US shares broadly down despite positive jobs data

It was a downbeat start on Wall Street with equities trading broadly down.

The Dow Jones was down 21 points as at 10.09am, while the broader S&P 500 fell two points to stand at 1,518.

On the S&P 500 the top faller was internet provider CenturyLink, whose shares were down over 20% at US$33.05.

The Windstream Corp was the second biggets loser - down 9.2% at US$8.90.

It came despite positive US jobs data with initial claims for jobless benefits fell more than expected during the latest week compared to the previous week.

Heinz shares surged on news it had been bought by Berkshire Hathaway - the firm of legendary investor Warren Buffett.

Berkshire along with 3G Capital is to buy buy the soups and sauces giant for US$23bn in cash, with Buffett's firm contributing US$12-13bn in cash.

Heinz shareholders, if they approve the deal, will receive US$72.50 a share in cash - a 20% premium to Heinz's closing price yesterday of US$60.48.

Buffett, whose firm also has stakes in Coca Cola and American Express, described Heinz as having "strong" and ?"sustainable" growth potential.

Back in the UK, investors took a fancy to small caps as they fell out of love with the UK?s priciest shares, sparking concerns that the honeymoon period in 2013 could be over for the Footsie.

The benchmark index slipped 42 points to 6,319 on Valentine?s Day after a couple of days of strong gains that saw it add 80-odd points.

Engineer () dragged the top shares down despite annual earnings going up 11%. It fell 6.3% in the afternoon session.

Investors didn?t like the sound of the company?s vision for 2013, with low-to-mid single digit revenue growth not enough to gets pulses racing.

And disappointing data on the European economy did nothing to stave off the decline. The eurozone plunged further into recession in the latest quarter, shrinking 0.6% in the fourth quarter of 2012, figures revealed.

There was also gloomy news from Japan as its economy shrank for the third consecutive quarter.Shire () joined the losers, down 4.6%, as did cruise ship operator (), down 3%.

() topped the chart, up 2.2%, after unveiling a deal to buy US asset manager Artio Global Investors for ?112mln.

Small caps performed better, with the FTSE AIM all-share index unchanged at 749.

() shot up over 46% as investors welcomed the news its finances could soon be back on track.

The premature ejaculation specialist said talks with a lead investor over an equity financing package are at an advanced state.

The group said it is also in fund raising talks with a number of other institutional investors, while it remains in talks with its three debt providers.

The amount of the financing, if concluded, is expected to provide adequate funds to meet the central corporate costs and the regulatory costs of PSD502, the company?s premature ejaculation treatment, through to the anticipated European approval date, which is a critically important milestone.

() jumped by over 28% when it struck oil at the Puka 2 well in New Zealand.

It said that Puka 2 encountered 4.6 metres of reservoir sands - with a ?vertical thickness? of 3.3 metres ? and analysis indicates that the discovery has some of the highest porosity and permeability measures recorded in the area to date.

The company stressed that the importance of the discovery cannot be overestimated.

Latin American power producer () saw a spurt of buying activity this morning, with the shares rising 16.92%.

Other AIM stocks climbing today included (), () and (), which all rose.

() made its way 4.35% higher after investors bought into the story. Today it said it has completed the ramp and waste development of the Arenal Deeps god project in Uruguay.

Coloured gemstone specialist (), which recently acquired jewellery icon Faberg?, shone 9.09% higher. The company put in a sparkling performance at the end of 2012, setting a new production record for the rainy season at its Kagem emerald mine in Zambia.

() shot up 3.39% after securing the rig contract for the upcoming Nervesa appraisal well in Italy. The rig is expected to be mobilised at the end of March, it added.

() was up 6.85%.

Falling the other way was (), down nearly 50%, as City analysts took a dim view of its re-estimate of mineral reserves at its Inata mine in Burkina Faso.

The company's value was slashed in half after it said testwork had now put the reserve figure at to between 900,000 and 1.2 million ounces compared to the December 2011 estimate of 1.85 million ounces.

Source: http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/53710/us-shares-broadly-down-despite-positive-jobs-data-53710.html

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