The Week In Review
9/7-9/11/09
September 11, 2009U.S. stocks edged higher shortly after Friday's start, on this sober 9/11 or as its' called today Patriots Day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 8 points to 9,634. The S&P 500 Index added 2 points to 1,046, while the Nasdaq Composite inched up a point to 2,085. The diamond of the day so far goes to FedEx up 6% after easily beating earnings estimates. The Dow Jones Transports are jumping 2% on this earnings report. Plenty of upgrades this morning. Goldman Sach is up over 1% to a new 52 week high on an upgrade. The rest of the financials are quiet or lower. AIG and Allstate are lower on downgrades. Intel was upgraded, but the stock is modestly lower. Nokia is lower on a downgrade. In the retail space, Garmin and AnnTaylor are higher on upgrades. Best Buy was upgraded and downgraded. So far the downgrade is winning with the stock lower by 1.5%. Campbell Soup is modestly lower after beating earnings estimates by 4 cents. After the first half an hour the averages were modestly in the green on light volume. Through the morning and into the afternoon, the averages drifted into the red on light volume. Pretty boring day. In the last hour, no rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 22 points at 9,605, leaving it with a 1.7% gain on the week. The S&P 500 Index fell a point to end at 1,042, but up 2.6% for the week. The Nasdaq Composite fell 3 points to 2,080, but rallied 3% on the week.
September 10, 2009
U.S. stock indexes on Thursday turned mostly lower in volatile early trade, with upbeat guidance from the technology sector and Dow component and household name Procter & Gamble helping bolster investor sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened up 2 points higher at 9,549. P&G is up 3%. Pfizer is modestly higher on an upgrade. The S&P 500 Index fell less a point to stand at 1,032 while the Nasdaq Composite advanced a point to 2,062. The techs are performing well. Yahoo and RF Micro Devices are both jumping 5% on upgrades. Xerox and Apple are higher on upgrades. Corning is modestly higher on bullish comments regarding the fourth quarter. Texas Instruments is higher after lifting earnings guidance. The financials are modestly lower. Blackstone is bucking the trend, up 4% on an upgrade. BH Homes is unchanged on an upgrade. In the retail space, Lululemon Athletica is up 6% after beating earnings estimates. Mens Warehouse is down 7% following earnings. The healthcare stocks are modestly higher following the Presidents speech last night. Monsanto is the dog of the day down 6% after reaffirming their earnings at the low end of the guidance range. After the first half an hour, the averages bounced back into the green. Resilient. Through the morning the averages remained in the green on light volume. Most of the financials remain in the red. In the afternoon the averages pushed a little higher on a strong Treasury auction. In the last hour the averages kept drifting higher back toward the highs of the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 80 points closing at 9627. The S&P 500 rose 10 points to 1044 while the Nasdaq rose 23 points to 2084. Another up day.
September 9, 2009
U.S. stocks opened slightly lower today which is 09/09/09. Very little news to move the markets this morning. Wallstreet awaits the assessment of the economy by the Federal Reserve minutes later this afternoon. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 13 points to 9,487. Among the Dow components, shares of McDonald's are trading lower by 2% following 2% global sales growth. The S&P 500 fell 50 cents to 1,024 while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 3 points to 2,034. On the earnings front Pep Boys and Talbots both beat estimates. Pep Boys is down 5% while Talbots is up 5%. In the tech sector, Intel and Cisco Systems are higher on upgrades. Palm is down 5% on a downgrade. Altera is down 5% even though they upped guidance. The financials are modestly higher. Capital One, Mastercard, and Morgan Stanley were all upgraded. The Dow Transports are higher. UPS is higher on an upgrade. After the first half an hour the averages improved, moving into the green. The diamond of the day goes to Vivus on positive obesity drug results. Through the morning and into the afternoon the averages remained in the green. At 2 o'clock the Fed released their minutes with no surprises. The Fed sees the economy stabilizing which sounds good, but the averages drifted lower following this data. In the last hour, the averages rebounded. Very resilient. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 49 points to 9,547. The S&P 500 advanced 7 points to 1,033. The Nasdaq Composite added 22 points to end at 2,060.
September 8, 2009
U.S. stocks on Tuesday started higher, extending gains into a third straight session, as investors and Wallstreeters comes back to work from their summer vacation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 63 points to 9,504. The S&P 500 Index gained 9 points to 1,026 while the Nasdaq Composite added 19 points to 2,038. The commodities are performing great. The U.S. Dollar is dropping causing gold to jump above $1000 an ounce. Plenty of upgrades and downgrades to start the week. GE is up 5% on an upgrade from JP Morgan. IBM is unchanged after reaffirming numbers for the year. Plenty of upgrades in the tech sector. Research in Motion, Nokia, Redhat, VMware, and Seagate are all higher on upgrades. The financials are modestly higher. Metlife is up 3% on an upgrade. M&T Bank is up a percent on a favorable piece in Barrons. The retailers are quiet this morning. Costco is up 2% on an upgrade. Smithfield Foods is unchanged after reporting a quarterly loss. Yesterday, Kraft announced a surprise takeover for U.K. firm, Cadbury for $17 billion. Kraft is trading down 6% on this news. After the first half an hour, the averages gave up a big chunk of their gains. AIG is down 10% on a downgrade. It looks like the run is over for that government entity. Through the morning and into the afternoon, the averages remained in the green. Commodities are acting great. Most stocks are higher. In the last hour no sell off. Today felt a lot like every day in August. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 56 points at 9,497. The S&P 500 Index added 8 points to stand at 1,025. The Nasdaq Composite rose 18 points to 2,037.
September 7, 2009
Closed for Labor Day