Pre-Market Updates

US stocks slumped on Tuesday in choppy trading prompted by Middle East tensions, fears of new banking problems in Europe and a slowdown in Chinese growth as well as the mounting cost of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.
The DJIA dropped 112.61 points (-1.11%) to close at 10,024 after a long holiday weekend. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite fell 34.71 points (-1.54%) to 2,222 and the broader-based S&P 500 slipped 18.70 points (-1.72%) to 1,071.

Stocks and commodities fell to their lows of the day as AFP reported Lebanon’s military fired at Israeli warplanes as they flew over its airspace.
Market sentiment were initially lifted by strong US construction spending jumping 2.7% in April, its biggest monthly gain since 2000 and manufacturing activity expanding for the 10th straight month at a faster pace in May.

Despite the positive US data, investors continued to worry about the impact of euro zone's debt crisis on global economic growth. Indeed, data showed a more sluggish pace in euro zone manufacturing But markets were dragged by a ECB report that eurozone banks face further writedowns over the next 18 months. Weaker-than-expect manufacturing data from China added to the concerns. China’s May PMI fell to 53.9 from 55.7 the previous month.

The USD's climb to a 4-year high against the euro - on top of escalating concerns about the rising cost of the Gulf of Mexico oil-spill disaster - weighed on energy stocks. Among the biggest losers was BP, whose shares slumped 15%. Transocean declined 12% and Halliburton shed 15%.

Apple rose 1.54% after it announced it had sold 2m iPad tablet computers, outdoing the launch of the iconic iPhone.
AIG fell 3.19% after the US insurance giant rejected Prudential's bid to renegotiate the British insurer's US$35.5bn purchase of AIG's Asian life-insurance unit, AIA.
The bond market rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond slipped to 3.296% from 3.301% on Friday and that on the 30-year Treasury bond fell to 4.202% from 4.214%.