Eurozone Aid for Greek Bailout Helps Germany’s DAX

In Germany, stocks were higher Monday after the Eurozone agreed to provide further help for a Greek bailout. While the plan for Greece includes reduced pensions and higher taxes, the austerity measures overall are expected to help the country from defaults.

Factory orders in Germany also helped push stocks higher after industrial orders reported an increase of 1.9 percent in March. In Germany, the most actively traded stocks included Miner Anglo American which fell 13.8 percent, Glencore which closed 9.0 percent lower for the day, Rio Tinto which was down 7.9 percent and BHP Billiton, down 6.1 percent.

The day’s events helped the DAX gain 110.54 points or 1.12 percent to close at 9,980.49.

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Source: Germany’s DAX. Google Finance.

In Europe overall stocks were mixed. The FTSE 100 was down -10.89 points for a loss of -0.18 percent to close at 6,114.81 as lower metals and mining valuations weighed on the Index which had less of a broader affect in Germany Monday. The FTSE 250 was higher gaining 38.30 points or 0.23 percent to close at 16,687.06. In Greece the Athens Composite gained 4.46 points or 0.74 percent to close at 610.07.

Other notable index closes in Europe included France’s CAC 40 which closed at 4,322.81 for a gain of 21.57 points or 0.50 percent; the Stoxx Europe 600 which closed at 333.22 for a gain of 1.55 points or 0.47 percent; and the Stoxx Europe 50 which closed at 2,780.51 for a gain of 15.08 points or 0.55 percent.

In Asia, China’s Shanghai Composite closed at 2,832.11 for a loss of -81.14 points or -2.79 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed at 20,156.81 for a gain of 46.94 points or 0.23 percent. The S & P BSE Sensex closed at 25,688.86 for a gain of 460.36 or 1.82 percent. Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed for the day on Monday at 16,216.03 for a gain of 109.31 points or 0.68 percent.

In the U.S. market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower on Monday, finishing the day at 17,705.91 for a loss of 34.72 points or 0.20 percent. The S&P 500 was higher, closing at 2,058.69 for a gain of 1.55 points or 0.08 percent. The Nasdaq Composite traded higher closing at 4,750.21 for a gain of 14.05 points or 0.30 percent. Market trading in the U.S. was mainly flat as U.S. stock valuations factored in some weakening economic data and a possible delay in the Federal Reserve’s plans for the next federal funds rate increase. On Friday the U.S. will report its retail sales for April which will be a significant factor for judging the market’s economic direction. Retail department stores have mainly been reporting lower sales however the April retail sales report overall shows a consensus gain of 0.9 percent which would be an improvement over the previous month’s report of -0.3 percent.