By Ryan Vlastelica Ryan Vlastelica – Mon Nov 1, 4:51 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Investors were reluctant to make big bets ahead of two events that could dictate the stock market’s direction for the rest of the year and beyond, leaving shares little changed on Monday.

The benchmark S&P 500 index rose 12.9 percent since the start of September on hopes for Republican gains in Tuesday’s elections and a Federal Reserve announcement of monetary easing on Wednesday. With those events imminent, trading volume was light and a 1 percent early rally was erased as investors turned cautious.

About 7.105 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, below the year-to-date daily average of 8.73 billion. The CBOE Volatility index (.VIX), the market’s favorite anxiety gauge, rose for the sixth straight day, a sign investors were boosting bets on further gyrations in the near term.

“We had a handful of positive macroeconomic data points, which contributed to the better tone in markets today, but the lack of follow-through underscores that Republican gains and an expansion of the Fed balance sheet are expected,” said Barry Knapp, managing director of equity research at Barclays Capital in New York.

U.S. factory activity in October expanded and construction spending rose unexpectedly in September, reports showed. Other data showed manufacturing in China expanded at the fastest pace in six months in October.

Oil service stocks were among the leaders after Baker Hughes Inc (BHI.N) reported a third-quarter profit that beat expectations. The stock rose 5.2 percent to $48.73 while the Oil Service sector (.OSX) was up 0.7 percent.

M&T Bank Corp (MTB.N) rose 4.5 percent to $78.12 after news it would buy Wilmington Trust Corp (WL.N) in a deal worth $351 million. Shares of Wilmington fell 42.5 percent to $4.09 and weighed on regional banks.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) was up 6.13 points, or 0.06 percent, at 11,124.62. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (.SPX) was up 1.12 points, or 0.09 percent, at 1,184.38. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) was down 2.57 points, or 0.10 percent, at 2,504.84.

If the election ends in the Republican Party taking control of the House, as polls indicate, the Obama administration’s ability to enact its agenda would be in jeopardy. Among the main Obama-backed laws recently enacted were overhauling healthcare and financial regulation.

Traders said the energy sector could flourish after Republican gains as there will be less chance of increased regulation.

The Fed is expected to announce on Wednesday it will relaunch heavy bond buying to stimulate an anemic economy. Most analysts expect the size and the scope of asset purchases to be about $100 billion a month, starting with a plan to buy $500 billion in bonds between now and early 2011.

“If things don’t come out as expected, there could be significant downside because there’s so little liquidity in the markets,” said Mike Holland, who oversees more than $4 billion as chairman of Holland & Co in New York. “Investors have priced in certain expected benefits from the Fed and elections, and what markets are squaring away now are any possible surprises.”

On the Dow, Caterpillar (CAT.N) rose 0.9 percent to $79.27 while Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) climbed 0.7 percent to $66.95.

Weighing on the Nasdaq was Amazon.com (AMZN.O), down 1.6 percent at $162.62. The stock fell 2.3 percent last week but was up 32 percent from the beginning of September through the end of October.

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) fell 0.6 percent to $37.42 after ProPublica, an investigative journalism website, said the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether the bank adequately disclosed that a hedge fund helped select assets for a $1.1 billion package of subprime mortgages while also betting against portions of the deal.

Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a ratio of 15 to 14, while on the Nasdaq, about 12 stocks fell for every seven that fell.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Vietnamese shares are undervalued and becoming attractive to foreign investors. It’s the good time to buy Vietnamese shares, the local newspaper Vietnamnews reported on October 28, citing Don Lam, CEO of VinaCapital as saying at its 2010 Investor Conference today

The foreign investors in Vietnam’s stock markets tend to be institutional investors while the stock markets are mainly dominated by retail or small-scale investors, accounting for 80% of market trading. The way these groups invest is different. While Vietnamese investors are sitting in the sidelines right now, overseas institutional investors look at Vietnam and see low valuation and great long-term prospects and this is the right time to buy shares. VinaCapital is a long-term investor in Vietnam, and the foreign investors we partner with are also interested in Vietnam’s long-term prospects. Don shared.

Don expected that the country’s gross domestic product(GDP) will reach a very good result of 6.8% this year while its inflation is estimated to stand at 9% for the year.

“Vietnam is making the right investment to improve the quantity and quality of its exports. There is a negative psychology that results from this-people see the currency under pressure. We’d like more investors, both domestic and foreign, to understand that the currency is not as weak as some observers think.” Don added.

Don also shared that VinaCapital does not have the habit of chasing “hot sectors”. The investment the company recommend today are the same as it ‘s interested in the past- the past opportunities in Vietnam relate to the growth of domestic economy and the long-term trend of urbanization and rising middle-class incomes.

The CEO recommended to invest in sectors including residential housing, consumer goods and retail, healthcare, education, financial services-these are all sectors that show solid long-term growth prospects. VinaCapital looks for companies with good management and strong business models in each of these sectors.

Don Lam is CEO of VinaCapital Group, established in 2003 and now Vietnam’s leading investment management group, with$1.8 billion in assets under management. Don has over 15 years business and investment experience in Vietnam.

Source:Right time to buy Vietnamese shares: VinaCapital

By Julie Haviv Julie Haviv – Tue Oct 26, 8:01 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Data on Tuesday underscored the fragility of the economic recovery, with consumer confidence rising but still weak and home prices falling again after gaining earlier in the year.

The reports reinforced the belief the Federal Reserve will embark on another round of monetary policy stimulus to support the economic recovery, possibly as soon as next week.

Consumer confidence rose slightly in October but remained near historically low levels as concerns about the labor market persisted.

The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes rose to 50.2 in October from a revised 48.6 in September.

The Federal Reserve, which has already injected $1.7 trillion into the economy by purchasing mortgage-related and government bonds, meets on November 2-3.

Another round of quantitative easing, dubbed ‘QE2′, is expected to focus on Treasury debt.

The labor sector — U.S. unemployment rate remains stubbornly high at 9.6 percent — is one of the primary reasons the housing market remains fragile.

President Barack Obama could lose control of Congress in U.S. mid-term elections on Tuesday due to voter anxiety over the jobs market and housing sector.

Prices of U.S. single-family homes fell for a second month in August, hovering around recent lows after the expiration of popular homebuyer tax credits, according to a Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller report on Tuesday.

The price drop is largely a payback from the tax credits, which induced gains earlier this year.

“At this point the big factor out there is the foreclosure situation and it certainly doesn’t look very good. We have a lot of excess supply to work through, a lot of potential foreclosures and what appears to be an increasing legal mess,” David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor’s, told Reuters Insider. “It’s going to take quite a while to get housing back on its feet.”

The housing market has been struggling since home buyer tax credits expired earlier this year. To take advantage of the tax credits, buyers had to sign purchase contracts by April 30. Contracts originally had to close by June 30, but that was extended by three months.

U.S. stocks were lower, with soft commodity prices and disappointing results from the steel sector weighing on materials stocks. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (.SPX) was down 0.25 percent

U.S. Treasury debt fell in price after a two-year note auction, while the U.S. dollar extended gains versus the euro.

Another report on Tuesday showed home price gains in August [ID:nWBT014211]. The U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency home price index is calculated using purchase prices of houses financed by Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB) and Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB).

Home prices in August reflected conditions before banks temporarily halted foreclosures due to questionable documentation. Home prices may benefit from fewer foreclosures in the mix, but any rise should prove to be temporary.

The housing market, however, remains highly vulnerable to setbacks and most economists believe a recovery will be elusive until the labor market improves.

FED EASING NOT A DONE DEAL

Some hope for the U.S. economy came by way of several major U.S. companies on Tuesday.

Ford Motor Co (F.N) posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday and accelerated plans to cut debt and borrowing costs to bring the automaker closer to an investment-grade credit rating.

DuPont (DD.N), the world’s fourth-largest chemical maker by revenue, reported a higher-than-forecast quarterly profit and boosted its 2010 earnings forecast above Wall Street’s expectations.

Additionally, three U.S. industrial companies posted better-than-expected profits on Tuesday and provided generally upbeat assessments of the global economic recovery, suggesting Europe and North America may finally be stabilizing.

The upbeat outlooks could serve to fuel arguments that the U.S. Federal Reserve may not need to pump more money into the financial system next week and might wait longer.

“I think it’s still possible that QE2 is not a done deal for November, even though the market has been trading as if it is,” said Brian Dolan, chief economist at Forex.com in Bedminster, New Jersey,

“This is one of the last bullets the Fed has in its gun and it’s going to be very reluctant to fire it unless circumstances are really dire,” he said. “It might be put off until the first quarter. I think the market has started to consider that this week.”

Nevertheless, an overwhelming majority of economists still see the need for economic stimulus and expect clarification next week.

(Additional Reporting by Wanfeng Zhou, Ernest Scheyder and Steven Johnson in New York, Bernie Woodall and David Bailey in Detroit and James B. Kelleher in Chicago; Editing by Andrew Hay)
By Julie Haviv Julie Haviv – Tue Oct 26, 8:01 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Data on Tuesday underscored the fragility of the economic recovery, with consumer confidence rising but still weak and home prices falling again after gaining earlier in the year.

The reports reinforced the belief the Federal Reserve will embark on another round of monetary policy stimulus to support the economic recovery, possibly as soon as next week.

Consumer confidence rose slightly in October but remained near historically low levels as concerns about the labor market persisted.

The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes rose to 50.2 in October from a revised 48.6 in September.

The Federal Reserve, which has already injected $1.7 trillion into the economy by purchasing mortgage-related and government bonds, meets on November 2-3.

Another round of quantitative easing, dubbed ‘QE2′, is expected to focus on Treasury debt.

The labor sector — U.S. unemployment rate remains stubbornly high at 9.6 percent — is one of the primary reasons the housing market remains fragile.

President Barack Obama could lose control of Congress in U.S. mid-term elections on Tuesday due to voter anxiety over the jobs market and housing sector.

Prices of U.S. single-family homes fell for a second month in August, hovering around recent lows after the expiration of popular homebuyer tax credits, according to a Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller report on Tuesday.

The price drop is largely a payback from the tax credits, which induced gains earlier this year.

“At this point the big factor out there is the foreclosure situation and it certainly doesn’t look very good. We have a lot of excess supply to work through, a lot of potential foreclosures and what appears to be an increasing legal mess,” David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor’s, told Reuters Insider. “It’s going to take quite a while to get housing back on its feet.”
Larger version

The housing market has been struggling since home buyer tax credits expired earlier this year. To take advantage of the tax credits, buyers had to sign purchase contracts by April 30. Contracts originally had to close by June 30, but that was extended by three months.

U.S. stocks were lower, with soft commodity prices and disappointing results from the steel sector weighing on materials stocks. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (.SPX) was down 0.25 percent

U.S. Treasury debt fell in price after a two-year note auction, while the U.S. dollar extended gains versus the euro.

Another report on Tuesday showed home price gains in August [ID:nWBT014211]. The U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency home price index is calculated using purchase prices of houses financed by Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB) and Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB).

Home prices in August reflected conditions before banks temporarily halted foreclosures due to questionable documentation. Home prices may benefit from fewer foreclosures in the mix, but any rise should prove to be temporary.

The housing market, however, remains highly vulnerable to setbacks and most economists believe a recovery will be elusive until the labor market improves.

FED EASING NOT A DONE DEAL

Some hope for the U.S. economy came by way of several major U.S. companies on Tuesday.

Ford Motor Co (F.N) posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday and accelerated plans to cut debt and borrowing costs to bring the automaker closer to an investment-grade credit rating.

DuPont (DD.N), the world’s fourth-largest chemical maker by revenue, reported a higher-than-forecast quarterly profit and boosted its 2010 earnings forecast above Wall Street’s expectations.

Additionally, three U.S. industrial companies posted better-than-expected profits on Tuesday and provided generally upbeat assessments of the global economic recovery, suggesting Europe and North America may finally be stabilizing.

The upbeat outlooks could serve to fuel arguments that the U.S. Federal Reserve may not need to pump more money into the financial system next week and might wait longer.

“I think it’s still possible that QE2 is not a done deal for November, even though the market has been trading as if it is,” said Brian Dolan, chief economist at Forex.com in Bedminster, New Jersey,

“This is one of the last bullets the Fed has in its gun and it’s going to be very reluctant to fire it unless circumstances are really dire,” he said. “It might be put off until the first quarter. I think the market has started to consider that this week.”

Nevertheless, an overwhelming majority of economists still see the need for economic stimulus and expect clarification next week.

(Additional Reporting by Wanfeng Zhou, Ernest Scheyder and Steven Johnson in New York, Bernie Woodall and David Bailey in Detroit and James B. Kelleher in Chicago; Editing by Andrew Hay)

By PAN PYLAS, AP Business Writer Pan Pylas, Ap Business Writer – Fri Oct 22, 12:02 pm ET

LONDON – World stocks were steady Friday as investors waited to see if finance ministers from the leading 20 industrialized and developing countries will be able to calm tensions in the currency markets during a meeting in South Korea.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX was closed down 0.1 percent at 6,605.84 while the CAC-40 in France ended down 0.3 percent at 3,867.87. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 0.3 percent, at 5,738.97.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.1 percent at 11,133.47 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up 0.2 percent to 1,182.03.

Stocks have been buoyed much of this week by a run of positive U.S. corporate earnings statements from the likes of Boeing, McDonald’s and Goldman Sachs, as well as continuing expectations that the Federal Reserve will be pumping more money into the U.S. economy after its next policy meeting on November 3.

“Right now traders appear to be pausing for breath,” said Anthony Grech, head of research at IG Index. “With little fundamental data due for release today, the temptation is probably to start unwinding some risk ahead of the weekend break.”

The focus Friday is on the G-20 meeting in South Korea to see if ministers can make progress in resolving tensions over undervalued currencies that give some nations an unfair advantage in export markets. Over recent weeks, the euro has surged against the dollar to multi-month highs above $1.40 while the Bank of Japan has intervened to stem the yen’s export-sapping rise.

China in particular is under renewed pressure over its management of the yuan, which the U.S., the European Union and Japan say is kept artificially low.

A proposal by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for emerging nations to set targets to reduce their vast trade surpluses with the West met with immediate resistance.

According to officials at the summit, Geithner’s idea is to establish numerical targets for current account balances, be they surpluses or deficits — aiming to reduce conflicts over exchange rates by allowing the currencies of trade surplus countries to rise in concert.

Investors remain skeptical that a ‘grand bargain’ will be achieved.

“Don’t expect too much from the G-20 meeting beyond concerns over avoiding excessive volatility and disorderly price action,” said Neil MacKinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital.
Larger version

Ahead of the meeting, the euro was trading at $1.3917 while the dollar was at 81.44 yen, having fallen Thursday to a fresh 15-year low of 80.93 yen.

Earlier in Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index gained 50.23 points, or 0.5 percent, to 9,426.71 and South Korea’s Kospi added 1.2 percent to 1,897.31.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.6 percent to 4,648.20 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.7 percent to 23,480.81.

Elsewhere, China’s Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.3 percent to 2,975.04.

Benchmark oil for December delivery was up 59 cents at $82.42 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

____

Associated Press Writer Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.

By Edward Krudy Edward Krudy – Fri Oct 22, 4:35 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks capped a third straight week of gains on Friday as encouraging earnings helped the market sustain upward momentum, led by Baidu Inc (BIDU.O), the latest tech company to beat estimates.

The market has defied expectations for a pullback following a strong rally prior to the earnings season. Some investors were expecting the results to provide an excuse for broad profit-taking.

“To get decent earnings after a nice little rally in the market and have the market sustain the gains or even achieve a little more is a really good thing and bodes well,” said Robert Stimpson, a fund manager at Oak Associates in Akron, Ohio.

Volume was very light after nearly two weeks of more active trading. Just 5.76 billion shares were traded on the NYSE, Amex and Nasdaq. The daily average this year has been around 8.8 billion shares.

Earnings in the technology sector, the S&P’s largest, have been particularly strong. Profit at Baidu, the Chinese Web search engine, beat Wall Street estimates and the company forecast strong demand ahead. Baidu’s shares rose 4.6 percent to $107.28.

The Dow ended lower, weighed down by American Express (AXP.N) whose shares slipped as regulatory issues overshadowed rising profit. Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) also fell after it said additions of new wireless customers may lag.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) dropped 14.01 points, or 0.13 percent, to 11,132.56. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (.SPX) gained 2.82 points, or 0.24 percent, to 1,183.08. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) gained 19.72 points, or 0.80 percent, to 2,479.39.

For the week the Dow and the S&P 500 each rose 0.6 percent, while the Nasdaq climbed 0.4 percent.

Technology has led gains in the recent rally. The Nasdaq is up more than 17 percent since the end of August compared with the S&P 500, which is up 12.7 percent. The Nasdaq closed just shy of its highest level since May on Friday.

Early reports from technology companies have given a mostly rosy picture of the sector’s future, including Google’s (GOOG.O) much stronger-than-expected earnings a week ago. Baidu late Thursday gave a robust outlook for its business.

Also boosting the Nasdaq were shares of online retailer Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), which gained 2.5 percent to $169.13 after Wall Street analysts raised their price targets on the company, even as Amazon gave a disappointing forecast on Thursday.

Shares of American Express declined 3 percent to $39.03 while Verizon lost 1.3 percent to $32.09.

Also on the down side, Leggett & Platt Inc (LEG.N) posted a lower-than-expected quarterly profit, hurt by weakness in its residential furnishings market. The company also forecast 2010 earnings below market expectations. The shares lost 8.6 percent to $21.01.

The S&P 500 sent a bullish signal as the index’s 50-day moving average crossed above its 200-day moving average, known as a golden cross. That upward momentum indicator last occurred in June 2009, and the benchmark index rose more than 35 percent in the following 10 months.

However, the bullish signal doesn’t always signal an up market, says Chris Burba, short-term market technician at Standard & Poor’s in New York.

“If you get a golden cross when the market has been consolidating for a while, you have a much higher probability the market is going to take off,” he said.

Two top Federal Reserve officials gave contrasting views on the need for more stimulus for the U.S. economy.

Growing speculation in recent weeks that the Fed will extend the quantitative easing measures at its next meeting in November has pressured the dollar while boosting equities.

Equities have recently traded in tandem with the euro, with S&P futures rising along with Europe’s single currency.

(Reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by Kenneth Barry)