The Week In Review
11/9-11/13/09
Nov 13, 2009It's Friday the 13th, or in these parts, it's Colgate Day. The markets open modestly higher with consumer discretionary shares fronting the gains following Walt Disney's better than expected results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 17 points to 10,214. Disney is trading up 4%. The S&P 500 added a point to 1,088 while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 3 points to 2,152. The retail sector is providing mixed results this morning. At 10 o'clock, a disappointing consumer sentiment number sent the averages lower briefly. Nordstrom is down 4% after missing estimates by a penny. The other retailers are performing much better. JC Penney and Abercrombie & Fitch are both up over 4% following earnings. Kelloggs, Petsmart, Goodyear, and Urban Outfitter are all higher following upgrades. A woman's retailer, Rue 21 is coming public today. After the first hour, the averages shot higher. The Dow rose 80 points. The Nasdaq improved by 12 points. The big techs are performing well. Google, IBM, and Apple are all higher. Agilent Tech is higher by 4% following earnings. Salesforce.com, Juniper, Microsoft, and Qualcomm are higher following upgrades. Palm is up 5% on rumors of a takeover. The financials are quiet this morning. Mastercard was upgraded, but Visa was downgraded. Fifth Third is higher following an upgrade. Through the morning the averages remained strong, but the financials are not participating. In the afternoon the averages gave up half their gains on light volume. In the last hour the averages rebounded into the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 73 points at 10,270, leaving the blue-chips average up 2.5% for the week. The S&P 500 Index rose 6 points to 1,093, leaving the broader index up 2.3% from the week ago close. The Nasdaq Composite gained 18 points to 2,167.88, leaving it up 2.6% for the week.
Nov 12, 2009
U.S. stocks started with a mild retreat on Thursday even though the news is pretty good this morning. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 10 points to 10,280. Walmart is higher after beating earnings estimates. The S&P 500 declined a point to 1,096. The Nasdaq Composite fell a point to 2,165. On the merger front, GE is selling their security business to United Tech for $1.82 billion. Neither stock is reacting much. HP is buying out 3Com for $2.7 billion. 3Com is jumping 31% while HP is modestly lower. Juniper and Brocade are both lower on fears of increased competition. In the chip space, AMD is jumping 22% after agreeing to drop all antitrust claims against Intel in exchange for $1.25 billion. Not bad. Intel is modestly higher as well. Activision Blizzard is up 2% after breaking a one day sales record for video game sales, coming in at $310 million. Not bad. Applied Materials is modestly lower following earnings last night. In the retail space, Kohls is up a percent after beating estimates. Green Mountain Coffe is down 9% on in line earnings. Budweiser is lower following earnings while Urban Outfitters and Grennbrier are modestly higher following earnings. After the first hour the averages remained stuck near the unchanged level. Through the rest of the morning the averages started to pull back. In the afternoon the selling accelerated with the commodities dropping as well. The rebound in the U.S. dollar is part of the culprit for the selling. In the last hour the selling accelerated on light volume. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 110 points at 10,181. The S&P 500 Index dipped 12 points to 1,085. The energy sector sank 2.2% along with crude-oil futures, which were hit by a stronger dollar and large buildup in U.S. crude inventories. The Nasdaq Composite fell 20 points to 2,146.
Nov 11, 2009
U.S. stocks opened higher on Veterans Day, with the blue chips extending their stretch of wins into a sixth day after strong manufacturing and retail sales data from China bolstered sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 52 points to 10,299. The S&P 500 Index added 7 points to 1,100. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 15 points to 2,166. It should be a quiet day on the volume front since it's a holiday for most, but that hasn't stopped the market from moving higher. The techs and financials are pushing higher. In the chip space, Nvidia is jumping 4% on news of strong demand. All the chips are higher. Google is making new 52 week highs. Apple, IBM, Amazon, and Research in Motion are higher as well. One tech trading lower is Adobe on a downgrade. Salesforce.com is higher on an upgrade. In the financial space, Prudential is higher after raising their dividend. Lazard is up 3% after reiterating a share buyback. All the big financials are trading higher. After the first hour the Dow rose 70 plus points above 10300. The Nasdaq rose 22 points. Plenty of upgrades this morning. Tyson Foods, Toll Brothers, Callaway, Fluor, Dicks, and Tyco are higher following upgrades. The retailers in general are performing well, but Weight Watchers and Bob Evans are lower following earnings. The dog of the day goes to Macys down 5% after reporting a quarterly loss and forecasting downside guidance. Through the morning the averages gravitated back to the unchanged level. In the afternoon the averages dipped into the red, but then rebounded. In the last hour the averages held their gains. The Dow industrials finished up 44 points at 10,291. The S&P 500 Index rose 5 points to 1,098. The Nasdaq Composite added 15 points to end at 2,166.
Nov 10, 2009
U.S. stocks started slightly lower on Tuesday, with equities and commodities retreating as the dollar gained some steam. After the prior day's 200-point climb, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 9 points to 10,217. The S&P 500 Index shed a point to 1,091 and the Nasdaq Composite declined 2 points to 2,151. A few stocks are trading lower following earnings. Fluor is down 5% after missing earnings estimates. The stock, however, did have a nice run up into earnings. The bond insurers business isn't getting any better. MBIA is down 17% following another quarterly loss. Barclays is down 5% following dismal results. The company reinstated their dividend, but its' only a penny a quarter. Thanks for nothing. Tyco and Electronic Arts are other stocks trading lower following earnings. The rest of the market looks a lot better. Within the first half an hour the averages moved into the green. The big tech stocks are acting much better. Google, Apple, Research in Motion, IBM, and Amazon are all higher. Cramer was pretty bullish on the techs last night. Wasn't he bearish last week? Research in Motion has had a nice bounce back in the last couple of days as fears subside about Motorola's Droid phone. In the financial industry, Stifel Financial is jumping 4% on better than expected earnings. They seem to be stealing brokers from the bigger firms, a trend that should continue. In the retail space, Fossil is jumping 10% on better than expected earnings. Gamestop is higher after reaffirming earnings last night. Activision Blizzard is unchanged as customers waited for hours for the new video game, Call of Duty. After the first hour and through the morning the averages gravitated back to the unchanged level. The big techs remain in positive territory. In the afternoon the averages moved sideways. In the last hour the Dow started in the green and held on to modest gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 20 points to close at 10,246. The broad S&P 500 Index fell less than a point to 1,093, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 2 points to end at 2,151.
Nov 9, 2009
U.S. stocks opened higher on Monday, with financials fronting the rise, after a weekend gathering of world financial leaders bolstered sentiment about a global recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 59 points to 10,082. The S&P 500 Index rose 8 points to 1,077. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 18 points to 2,130. Everything looks good this morning. The financials are all modestly higher. Blackrock is up 4% on an upgrade. Wells Fargo is up 2% on an upgrade. GE is up 5% following a nice bump on Friday thanks to an upgrade. The techs are performing well this morning. IBM, Apple, Google, and Amazon are all shooting higher. Motorola and HP are higher following upgrades. Adobe is up 4% on an upgrade from Goldman Sachs. The retailers look good this morning. RadioShack is up 15% on an upgrade. Abercrombie & Fitch is jumping 7% on an upgrade. After the first half an hour, the Dow rose 110 points back above 10100 to new highs for the year. The Nasdaq rose 28 points. Through the morning the Dow kept pushing higher, jumping 150 points. The commodities are pushing higher as well with the gold up to $1100 an ounce and oil up to $80 a barrel. In the afternoon the averages kept creeping higher. The Dow rose over 190 points to 10,200. In the last hour, no sell off. The averages held firm trying to close at the highs of the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 203 points, or 2%, at 10,226. The S&P 500 added 23 points, or 2.2%, to close at 1,093. The Nasdaq Composite rose 41 points, or 2%, to 2,154.