Alam posted a 1Q10 net profit of RM21m

CIMB- Broadly in line; upgrade to BUY. Alam posted a 1Q10 net profit of RM21m. At 18% of our full-year forecast and consensus estimate, it was broadly in line given our anticipation of a stronger 2H. The absence of an interim dividend was also expected. We maintain our earnings forecasts but raise our target price from RM2.10 to RM2.38 as we now tag a P/E of 10x to the stock instead of 8.8x given the improving sentiment in the marine support business. This is in line with our target P/E for Petra Perdana’s (PETR MK, Outperform) marine support business. We upgrade Alam from Hold to BUY, with the potential re-rating catalysts being 1) fleet expansion, and 2) a successful pipe installation venture.

Board this ship ...
Retain strong buy ...

World May Charts 2007-2010

May Closes at Almost 8% Loss, Worst for the Month Since 1962

Stocks closed out their worst May since 1962 by sliding again on more unsettling news about Europe. The Dow Jones industrials were down by about 50 points Friday after Spain suffered the second downgrade of its credit rating in a month.

Continue reading ...

Wall Street rallies on China comment and Microsoft

(Reuters) - Stocks rose sharply on Thursday as investor worry was eased after China refuted a report that it was reviewing its holdings in euro-zone sovereign bonds due to the region's debt.

The People's Bank of China said a Financial Times report that Beijing was concerned about its euro-zone exposure was groundless. The report had short-circuited a rally in the previous session.

"It just means China is going to continue to be a sensible investor -- because of events in Europe, they are not going to change their basic investment strategy," said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Johnson Illington Advisors in Albany, New York.

"With every passing day, more and more investors are reaching the conclusion that although events in southern Europe will affect the European and U.S. economy, they will not derail the current recovery."

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) climbed 3.8 percent to $25.98, a day after ceding its position to Apple (AAPL.O) as the largest technology company by market cap, as FBR Capital Markets upgraded the Dow component to "outperform," citing improving fundamentals and recent share underperformance.

Continue reading

Cramer: Either Governments Act or It’s Dow 9,500

By: Tom Brennan Web Editor, Mad Money

That’s right, the feds in the US, Europe and even China must “abandon what I call the anti-growth policies that have made so many investors afraid to own stocks,” Cramer said. Otherwise “the likelihood that we’ll see Dow 9,500 gets greater and greater.” But – if these governments embrace growth, “then the market will be able to rally and rally hard.”

What exactly needs to be done? During today’s Mad Money, Cramer laid out his Game Plan for the US, Europe and China. Until they do the following, he won’t get bullish.



Here in the States, Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, the most powerful banking legislator in the country, needs to take Senator Blanche Lincoln’s amendment to the financial-reform bill off the table. Lincoln wants to American banks to divest their lucrative swaps businesses, but, as Cramer has said before, that would be tantamount to giving customers away to Deutsche Bank. Cramer doubts the amendment will get through because Treasury Secretary Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke are against it, but he’d like to see President Obama go public with his dislike of it as well.

After financial reform is done, Obama’s focus has to be jobs, jobs, jobs.

“That’s what the next six months in this country needs to be about,” Cramer said.

And the Securities and Exchange Commission needs to offer some clarity on circuit breakers, so what happened on the afternoon of May 6 never happens again. The circuit breakers also must include doubled- and triple-leveraged exchange-traded funds, which allow institutions to sidestep margin and short-selling rules and hurt individual investors.

In Europe, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet has to bring interest rates to zero. That access to cheap money would help alleviate at least some of the pain inherent in the enormous budget cuts the most troubled countries there have to push through, and it certainly worked here in the US. Also, Germany and France need to come to some agreement about the PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain; he doesn’t think Italy should be looped in with the rest anymore).

“Just that resolution alone would cause a gigantic rally,” Cramer said.

China, meanwhile, needs a soft landing. Cramer had originally thought the country’s growth would either continue at its furious pace or the economy would slip into a recession. But now there are reports that the Chinese Communists will both stimulate certain industries even as it cools residential and commercial real estate. Cramer thinks China has to keep that going in order to avoid joining Europe in pulling the rest of the world down.

If these things don’t happen, Cramer said, “We will be in a world of hurt.”

Extracted from ...

KLCI Final Support Before Abyss At 1223-1224, Better NOT Violate

Abyss (from Greek ἄβυσσος = "bottomless", "the bottomless pit")

MIBR Recommendation

Dow and KLCI

Kinsteel net profit rises 165% y-o-y in 1Q10

Written by The Edge Financial Daily Tuesday, 25 May 2010 22:10

KUALA LUMPUR: KINSTEEL BHD [] saw net profit rise 164.9% to RM22.55 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2010 (1Q10) from a net loss of RM34.76 million previously, due to higher steel prices following stronger demand in line with the global economic recovery.

Revenue rose 22.7% to RM540.40 million from RM440.35 million, while earnings per share were 2.40 sen from loss per share of 3.78 sen previously. No dividend was declared for the period.

"On the back of higher revenue, pre-tax results also improved, thus leading to higher margins overall for the group," it said in its results announcement to Bursa Malaysia Securities on Tuesday.

For the quarter under review, its pre-tax profit was RM36.83 million, versus a pre-tax loss of RM93.29 million a year earlier.

On a sequential basis, revenue rose 38% to RM540.4 million from RM390.9 million in 4QFY09 while pre-tax profit was 29.6% lower quarter-on-quarter from RM52.3 million.

The steel manufacturer said total capital commitments being approved and contracted as at the end of the financial period stood at RM41.2 million.

On its prospects for the year ahead, Kinsteel said domestic and regional steel consumption had been rising in tandem with the rebound in CONSTRUCTION [] activities.

"While prices of both iron ore and steel products have increased significantly since 2009, with the recent volatility in iron ore prices, steel prices are expected to track the volatility accordingly," it said, adding the group would monitor the price fluctuations closely and fine-tune its inventory stocking strategy.

Ann Joo bullish on prospects of high demand

STEELMAKER Ann Joo Resources Bhd (6556) is bullish on the outlook for this and next year, thanks to the massive pump-priming activities worldwide, with the bulk of the funds being channelled towards infrastructure sector.

Its group executive chairman Datuk Lim Kiam Lam said the tight supply of construction steel and the demand-pull price upswing are expected in the medium term.

"The demand is expected to pick up in the second half of 2010. However, in the immediate term, a lot of correction is expected as the economies are still in early stage of recovery," he told a media briefing after the company's annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Lim said the urbanisation and industrialisation in the emerging markets and developing countries, particularly Brazil, Russia, China, Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) and Indian sub-continent, were expected to drive up steel demand to even exceed the pre-crisis level of 2007.

He said Ann Joo expected the main export market to contribute 50 per cent to its revenue and the rest from domestic market.

"Our export margin is good. Vietnam is currently our largest export market. It absorbs 60 to 70 per cent of our exports as the country was relatively not affected by the recent financial crisis," he said.

Lim said the company is also eyeing Indonesia as the government has huge plans for infrastructure projects and Sri Lanka, where demand for steel was expected to be substantial.

He said demand in the domestic market was expected to pick up in the second half of the year or early 2011.

"In anticipation of the spike in demand, Ann Joo plans to boost its current capacity to 1.5 million tonnes from 800,000 tonnes per annum by improving efficiency," he said.

Lim said the company is expanding its modern blast furnace, the first in Malaysia, and it is expected to commence operation by the second half of 2010.

"The expansion will not only provide solid growth for the group's business but also an integration of our iron and steel production which will offer synergy for the entire group's operation.

The company, he said, also aimed to be among the biggest in Southeast Asia. - Bernama

The Buzz: Are stocks in a correction or a bear market?

Sell in May and go away may seem like a silly Wall Street saying. But if you actually followed those words of wisdom, you'd be breathing a lot easier right now.

Stocks fell Monday as a better-than-expected jump in existing home sales in April was not enough to outweigh fears about the debt crisis in Europe. Tthe S&P 500 is now down about 9.5% in May.

So what now? Is the May malaise merely a long-awaited correction or the start of a new bear market that could last months or years? Is it time to buy in June and sing a happy tune?

Several market experts are guardedly optimistic that things won't get significantly worse. That's the good news.

"The most immediate concerns are transitory. They are important but they will get resolved soon," said David Joy, chief market strategist with Columbia Management in Boston. "It's important to have a well diversified portfolio and be prudent. But there's no need to exit the stock market."

Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist with Key Private Bank in Cleveland, added that he thinks there is little room left for stocks to fall from here. In fact, he said it's possible the market may have already hit bottom.

"This could be a surprisingly short correction," he said.

The bad news though is that the market may remain choppy for the foreseeable future.

Read more ...

JCY

Haaa....Don’t Trade for the Money?

SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE DON’T WORK FOR THE MONEY, instead they LOVE TRADING FOR ITS OWN SAKE.

Work hard and love what you are doing and the money will follow. Successful people work first and count the money later. Sometimes they don’t ever count it, and some don’t even know (or care) how much they have. They just know that they have enough to allow them to continue what they are doing; working hard
and having fun.

I know that many individuals want to trade because they think that they can make a lot of money easily and quickly. Because of the low start-up costs for trading as compared to other businesses, they think that trading should be the easy road to riches. Their goal is to make a lot of money fast. These are the people who come to seminars and want an indicator that will guarantee profits. They don’t want to learn the ins and outs of the business; they want the magic indicator that will get them the money they desire. They are doomed to failure.

I remember a guy named John walking into a seminar I was about to teach. He threw up his hands and said, “Ah, Traders! I am glad to be home.” This individual was a successful trader. John loved going to seminars, not so much for the techniques and indicators, but for the camaraderie. He loved being around traders, talking with traders, analyzing trading strategies and techniques, and learning about the latest and greatest trading technology. He loved learning the latest features added to TradeStation and finding out a new way to use EasyLanguage.

He loved designing new indicators, and spent countless hours working on new and different ways to exit the market. He was excited about getting up early in the morning to monitor the overnight market information and checking what the S&P was doing in London. He looked forward to calling his broker and putting in his
orders. He loved watching his strategy run on TradeStation. He was exhilarated when he had to call his broker and give him a lot of grief for the latest bad fill. He even loved losing trades. Even when he had to take a losing trade, he was still doing what he loved to do—trade.

John is a successful trader. He loves what he is doing. And as long as he can keep on trading, he will be happy. The money he makes is secondary, but he makes a lot of it. He can’t believe that he can have all of this fun and make money as well.

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CIMB Research: Technical damage from sharp corrections

Written by CIMB Equities Research Friday, 21 May 2010 08:21

KUALA LUMPUR:CIMB Equities Research says the sharp corrections in the US and regional equity markets in May have done a lot of technical damage.

In its technical outlook for the equities markets, it said on Friday, May 21 the 200-day SMAs for the Shanghai Composite, Hang Seng, STI, Kospi and MSCI Asia ex-Japan caved in recently, followed by the S&P 500 and DJIA on Thursday night.

The S&P500's wave (iii) down leg has already started given the sharp breakdown of the index from the 1,150 level. Third waves are usually powerful in nature and this was evident over the past few days.

“We do not believe the wave (iii) downleg has ended and think it may need another few days to complete. This should then be followed by wave (iv)'s strong 30-50pt rebound.

“There is still another wave (v) downleg to complete before a meaningful rebound kicks in, probably in June. Failure to see strong rebounds over the next week would indicate that wave (iii) remains very much in control,” it said.

Downtrend? Sideline?

Jia: "Is 10,068 close enough Mr Sifu?"

DOW Very Weak Downtrend, CI Uptrend?

LET"S SEE

KLCI current Downward Trend has possibly Ended?

WHAT CROSSROADS!! DOWN 22 points today!

Western Digital to invest US$1.2b in Malaysia

Disk-drive maker Western Digital will spend US$1.2 billion over the next five years to expand its operations in Malaysia, a move that could boost foreign investments in this Southeast Asian country.

Western Digital’s new investments will include expanding its research and development as well as manufacturing facilities, the Malaysian prime minister’s office said in a statement on today.

“Construction is planned to be completed by the third quarter of 2011 and the facility will be ramped to full capacity over the following five years,” the statement said. “ There will be up to 10,000 additional jobs.”

The announcement comes about two months after another multi-national company, Coca-Cola Co, said it would expand its investment by US$300 million in this trade-dependent country.

Malaysia is seeking to win foreign investment to help offset recent large investment outflows. In 2009, it recorded a net outflow of direct investment of RM24.9 billion after an outflow of RM26.1 billion in 2008 as Malaysian companies went overseas to invest.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had in March launched the country’s new economic model to boost economic growth so that Malaysia achieves income levels of a “rich nation” by doubling the US$7,000 per capita income currently.

Economists have said that private investments, which remain at about 12 percent of gross domestic product, would have to increase substantially if Malaysia was to achieve its economic goals. - Reuters

Read more: Western Digital to invest US$1.2b in Malaysia
Western Digital and JCY International - OSK
Western Digital and JCY International - Kenanga
CIMB Research has Outperform on JCY, target price RM2.68

DJ MARKET TALK: Evergreen +1.3%; 1Q Earnings Rose Sevenfold

0545 GMT [Dow Jones] Evergreen Fibreboard (5101.KU) +1.3% at MYR1.51 after reporting better-than-expected, sevenfold jump in 1Q earnings on-year due to improved sales volume, higher selling prices; cost savings from measures to boost plant efficiency also helped earnings, company says. RHB Research maintains Outperform on stock, with unchanged target price of MYR2.35; says one area of concern is impact of MYR appreciation, which is negative for Evergreen's export earnings, but any impact to be temporary given company's ability to pass on forex risks to customers via price adjustments. "Assuming a 1.5-month impact, we estimate this would reduce Evergreen's bottomline by 1% per annum," RHB says.

Earlier-than-expected debut for ecLiMo

Written by The Edge Financial Daily Tuesday, 18 May 2010 00:23

PETALING JAYA: Electric motorcycles and scooters will hit the road sooner than expected following the appointment of Naza Bikes Sdn Bhd by EcLiMo Sdn Bhd to assemble the country’s first e-scooter under the brand name of ecLiMo Penan.

On May 17, the two companies signed a memorandum of understanding for Naza Bikes to assemble the ecLiMo model at its Shah Alam plant. The plant has an annual production capacity of 40,000 ecLiMo (Eco Lithium Mobility) units.

The e-scooter is powered by an electric motor and rechargeable lithium battery, which are produced in Penang and Kulim respectively, while a well-known Japanese motorcycle company develops the frame.

Its performance will be similar to a 125cc petrol-powered motorcycle and ecLiMo has a top speed of 110kph with a range of 100km on a single charge that will be more than adequate for most riders going to work and back. It only costs 87 sen to charge the batteries for a distance of 100km, compared with RM6 worth of petrol for a combustion-engined motorcycle travelling the same distance. The battery of low voltage of around 60V takes only three hours to be recharged in the house.

Next month, parliament is expected to table the amendments to the transport regulations to allow the use of electric motorcycles on the road. When this takes place, ecLiMo will be the first electric motorcycle to be introduced in Malaysia with the e-scooter targeted for launch at end-September or early final quarter of the year.

Veteran automotive expert Datuk Dr Davy Woo, who was with the national car Proton during its inception in 1985, is behind ecLiMo. With Woo in the picture, ecLiMo will have in place a full export programme, expertise and international markets to sell the electric two-wheelers.

Some of the first batch of the assembled ecLiMo Penan units will be for the export market, pending their launch in Malaysia. The ecLiMo is targeted for launch in Japan first by July before being introduced in the Malaysian market.

It was reported that the manufacturer planned to roll out two scooters and one motorcycle model under the ecLiMo brand over the next few months. Since news of the ecLiMo electric motorcycle was reported, there has been tremendous response with the company receiving several thousand enquiries from the public seeking more information about the e-scooter.

The ecLiMo Penan is expected to cost about RM6,000 a unit but the company is offering the first 10,000 units at around RM3,000 each.

Unlike the fuel-powered motorcycles that are costlier to maintain because of the need to replace parts like air filters and spark plugs, ecLiMo bikes have almost zero maintenance cost except to be sent to appointed maintenance centres for routine checking. The ecLiMo scooter has undergone numerous tests, including travelling a gradient of 22 degrees with two persons on the bike.

Compared with China-made electric motorcycles and other foreign models, ecLiMo’s performance is said to be far better in terms of speed, range of travel on a single charge, charging time, lighter battery weight and longer battery life of some 60,000km compared with the 9,000km of the foreign models.

The manufacturer aims to make the ecLiMo motorcyles much cheaper once it has reached a certain volume of sales.

Although the cost of producing the rechargeable batteries is high initially, the company will only be leasing them to the motorcycle buyers. Plans are underway to set up a chain of e-Battery exchange shops for ecLiMo owners to swap “flat” batteries with fully-charged ones for a fee.

Salcon unit bags RM84.21m job from PAAB

OSK - Maintain BUY. Based on our existing earnings estimates, we are maintaining our BUY recommendation on Salcon with its target price intact at RM0.81. The TP is based on a Sum-of-Parts approach valuing its concession operations at RM0.41 (WACC; 12%) and applying a PE of 9 times on its FY10 construction EPS of 4.45 sen per share. Our 9 times construction PE is based on the average PE of small cap construction companies.

Salcon Bhd's unit Salcon Engineering Bhd (SEB) secured a RM84.21 million contract from Pengurusan Aset Air Bhd (PAAB), bringing its total order book value to a whopping RM1.3 billion.

The new contract is for the design and build of a water treatment plant and associated work at Sg Labu, Selangor, said Salcon in a statement here, today.

The project forms part of the KL International Airport (KLIA) alternative water supply scheme and involves the construction of a water treatment plant with total nominal capacity of 105 million liters per day.

Salcom said local construction contracts accounted for 80 per cent of its order book, while the remaining 20 per cent came from overseas. - Bernama

CBSTech to help SMEs tap huge Halal Mart

By June Ramli

Information technology firm CBS Technology Bhd (0041) is developing a website to help Malaysian businesses tap a potential market of 600 million Muslims in the region. The website, scheduled to be launched in the third quarter of the year, will enable small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to market their halal products and services online. "Marketing efforts to supply certified halal products throughout the world are gaining momentum," CBS Technology group managing director Sun Chee Keong told Business Times in an interview. Halal products are not confined to food but include pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and medical products.

Sun said the new online portal will mirror the popular Alibaba.com trading portal, but will focus solely on the halal market. "The website will provide halal-certified companies an online platform to promote their halal products and services to the target markets faster and efficiently," he said. Currently, Southeast Asia and the Middle East are the two strong markets for halal products.

CBS Technology, which is also responsible for the popular database and content for print directory Super Pages, will leverage on its existing customer base to help promote SMEs and widen their market reach under the website. "We have over 200,000 customers in Super Pages, out of which more than 20 per cent are in the halal business," Sun said.

Once the website gains attention in the region, it will be promoted to potential markets in other parts of the world, including Europe and the US. Sun said that Europe is regarded as an important market for halal products because of its high purchasing power rather than population size. Furthermore, there appears to be an increasing willingness by non-Muslim consumers there to buy halal food products.

Findings of a study showed that Dutch consumers, for instance, bought halal products in the belief that they were safe and of a high quality, Sun said. Europe is home to over 50 million Muslims, with the number having grown by more than 140 per cent in the last decade. "Muslims across Europe have far higher consumer spending power than those in the Middle East and North Africa, with the second- and third-generation European Muslims seeking out convenience and looking for halal products."

The website launch is targeted to coincide with CBS Technology's move to transfer its listing status to the Main Market on Bursa Malaysia. "We submitted our application to the Securities Commission two weeks ago and will not be offering any new shares as this is only an upgrade from the ACE market to the Main Market," Sun said.

It made RM10.98 million net profit last year, nearly double the RM5.62 million the year before. Revenue was up 92 per cent to RM44.27 million.

Read more: CBS Tech to help SMEs tap huge halal mart

Outlook rosy for U.S. stocks thanks to euro woes

(Reuters) - Europe's struggle to reduce its mountain of government debt is brightening the outlook for U.S. stocks as investors turn to American assets for safety.

Strong corporate balance sheets, rising profits, economic growth on an upswing and the Federal Reserve's pledge to keep interest rates low make Wall Street look like a good destination even for those who have missed the year-long stock market rally.

The recovery in U.S. equities seemed to be running out of steam recently, with the S&P 500 stock index .SPX up in 12 of the previous 14 months, stocks technically overbought, and Europe's economic recovery seen stalling.

But the 750 million euro ($1 trillion) aid package thrown at the European debt crisis, and the promise by Greece, Portugal and Spain that they would get to grips with their debt problems, helped the S&P 500 post its largest three-day run in 10 months earlier this week. The S&P 500 lost ground Thursday and Friday but still managed to close its best week in the last 10.

"I think (the European crisis) will cause investors to appreciate the U.S. much more and money will start coming into the U.S. stock market," said Gary Bradshaw, portfolio manager at Hodges Capital Management in Dallas.

More ...

Flash: IOI Corp 3Q net profit surges to RM549m

Written by Surin Murugiah Friday, 14 May 2010 14:01

KUALA LUMPUR: IOI Corporation net profit for the third quarter ended March 31, 2010 (3QFY10) surged to RM549.01 million from only RM37.36 million a year ago.

It said on Friday, May 14 the higher earnings were boosted by higher contributions from the property and manufacturing segments. It also recorded an unrealised translation gain on US dollar denominated borrowings of RM231.5 million (3QFY09: loss of RM232.4 million).

Its revenue for 3QFY10 rose to RM3.15 billion from RM3.1 billion a year ago. Earnings per share was 8.6 sen, while net assets per share improved to RM1.63.

For the nine months ended March 31, net profit was RM1.49 billion on the back of revenue RM9.48 billion.

IOI Corp said its PLANTATION [] segment's profit of RM282 million for 3QFY10 was in line with a year ago.

It said the slightly lower fresh fruit bunch (FFB) production for 3QFY10 was cushioned by higher average crude palm oil (CPO) prices realised. Average CPO prices realised for 3QFY10 was RM2,480 per tonne compared to RM2,274 per tonne a year ago.

The resource-based manufacturing segment reported an operating profit of RM128.6 million for 3QFY10 as compared to RM109.6 million a year ago.

The property segment's operating profit of RM124.7 million for 3QFY10 was 76% higher than a year ago, boosted by an overall increase in sales, it said.

On its current year prospects, IOI Corp said the global economy and especially the Malaysian economy, had continued to show signs of improvement.

"The group is therefore optimistic that an overall improvement in performance can be recorded for the full financial year," it said.

KL bourse may be firmer on growth data

Malaysian share prices are likely to be higher next week on strong economic growth of 10.1 per cent for the first quarter as well as expectations of a string of good corporate results, dealers said.

News that Sime Darby Bhd will incur a negative impact of RM964 million for the second-half of its 2010 financial year, however, will continue to be a setback to any uptrend. The conglomerate is the second biggest company in terms of the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) weightage and even a slip in its price can affect the bourse.

Besides, external factors like concerns over the credit crisis in the euro zone will also influence the FBM KLCI movement.

This week, FBM KLCI started on a stronger note but the trend did not continue till Friday. On a Friday-to-Friday basis, it rose 6.48 points to 1,339.3 from 1,332.82. The Finance Index gained 153.14 points to 12,111.05, the Industrial Index eased 2.16 points to 2,700.7 while the Plantation rose 45.31 points to 6,425.47. The FBM Emas Index surged 77.01 points to 9,015.74, the FBM100 Index advanced 62.78 points to 8,777.29, FBM70 jumped 143.9 points to 8,870.89 and FBM ACE was up by 74.68 points to 4,014.11.

The weekly turnover increased to 3.842 billion shares worth RM5.712 billion from last week's 3.547 billion shares worth RM7.014 billion.Volume on the Main Market decreased to 2.987 billion shares valued at RM5.505 billion from 3.549 billion units valued at RM6.798 billion. The ACE market volume improved to 415.975 million shares worth RM76.978 million from 312.604 million shares worth RM62.259 million. Call warrants rose to 371.157 million units valued at RM61.021 million from 269.768 million units valued at RM52.616 million.
-- Bernama

Source

US data show solid recovery but concerns remain

Published: Saturday May 15, 2010 MYT 12:09:00 PM

WASHINGTON (AP): The U.S. economy is being boosted by higher retail sales, stronger factory output and a rise in companies' stockpiles.

That picture emerged from reports Friday pointing to an economy that's improving modestly but steadily after the worst recession in decades. Yet the recovery needs stronger job creation, and it remains under pressure from fears that Europe's debt crisis could slow the U.S. economy.

More ...

The Charts

Correction Only Lasts One Week: Stocks recover from recent slide over debt fears

NEW YORK (AP) -- A dose of good economic news sent stocks sharply higher Wednesday and erased the Dow Jones industrials' big plunge of last week.

The Dow rose 148 points to return to where it stood before Thursday's tumble that briefly took the average down nearly 1,000 points. The technology-dominated Nasdaq composite index led major indexes with a 2 percent gain. Investors moved into tech stocks ahead of earnings from network gear maker Cisco Systems Inc. and following upbeat forecasts from Intel Corp. and IBM Corp.

Analysts say the market's rebound from last week's drop reflects investors' growing confidence that Europe's debt problems are contained for now. Fears that Europe's problems would spill over to the U.S. fed the market's plunge.

Economic reports from the U.S. and Europe helped reassure investors that the global recovery is intact. The Commerce Department said exports rose in March to their highest levels since 2008. That was a welcome signal for the manufacturing industry, which has been strengthening since last year. Increased demand could eventually lead to more hiring.

Most European markets posted big gains after better economic numbers signaled that a rebound is occurring in many parts of the continent. A round of spending cuts in Spain bolstered hopes that debt-strapped countries in Europe would take steps to slash costs. Stocks surged around the world Monday after European leaders agreed to a nearly $1 trillion bailout to contain fears of a debt crisis that pounded markets last week.

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