The Week In Review
6/25-6/29/12
June 29, 2012U.S. stocks on Friday began sharply higher after European Union leaders agreed to moves intended to bolster the economies of the region's more troubled nations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 175 points, or 1.4%, to 12,777. The S&P 500 added 20 points, or 1.5%, to 1,349. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 48 points, or 1.7%, to 2,898. It's the end of the quarter and what a way to end it with the beaten down sectors like materials, energy, and industrials surging 2%. The price of oil is surging 5% along with plenty of other commodities. Copper play, Freeport McMoran is jumping 3%. The financials are bouncing back smartly today. Credit Suisse is up 5% as they reiterated they will be profitable for the quarter. Deutsche Bank is also up 5% while Barclays keeps pushing lower on the Libor scandal. The big US banks are higher. Bank of America is higher by 3% ranking it the top gainer for the Dow year to date. The housing market continues to shine. It was Lennar jumping the other day thanks to better than expected earnings. Today its' KB Homes higher by 5% due to strong earnings. The techs are putting on a good show. Google, Apple and IBM look good. Oracle is up 3% on an upgrade. The dog of the day, the dog of the quarter, and the dog of the year is Research in Motion. The company reported dismal earnings last night as customers flee the blackberry phone. Its' feast or famine in the smartphone sector. One recent hot sector struggling today is retail. Nike is down 11% on disappointing earnings. Up until yesterday, Nike had been on a roll. Surprisingly, competitors Under Armour and Dicks are trading higher. Ford is down 4% on disappointing sales out of Europe. Finish Line is up 7% following earnings while gun maker, Smith & Wesson is jumping 15% on earnings. Vail Resorts and Saks are higher on upgrades. Accenture is higher by 3% on earnings. Through the first hour the Dow rose over 200 points while the Nasdaq improved by 57 points. Through the morning the averages remained strong near the highs of the day with most sectors performing well. Defensive sectors like utilities and telecom are quiet today. Retail is still mixed. During the lunch hour a few more stocks fell into the red including Facebook, JP Morgan, and the utilities. Ford is weaker down 5% dragging GM with it. A couple HMOs, Unitedhealth Group and Wellpoint are lower once again following the Supreme Court Decision regarding Obamacare. Heading into the last hour the averages remained strong near the highs of the day. The Nasdaq is up 80 points or 2.75%. Oil is jumping 7%, one of the biggest one day rallies in history. The energy, materials, and industrials are all performing great. Amazing day. In the last hour, no sell off. A great way to end the month and the quarter. Up 3.9% for the month and off 2.5% for the quarter, the Dow Industrials rose 277 points, or 2.2%, to 12,880. The S&P 500 added 33 points, or 2.5%, to 1,362, leaving it with a 4% June gain and down 3.3% for the quarter. The Nasdaq Composite rose 85 points, or 3%, to 2,935, up 3.8% for the month and down 5.1% for the quarter.
June 28, 2012
U.S. stocks opened sharply lower Thursday, retreating after two days of gains, ahead of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act and the start of a summit of European leaders. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 103 points to 12,524, with J.P. Morgan Chase off 3.6% on a New York Times report its trading losses could top $9 billion. The S&P 500 shed 9 points to 1,321. The Nasdaq Composite fell 29 points, or 1%, to 2,845. Two sectors front and center. First, healthcare has performed well in the last month awaiting the Supreme Court decision today on Obama-care. The sector is modestly lower today. Second, the financials are back in the spotlight, but not for anything good. In Europe the banks are getting hit. Barclays is down 12% as many of their top executives are in the hot seat because of the company's decision to try and manipulation the Libor rate. Royal Bank of Scotland is down 11%. Deutsche Bank and ING are lower by 3%. In Brazil, Moody's downgraded 8 Brazilian banks. Thanks Moody's. Back here, JP Morgan is getting hit on a NY Times article indicating the London "whale" trade error could grow to $9 Billion, although most analysts would say the loss is more likely $4 to $5 billion. Either way, JP Morgan and the other big banks are getting hit. In the tech space, the disk drive makers are getting hit thanks to cautious comments out of Hutchinson. Ebay is getting hit on cautious analyst comments. Facebook is also lower on cautious analyst comments. Qualcomm, Apple, EMC and Broadcom were all upgraded, but all are lower. CREE is one of the few techs higher on an upgrade. The energy sector opened lower, but is battling back. Halliburton is higher on an upgrade. On the earnings front, Paychex is lower on earnings. Family Dollar is down 3% after missing estimates. The retail sector has been under a little bit of pressure the last several days. After the first half an hour the averages pushed lower as the Supreme Court upheld a portion of Obama-care. This ruling dropped the HMOs like Wellpoint and Unitedhealth to drop dramatically only to rebound, and sell off once again. The hospital stocks are performing well with HCA, Universal Health Services, Community Health Services, and Health Management Services are all up 3% or more. By the end of the first hour the Dow fell 150 points while the Nasdaq declined 46 points. Things have gone from bad to worse. Through the morning the averages stabilized remaining weak near the lows of the day. In the afternoon the more of the same the Dow pushed even lower heading into the last hour. In the last hour the volume came back to the market as the averages put in a nice bounce due to rumors of European movement from Germany. Rumor or not it's working for the bulls. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down just 24 points at 12,602. The S&P 500 index declined 2 points to 1,329. The Nasdaq Composite shed 25 points to 2,849.
June 27, 2012
U.S. stocks opened higher Wednesday, extending gains into a second day, ahead of a report on the housing market, which recently has shown hopeful signs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 41 points to 12,575. The S&P 500 added 6 points to 1,326. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 16 points to 2,870. Another quiet start to the day. The beaten up sectors like materials, industrials, and energy are catching a bid once again. Monsanto is up 2% following better than expected earnings. The oils all look good. The financials are all modestly higher. Homebuilder, Lennar is jumping 5% on earnings. Mastercard is unchanged after having their numbers cut at FBR. In the tech space all the big caps look good. Intel and Broadcom are higher on upgrades. Google and Apple look good. Facebook is lower as the investment banks that brought it public can now initiate coverage. Morgan Stanly was the lead underwriter bring the company public at $38 a share. Now a month later Morgan Stanley believes the stock is worth, you guessed it, $38 a share. Crazy. Video game App maker, Zynga is down 5% heading toward its' lows even though it was upgraded. Through the first hour the averages kept pushing higher with the Dow rising 80 points and the Nasdaq rising 22 points. So far so good. Through the morning and into the afternoon the averages remained strong without much volatility. It looks like most investors are ready for the quarter to end. In the last hour the Dow rose over 1000 points only to pull back into the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 92 points to 12,627. The S&P 500 rose 11 points to 1,331. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 21 points to 2,875.
June 26, 2012
U.S. stocks began Tuesday with mild gains ahead of a report on consumer confidence and after better-than-expected data on U.S. home prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 19 points to 12,522. The S&P 500 Index rose 3 points to 1,317. The Nasdaq Composite added 11 points to 2,847. A quiet day with limited news to report. The beaten down energy sector is on the rise today. Conoco Philips is up 2% on an upgrade. Their spin off, Phillips 66 is up more up, 2.5% to start the day. The financials are also higher this morning. JP Morgan is up 2% on an upgrade. Morgan Stanley was downgraded, but the stock is higher. AIG is higher by 2% on an upgrade. In the tech space Google and Apple are higher, but the rest of the sector is flat. Intel is flat on an upgrade. Dell and HP are lower on downgrades. Ebay is higher by 2% on an upgrade. Facebook is higher once again. In the retail space Children's Place is higher by 2% thanks to insider buying. The material sector is mixed. Dow Chemical is lower on a downgrade. The fertilizers on the other hand are all strong. Potash, CF Industries, and Mosaic are higher by 3% this morning thanks to strong demand. The drug sector is creeping higher ahead of a decision from the Supreme Court regarding Obama-care. They only have three more days. At 10 o'clock a weaker than expected consumer sentiment number did little to change the major averages. After the first hour the Dow gave up its' gains. JP Morgan followed by Chevron are the strongest components and sectors today. The Nasdaq is holding on to modest gains. Through the morning the averages dipped only to rebound every time. Volume is light. News Corp is jumping 6.2% on news the company is reportedly considering a spinoff of its publishing businesses to place more emphasis on its faster-growing television and film units. Sounds like that stock is moving in the right direction. In the lunch hour the averages slowly improved moving into the green. Through the afternoon the averages kept improving rising as much as 70 points heading into the last hour when the averages slowly gave up most of the gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 32 points to end at 12,534. The S&P 500 index climbed 6 points to 1,319. The Nasdaq Composite gained 17 points to 2,854.
June 25, 2012
U.S. stocks opened sharply lower Monday, with Wall Street pessimism growing on prospects of concrete results from a meeting of European leaders later in the week. A Supreme Court ruling on 2010's Affordable Care Act is also expected this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 144 points, or 1.1%, to 12,495. The S&P 500 lost 17 points, or 1.4%, to 1,317. The Nasdaq Composite shed 40 points, or 1.4%, to 2,852. Goldman Sachs' call to short the S&P 500 last Thursday is looking better and better. Very few stocks to the upside today. Walmart is the only Dow component higher. The fertilizer stocks are performing well on a sector upgrade. CF Industries is up 4%, Potash is up 2%, and Agrium is higher by a percent. Another material stock gold miner, Newmont Mining is higher by 1%, but that's it in this beaten down sector. Cement maker, Cemex is higher by 4% on news the company is trying to pare down debt. Many of the energy stocks keeps pushing lower by more than 2% including Exxon Mobil. Halliburton is down 3% on a downgrade. Alcoa is down 3% as one analyst cut estimates. The industrials are also getting hit. Caterpillar is down 2.5%. Many of the Industrials are down 2% or more. Boeing is down a percent even though it was upgraded. Carnival is also lower on an upgrade. In the tech space Nvidia, Redhat, and Sandisk were all upgraded, but are lower. Intel is lower by 2% as one analyst cautious comments on Intel. Microsoft is also lower by 2.5%. Even Google, Apple, and IBM are getting hit. Nowhere to hide. The financials are getting hit this morning. JP Morgan is leading the charge down 3%. Deutsche Bank is down 5% on a downgrade. Oppenheimer indicated there is good risk/reward in Morgan Stanley yet the stock is lower by 4%. The risk/reward is getting better. One defensive sector of late, healthcare is lower as the Supreme Court has postponed their decision on Obamacare for another day. Through the first hour the averages pushed lower with the Dow dropping 160 points and the Nasdaq declining 50 points. Not many places to hide. Through the morning the Dow fell as much as 175 points before rebounding. The Nasdaq fell 64 points or 2% before rebounding. The European markets took a bigger hit with Spain's Index falling 3.6%. In the afternoon the averages moved sideways half a percent from the lows of the day. Nothing looks particularly good heading into the close or quarter end this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 138 points, or 1.1%, at 12,502. Also down for a third in four sessions, the S&P 500 Index shed 21 points, or 1.6%, to 1,313. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 56 points, or 2%, to 2,836.