Jamaica
The week’s trading on the Jamaica Stock
Exchange resulted in stocks of 29 companies
trading, with seven advancing and fifteen
declining. Jamaica Broilers Ltd. gaining 12.36%,
was the lead advancer, while Barita Investments
Ltd lost 23.66% to lead the decliners. Notable
also was the trading of Jamaica Livestock
Association’s 7.5% bond, which lost
37.50% from its last movement.
Barbados
81,000 shares traded on the Regular Market
of the Barbados Stock Exchange. SAGICOR Financial
Corporation accounted for 77% of volume. The
company recorded a 17.92% price increase,
closing at $2.83. All three Indexes appreciated,
with the Cross Listed Index gaining the most,
closing up 1.40%.
International
Signs of a strengthening U.S. economy and
that Europe is moving closer to resolution
of its sovereign debt crisis have resulted
in the yield requirements for U.S. Treasuries
rising. Treasuries are off to their worst
start in nine years. Bloomberg expects further
increases in the yield requirements, as the
World Bank has projected a 2.2% expansion
of the U.S. economy in 2012.
Divesting from the security of Treasuries,
investors turned to the stock market, causing
U.S. stocks to rally for a third week, the
longest winning streak since October. The
S&P 500 advanced 2%, while the Dow Jones
Industrial Average gained 2.4%.
In currency news, the euro rose for the first
time in seven weeks as borrowing costs of
member nations dropped at bond auctions, hinting
at investor optimism. The Euro rose 2%, its
largest weekly gain since October.
