EU STOCK MARKET
European shares closed lower on Wednesday.
In U.K.: Shell rose 1.10% to 481.00. Barclays Bank fell 0.74% to 607.00. Diageo declined 0.80% to 745.00. HSBC slid 0.06% to 906.00. Vodafone slipped 0.18% to 140.50. Unilever declined 0.59% to 504.00.
In Germany: Bayer fell 1.10% to 26.10. Infineon tumbled 1.95% to 7.55. SAP slid 1.12% to 123.88. Allianz fell 1.59% to 94.21. Deutsche Bank slipped 0.78% to 67.59. BMW fell 0.91% to 32.65. DaimlerChrysler declined 0.53% to 35.55.
In France: Alcatel fell 1.42% to 9.74. BNP Paribas declined 1.07% to 55.70. Danone advanced 0.14% to 72.60. EADS rose 0.42% to 24.10. Renault fell 0.65% to 68.50. France Telecom slipped 0.29% to 24.45.
US STOCK MARKET
U.S. stocks ended mixed, after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan indicated that central bank would continue to tighten monetary policy in the coming months. "All told, the economy seems to have entered 2005 expanding at a reasonably good pace, with inflation and inflation expectations well anchored."
The Dow Jones Industrial declined 3.62 points, or 0.03%, and closed at 10,833.70. The S&P 500 added 0.17 points, or 0.01%, to 1,210.29. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.78 points, or 0.1%, to 2,087.43.
FOREX
In the currency market, the euro rose to $1.3040 from $1.3019 in New York late Tuesday. The dollar rose to 105.31 yen, from $104.43.