividend and said production difficulties would impact profits.
Sanofi-Aventis put on 0.8% after the French drugmaker and Merck agreed to combine their animal health care businesses. Merck dipped 0.2% in Germany.
Other pharmaceuticals made ground, including GlaxoSmithKline which added 1.6%.
Weir Group surged 7.9% after the UK engineer exceeded full-year profit estimates and increased its outlook for this year.
Japanese Markets
Japan’s Nikkei weakened as investors locked in profits following the previous two sessions rally. Losses were limited by gains among some of the major exporters and earnings upgrades for certain stocks.
The Nikkei 225 shed 18.27, or 0.17% to 10,567.65.
Jtekt Corp. dropped 3% following a broker downgrade due to Toyota’s recall issues. Toyota’s supplier of steering mechanisms stock rallied 5.9% over the previous three sessions.
Toyota shares slid 0.6%, while Nissan and Mazda added 0.7% and 0.4%.
Fujitsu fell 3.9% after once again revising its explanation for the resignation of its former president.
On the positive side, building materials supplier Nichias and cable maker Hi-Lex Corp. jumped 2.6% and 15% respectively after upgrading their full-year earnings forecasts.
Looking to the electronics companies Panasonic and Sony rose 2.1% and 1.1%, while Canon weakened 0.4%.
Hong Kong Markets
The Hang Seng eked out a small gain Tuesday. The property developers were in favour, while the resource stocks and banks weighed.
The Hang Seng rose 10.68, or 0.05% to 21,207.55.
In a wrap of the banks, Bank of China and ICBC lost 0.5% and 0.3% respectively.
HSBC, easily the most influential stock on the Hang Seng dipped 0.7%.
The insurers were stronger after China Life Insurance said its profit should climb 200%. Its shares added 3%.
Smaller rival Ping An Insurance was 2.9% stronger.
In property stocks, New World Development rallied 2.4% and Hang Lung Properties tacked on 1.9%. The sector was up on comments from a Chinese official that it would not take steps to cool the market.
Aluminum Corp of China and copper play Jiangxi Copper both slid 0.9%.
Looking at oil stocks, off-shore oil producer Cnooc eased 0.3%, while refiner PetroChina.
