World markets show little reaction to Bin Laden’s death

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Rallies in the streets of New York and Washington after the death of Osama bin Laden haven’t translated into stock market rallies.

The Dow Jones industrial average, which hit a three-year high on Friday, rose as much as 65 points early on Monday but was up 26 points, or 0.2%, to 12,836 at about 11:15 a.m. PDT. Broader indexes were mixed, and declining stocks slightly outnumbered winners on the New York Stock Exchange.

[Updated at 1:10 p.m. PDT: The Dow closed down 3.18 points, or less than 0.1%, to 12,807.36.]

Some analysts cited concerns that Al Qaeda operatives could launch retaliatory strikes against U.S. and other targets. Others saw little potential impact on the global economy from Bin Laden’s demise.

‘It can be argued that Bin Laden’s death is a punctuation mark but not a period or finality that many suggest and hope for, as, unfortunately, geopolitical risk has been heightened in the last few years,’ said Doug Kass, a hedge fund manager at Seabreeze Partners in Palm Beach, Fla.

Reaction to his death also was muted in European stock markets, most of which closed little changed.

The same was true in Middle Eastern markets. The main Saudi Arabian stock index added 0.5% for the session. In Israel, the Tel Aviv 100 index slipped 0.1%.

Crude oil prices in New York, which ended Friday at a 31-month high of $113.93 a barrel, dropped $3.11 overnight on Monday but recouped most of that by about 11:15 a.m. PDT. Crude was trading at $113.78, off 15 cents.

The beleaguered dollar rose modestly overnight against key currencies but has since resumed its downtrend. The DXY index of the buck’s value against six other major currencies as down 0.1% to 72.89, on track for its 10th straight drop to a new 32-month low.

Silver, this year’s hottest commodity, suffered a steep sell-off at the outset of Asian trading on Monday, but that was before word of Bin Laden’s death. After trading as low as $42.20 an ounce overnight, a drop of 13.1% from Friday’s close, the metal ended futures trading in New York at $46.08 an ounce, off $2.51, or 5.2%, from Friday.

But gold edged up 70 cents to $1,556.70 an ounce, a new nominal record high.

-- Tom Petruno