The Week In Review
11/28-12/2/11
December 2, 2011U.S. stocks opened higher on Friday after monthly data showed the U.S. jobless rate fell to a two-and-a-half year low. Comments from Angela Merkel reiterating Germany's strong backing for the euro is also lending support. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 91 points to 12,111. The S&P 500 added 11 points to 1,255. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 24 points to 2,650. What a week. With today's opening, the Dow is up 900 points or 8% from last Friday's close. The financials for once are in the lead. JP Morgan is up 7%, Goldman Sachs is up 6%, Citigroup is up 6%, and Bank of America is up 5%. The insurance stocks also look good. Metlife is up 3%. Allstate is up a percent on an upgrade. The techs look good as well. Google continues its' turnaround. IBM is at a new 52 week high. Novellus is up 2% thanks to a mid-quarter update. Netsuite is up 4% on an upgrade. Analog Devices is higher on an upgrade. Intel and Microsoft are lagging. Research in Motion is the dog of the day in tech land down 9% after disclosing they will have to take a charge for their poor selling Playbook tablet. The rest of the sectors are higher, but not by much. Valero is up 3% on an upgrade. Cliffs Natural Resources is higher thanks to an upgrade. In the retail space, Cracker Barrel and Lowes are higher on upgrades. Lululemon is jumping 5% recovering much of the sell off following earnings the other day. Big Lots however is lower by 9% on disappointing earnings. Through the morning the Dow rose over 100 points only to pull back a little into the lunch hour as a few components dipped into the red. The Nasdaq remains strong up 17 points. The utilities are lower as interest rates are nudging up a bit. Through the afternoon more and more stocks dropped into the red. Can't blame investors after such a big run up.In the last hour the averages gravitated back to the unchanged level. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 61 cents at 12,019 for a weekly gain of 7%. It was the best week in terms of percentage gain for the Dow since July 2009. The S&P 500 edged down 31 cents to to 1,244. It rose 7.4% during the week, the biggest weekly percentage rise since March 2009. Only the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 73 cents to close at 2,626, bringing the weekly increase to 7.6%. That is the best since October.
December 1, 2011
After a three day 800 point rally, the U.S. stocks are lower this morning with financials leading the retreat. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 36 points to 12,009. The S&P 500 declined 3 points to 1,243. The Nasdaq Composite shed 5 points to 2,614. The financials are all lower, no surprise there. Massachusetts Attorney General is adding to the pressure by suing the big banks once again. The retailers are in the spotlight with the release of same store sales data this morning. Lululemon is down 11% following disappointing earnings. Barnes & Noble is down 19% after missing estimates. Talbots is down 7% on earnings, while La-Z-boy, Guess, and Aeropostale are higher following earnings. Movado Group is up 15% on earnings. The rest of the market is quite. In the tech space Google is higher once again. In the last three weeks the stock dropped 60 points only to rebound 50 points. A little volatility there. Broadcom, Seagate, and HP are quiet on upgrades. Intel and Microsoft are lower. Yahoo is up 3% on more rumors of a buy out. Through the morning the Dow drifted lower falling 50 points. The Nasdaq hugged the unchanged level. Through the morning the Dow sold off then battled back to the unchanged level only to dip back into the red. The Nasdaq is in the green once again thanks to Google, Apple, and IBM. The utilities and materials are mostly in the red. Through the morning and into the afternoon the averages pulled back only to rally once again. In the afternoon the averages continued to move sideways in the last hour. A quiet day after a three day rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 25 points at 12,020 led by a 2.2% drop in Travelers. The S&P 500 fell 2 points to 1,244. Financials dropped nearly 1%, the worst performing of the S&P 500's 10 sectors. Tech stocks were the best performers. The Nasdaq Composite added 5 points to 2,626.
November 30, 2011
U.S. stocks rallied Wednesday after the Federal Reserve and five other central banks together moved to ease the flow of funds to banks hit by Europe's debt crisis. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 333 points to 11,888. The S&P 500 Index climbed 37 points to 1,232, with industrials leading the gains that extended to all of its 10 industry groups. The Nasdaq Composite rose 74 points to 2,590. It's an all or nothing day as everything is trading higher. Foreign markets like China which were down over 3% before this news broke have reversed course. The financials look good as they should with the moves by the World's central banks. The European banks are up the most with Germany's Deutsche Bank rallying 8%. The financials still have a ways to go. Through the first hour the Dow surged higher rallying 400 points. Caterpillar, Cisco, JP Morgan, and Intel are up over 5% in the Dow. The Nasdaq is surging 85 points. The techs look great except for Corning which is modestly lower. Corning was downgraded. The rest of the sectors look great. Energy, Materials, and Industrials are surging. Cliffs Natural Resources and Freeport McMoran are up over 6% on upgrades. Transocean is up 4% after pricing their secondary offering. Agrium is up 4% on an upgrade. In the retail space, American Eagle is up 4% following in line earnings and better than expected guidance. Tractor Supply is up 4% on an upgrade. Through the morning the Dow rose over 400 points as the Nasdaq rose 90 points. A good way to end the month. Similar to the last several days, the averages moved sideways through most of the day near the highs of the day. Volume unfortunately remains low. In the last hour a modest pull back only brought the buyers back in pushing the averages to new highs for the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 490 points, or 4.2%, at 12,045, ending the month in the green up 0.8% for November. The S&P 500 Index rose 51 points, or 4.3%, to 1,246, down 0.5% for the month. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 104 points, or 4.2%, to 2,620 off 2.4% from the end of October.
November 29, 2011
U.S. stocks offered a tepid start on Tuesday ahead of a meeting of European finance ministers on the region's credit crisis. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 9 points to 11,532. The S&P 500 Index opened flat at 1,192. The Nasdaq Composite fell 5 points to 2,521. The news hasn't been that great. Airline company, AMR is down 84% after filing for bankruptcy this morning. The rest of the sector is trading sharply higher. Luxury retailer Tiffany's is down 7% after reporting solid earnings, but weak guidance. A number of luxury retailers are struggling this morning. Best Buy continues to perform well following a strong Black Friday weekend. Amazon is lower as Cyber Monday didn't measure up. The financials remain the weakest sector. National Financial Partners is down 5% on a downgrade. Bank of America made a new 52 week, trading at lows not seen since March 2009. That's not a good statement. The techs opened higher, but then sold off. Corning is leading the weakness down 10% after lowering glass volume. Google, Apple, and IBM are also trading in the red. A few techs look good. HP is up 3% on an upgrade. Research in Motion is jumping 7% on an upgrade. Seagate is up 5% after the company raised guidance last night. Intel looks good ahead of a conference this afternoon. Qualcomm is higher on an upgrade. So the chips and disk driver makers look good. Better than expected consumer confidence number out within the first hour sent the averages higher. Through the morning the Dow rose 90 points while the Nasdaq barely rallied. The energy and materials are all trading higher. Devin Energy is higher on an upgrade while Transocean is down 7% after admitting they will issue new shares to raise money. Through the morning and afternoon the Dow held on to its' gains even as the financials sold off. The Nasdaq drifted lower. In the last hour more and more stocks fell into the red. Not much of a rebound. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 32 points at 11,555. The blue-chip average briefly reclaimed positive ground for the year but closed with a 0.2% 2011 loss. The S&P 500 rose 2 points to 1,195. Energy led S&P 500 subsectors with a gain of 1.5%; tech and financials lagged. The Nasdaq Composite fell 11 points to 2,515.
November 28, 2011
U.S. stocks opened higher Monday as Europe hints toward a plan to leverage a regional rescue fund to shore up some of their debt crisis. Solid evidence U.S. holiday sales got off to a record start on Black Friday is also lending support to the major averages. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 266 points to 11,498. The S&P 500 Index climbed 33 pints to 1,191. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 76 points to 2,518. Up, up, and away this morning. Everything looks good with most sectors trading up 3-4%. The more defensive sectors like utilities are up just a percent. In the retail space plenty of winners. Foot Locker is jumping 8% on an upgrade. Fossil, Amazon, Netflix, Whole Foods, Wynn Resorts, and Petsmart are all higher as well on upgrades. Best Buy is jumping 4% as many indicate this electronic retailer was the big winner over the weekend. Tiffany's is up 6% ahead of earnings tomorrow. The commodities are bouncing back smartly after getting slammed the last several weeks. Potash is up 4% on an upgrade. The financials look good as a couple banks received upgrades this morning. Wells Fargo is up 3% as Stifel actually raised earnings estimates. That hasn't happened in a long time. T. Rowe Price is up 5% on an upgrade. Northstar Realty is higher after acquiring a $100 million credit facility. Through the first hour the Dow rose 327 points as the Nasdaq jumped 87 points. This market is all or nothing. Through the morning and most of the afternoon the averages moved sideways near the highs of the day. Pretty boring. In the last hour the volatility returned with the Dow dropping nearly 100 points. The financials are giving up most of their gains. Sounds about right. Into the close, the averages rebounded to close near the highs of the day. Nice recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 291 points, or 2.6%, at 11,523, its best day since Oct. 27. All 30 Dow components were higher, led by a 5.7% gain in Alcoa. The S&P 500 rallied 33 points, or 2.9%, to 1,192, also its best since Oct. 27, led by rallying resource stocks. The Nasdaq Composite added 85 points, or 3.5%, to 2,527, its best day since Aug. 23