The Week In Review
10/19-10/23
October 23, 2009U.S. stocks sputter on the start with only the technology-laden Nasdaq Composite retaining strong gains after Microsoft and Amazon's earnings both easily topped expectations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened flat at 10,081. The S&P 500 rose a point to 1,093. The Nasdaq rose 17 points to 2,182. Amazon is jumping 20% to all time highs. Microsoft is up 8% to new yearly highs. But not all techs are higher. Rambus, Western Digital, Avid Tech, Broadcom, Computer Associates, and Juniper Networks are all lower following earnings. The financials are modestly higher. T. Rowe Price is up 8% thanks to solid earnings. Capital One is up 9% following blow out earnings. American Express is higher following earnings. Legg Mason is up 5% on an upgrade. The retail space continues to perform well. Decker Outdoors which sells the famous Uggs is jumping 7% on strong earnings. Netflix is up 8% after beating earnings estimates. Columbia Sportswear is higher following earnings. After the first hour, the Nasdaq remained higher by 10 points thanks to Microsoft and Amazon. The rest of the market is pulling back. The Dow is lower by 40 points. Through the morning the Dow pushed lower. The Nasdaq dipped into the red as well. In the afternoon the Dow dropped over 100 points. The Nasdaq remained in the red. Not many stocks remain in the green other than Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. In the last hour a little rebound off the lows. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 109 points, or 1.1%, to close at 9,972, for its biggest point drop since October 1st. The S&P 500 fell 13 points, or 1.2%, to 1,080. The Nasdaq Composite lost 11 points, or 0.5%, to close at 2,155. Stocks fell for the first time in three weeks. The Dow average lost 0.2% for the week, the S&P 500 fell 0.7% and the Nasdaq lost 0.1%.
October 22, 2009
U.S. stocks open modestly higher following a sharp sell off late in the day yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 31 points to 9,981. The Dow is higher thanks to better than expected earnings from Travelers, McDonalds, 3M, and AT&T. The S&P 500 gained nearly a point to 1,082 and the Nasdaq Composite fell fractionally to stand at 2,150. Travelers is jumping 5% after better than expected earnings, raised guidance, a hike in the dividend, and a boost to the share buyback. All the insurers are higher. The banks are mixed following a sharp sell off in Wells Fargo last night on a downgrade from Dick Bove. PNC Bank is jumping 10% after easily beating estimates. Raymond James, Fifth Third, and Ameriprise are also higher following earnings. Credit Suisse, SunTrust, and Legg Mason are lower following earnings. In the tech sector, Ebay is weak following lackluster earnings. VMware, Sybase, and NCR are lower as well following earnings. Qlogic is jumping 5% after beating estimates. The healthcare sector remains weak. Amgen is down 4% following earnings last night. Bristol Myers and Schering Plough are modestly lower following earnings. In the commodity space the steel stocks are lower. Nucor and Reliance Steel are both down over 3% following earnings. Agricultural and fertilizer firms Bunge and Potash are lower on lackluster earnings. Freeport McMoRan, however, is jumping 2% following great earnings yesterday and an upgrade today. After the first hour the Dow remained in the green, but not by much. The Nasdaq is in the red. The retail space looks good this morning. J. Crew is up 11% after lifting guidance. Skechers is up 13% following strong earnings and an upgrade. Black and Decker is also higher following earnings. Three airliners reported earnings US Airways, Delta, and Jetblue. All three are lower. Railroad company Union Pacific is modestly higher on earnings. The railroads are the way to go. Through the morning the Dow pushed higher thanks to IBM, AT&T, Travelers, Honeywell, McDonalds, 3M, and Exxon Mobil. The Nasdaq remains in the red along with most tech stocks. In the afternoon, the Dow kept pushing higher thanks to the same group of stocks. Even the Nasdaq moved into the green. In the last hour the averages remained strong not far from the highs of the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 131 points, or 1.3%, at 10,081. The S&P 500 Index rose 11 points, or 1.1%, to end at 1,092. The Nasdaq Composite which spent the bulk of the day in the red, finished up 14 points at 2,165.
October 21, 2009
U.S. stocks struggled on the start for a second straight day even as earnings keep coming in better than expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 4 points to 10,045. The S&P 500 Index added a point to 1,092. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 5 points to 2,168. The financials are mixed this morning. Morgan Stanley and US Bancorp are both up 6% on strong earnings. Sallie Mae is jumping 17% on better than expected earnings. Visa is higher after raising their dividend. Wells Fargo is unchanged on better than expected earnings. Northern Trust is down 6% after missing estimates. Jefferies is lower on a downgrade. The techs are performing well. Yahoo is jumping 4% after better than expected earnings. Sandisk is jumping 10% on strong earnings. IBM, Apple, Amazon, Google, Research in Motion, and Ebay are all trading higher. Cisco and Netsuite are higher on upgrades. Allegheny Tech is lower after missing esimates. The healthcare and pharmaceutical stocks continue to struggle. Gilead Science, Eli Lilly, and Genzyme are lower following earnings. The list of other companies reporting earnings include Northrop Grumman, St. Jude, Boeing, Altria, Tupperware, Stanley Works, Elan, and Forest Labs. Tupperware is jumping 7%. After the first hour the averages pushed higher. The Dow jumped 50 points. The Nasdaq rose 20 points. Resilient market. In the afternoon, the averages remained in the green until the last hour when Dick Bove downgraded Wells Fargo to a sell. Wells Fargo dropped nearly 5% in a matter of minutes taking the banks and the major averages with it. Heading into the close, no rebound. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 77 points at 9,969. The S&P 500 Index fell 7 points to 1,083. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 10 points to 2,153.
October 20, 2009
U.S. stocks started Tuesday mildly lower after the government reported housing starts that came in under expectations. Strong earnings from a number of techs did little to lift investor's enthusiasm. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 10 points to 10,081. The S&P 500 declined a point to 1,096 while the Nasdaq Composite shed a point to 2,175. Apple is the diamond of the day so far thanks to blow out earnings. The stock is up 5% to $200 a share back at all time highs. Texas Instruments and Lexmark are also higher following earnings. The financials are modestly higher this morning. Blackrock is up 3% to new highs due to strong earnings. M&T Bank, Bank of NY Mellon, and Jefferies are higher as well following earnings. Western Union, State Street, and Regions Financial are lower after earnings. The earnings keep flooding in. Dow components Pfizer and Caterpillar are up 2% or more following earnings. Other Dow components DuPont, United Tech, and Coke are lower following earnings. Other companies trading lower following earnings include Lockheed Martin, Forest Labs, Sherwin Williams, Biogen, and Coach. Companies trading higher on earnings include Unitedhealth Group, MGM Mirage, UAL, Supervalu, Peabody Energy, and Illinois Tool Works. After the first hour the averages remained where they started. The markets seem to be digesting all the earnings reports. Through the morning the Dow pushed lower, briefly dropping 100 points. The Nasdaq declined 20 points. The averages recovered a little in the last hour, but remained in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 50 points at 10,041. The S&P 500 Index lost 6 points to 1,091.06. The Nasdaq Composite shed 12 points to end at 2,163.
October 19, 2009
U.S. stocks opened mildly higher on Monday ahead of quarterly results from technology companies Apple and Texas Instruments. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 16 points to 10,012. The S&P 500 Index gained 2 points to 1,090, and the technology-laden Nasdaq Composite advanced 5 points to 2,162. The markets look to be taking a breather this morning. The banks are quiet. The lackluster earnings from Bank of America and Citigroup last week slowly investor enthusiasm. BB&T beat earnings by a penny this morning, however, the stock is lower by 5%. Blackrock, American Express, and Capital One are all higher on upgrades. The techs are quiet ahead of Apple's numbers tonight. Amazon was upgraded, but the stock is lower. In the retail space, Hasbro is lower by 4% following earnings. Dicks and Coach are higher thanks to upgrades. After the first hour the averages started to push higher. The Dow rose 40 points. The Nasdaq rose just 3 points. A number of commodity stocks are performing well. Potash is jumping 4%, lifting the sector, after an analyst indicated BHP should buy the firm for a 30% premium. Freeport McMoRan continues to shoot higher. But oil company Weatherford is down 5% on disappointing earnings. Through the morning the averages pushed higher led by commodities. Financials are going no where. In the afternoon, the Dow rose 100 points to new highs for the year. The S&P 500 touched 1100 for the first time this year. The Nasdaq rose to new highs for the year as well. Resilient market. Through the afternoon and into the last hour the averages remained near the highs of the day. U.S. stock indexes on Monday finished at new 2009 highs, with energy shares among those leading a rally as crude ended near $80 a barrel. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 96 points, or 1%, at 10,092. The S&P 500 Index rose 10 points to 1,097, while the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 19 points to 2,176.