International stocks trading in New York closed higher on
Thursday.
The BNY Mellon index of American depositary receipts rose 0.74%
to 150.46. The European index increased 0.7% to 146.19, the Asian
index improved 0.41% to 161.70, the Latin American index rose 2.3%
to 232.71 and the emerging-markets index increased 1.3% to 280.57.
Ericsson AB (ERIC) and Logitech International SA (LOGI, LOGN.EB)
were among the companies with ADRs that traded actively.
Ericsson's ADRs fell 8.8% to $11.58 after the Swedish network
equipment maker posted a sharp decline in first-quarter profit as
its customers' spending shifted to lower-margin projects and a
patent dispute with Apple Inc. dented its licensing income.
Logitech's ADRs rose 7.5% to $15.48 after the company reported
that its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings jumped 58% on strong sales
of gaming and tablet accessories and mobile speakers.
Barclays PLC's (BCS, BARC.LN) new chairman, John McFarlane, on
Thursday vowed to speed up the U.K. bank's restructuring and
improve returns. A day earlier, a federal judge in New York denied
Lehman Brothers Inc.'s bid to carve out $1.3 billion from a
previous court decision that awarded Barclays $4 billion in
disputed assets stemming from its purchase of Lehman's brokerage
business. Barclays ADRs rose 2% to $15.66.
UniCredit SpA (UNCFF, UCG.MI) and Banco Santander SA (SAN,
SAN.MC) have reached preliminary deal to merge their
asset-management units and combine the two money managers, the
Italian lender said. Santander's ADRs rose 1.4% to $7.12.
Cemex SAB (CX, CEMEX.MX) reported a narrower first-quarter loss
on an increase in operating profit combined with a decline in
financial expenses. However, sales were lower than a year earlier
as a result of weaker currencies in a number of its markets. The
Mexico-based cement maker's ADRs rose 1.2% to $10.14.
Deutsche Bank AG (DB, DBK.XE) paid a record $2.5 billion penalty
in a settlement that resolves U.S. and British investigations into
allegations that it manipulated interest rates, wrapping up a
years-long investigation that was delayed by the German bank's lack
of cooperation with government authorities. Deutsche Bank also
agreed to plead guilty to U.S. criminal charges and acknowledged
that for years it prioritized profit over proper rules and that its
internal monitoring systems were insufficient to prevent the
manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, and
similar widely used benchmarks. ADRs rose 20 cents to $34.15.
ADRs of Novartis AG (NVS, NOVN.VX) rose 2% to $105.50 after the
Swiss drug giant reported a sharp rise in first-quarter profit with
a boost from the proceeds of a series of transactions that
refocused the company on three core areas: pharmaceuticals,
generics and eye care. The sweeping overhaul, which included the
purchase of GlaxoSmithKline's oncology unit, has transformed
Novartis into a cancer powerhouse with roughly a fifth of its
revenue expected to come from cancer drugs.
ADRs of Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR, PETR3.BR, PETR4.BR)rose
5.26% to $9.40 a day after Brazil's state oil company released its
first financial report in more than eight months. Petrobras wrote
off roughly $17 billion for 2014 due to losses from alleged graft
and overvalued assets. Brazilian federal prosecutors since last
year have been investigating allegations that the company's
suppliers conspired to overcharge Petrobras for major projects,
funneling some of the illicit profit to former Petrobras executives
and politicians in the form of bribes and illegal political
donations. On Thursday an executive from one of Petrobras's
suppliers testified that the alleged corruption scheme was limited
to three top executives and not spread throughout the company.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com and Maria.Armental
at maria.armental@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires