The Week In Review
11/30-12/4/09
Dec 4, 2009U.S. stocks opened robustly higher Friday after the November unemployment report exceeded expectations, with the unemployment rate falling from 10.2% in October to 10% last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 102 points to 10,468. The S&P 500 Index added 12 points to 1,112. The Nasdaq Composite rose 28 points to 2,201. Up, up, and away. Thanks to the economic numbers everything is working this morning. A number of techs are performing well. Google, Apple, IBM, Amazon, and Research in Motion are all trading higher. Marvell is jumping 9% to new highs following strong earnings last night. Sandisk and Akamai are both up over 4% thanks to upgrades. The financials are performing well. Barclays is up 4% on an upgrade. Visa and Mastercard are higher thanks to upgrades. Bank of America is holding up after raising $19 billion to pay off the government TARP funds. The retail sector is mixed. Big Lots is up 15% after beating estimates. Under Armour is up 5% on an upgrade. Target, Walmart, Best Buy, JC Penney are all higher. The dog of the day goes Take Two Interactive down 35% after lowering guidance. Smith & Wesson is lower by 17% following okay earnings and lowered guidance. After the first half an hour the Dow rose 130 points to new highs for the year. The Nasdaq rose 37 points to new highs for the year. Through the morning the euphoria wore off as the U.S. dollar started to rise. The rise in the dollar sent gold, oil, and the rest of the commodities lower. The major averages started to pull back as well. Entering the lunch hour, the Dow fell into the red only to rebound in the afternoon. Commodities remain in the red. In the last hour the averages held on to their gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 22 points to 10,388, up 0.8% for the week. The S&P 500 Index rose 5 points to 1,105, up 1.3% from the week-ago close, while the Nasdaq Composite Index added 21 points to close at 2,194 for a weekly gain of 2.6%.
Dec 3, 2009
U.S. stocks opened higher on Thursday after the government said new jobless claims unexpectedly dropped last week, and after Bank of America said it would repay $45 billion in bailout funds. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 40 points to 10,493. The S&P 500 Index rose 5 points to 1,114. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 13 points to 2,198. Bank of America is leading the charge rallying 4% following two upgraded and a debt upgrade. Now analysts expect Wells Fargo and PNC Bank to repay their TARP funds. The government may also start selling some of their Citigroup position as well. CIBC is up 2% following better than expected earnings. Sallie Mae is higher on encouraging comments from Congress that conditions are improving for the student loan provider. Not all the financials are trading higher. TD Bank is lower following flat earnings. Suntrust is down 2% on a downgrade. The techs are performing well. Amazon is making new highs following positive comments from CNBC's Jim Cramer. Cisco and Microsoft are higher following upgrades. Apple is modestly higher following an upgrade. The retail sector is mixed following November same store sales. Del Monte is up 5% on better than expected earnings. Best Buy is higher thanks to positive comments from Cramer. The rest of the sector is weak. Family Dollar, TJX, Childrens' Place, Macys, Target, Saks, and JC Penney are all lower. Aeropostale is lower by 11% following earnings last night. At 10 o'clock weaker than expected manufactoring data sent the averages lower. Then comments from the White House warning of an uptick in unemployment sent the averages lower. The Dow fell into the red while the Nasdaq held on to modest gains. As the morning progressed, the White House denied claims of an uptick in unemployment which allowed the averages to rebound. In the afternoon the averages remained in the green until the last hour. In the last hour we saw a sharp sell off into the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 86 points at 10,366. The S&P 500 Index fell 9 points to 1,099 while the Nasdaq Composite declined 11 points to 2,173.
Dec 2, 2009
U.S. stocks tallied mild gains Wednesday after a tentative start, with investors mulling the ADP employment report, which found a bit more private-sector jobs were lost last month than forecast. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 10 points to 10,482. The S&P 500 Index inched up 2 points to 1,110. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 10 points to 2,186. Nothing is moving very much. Retailer Jos. A Bank is up 2% following strong earnings. J. Crew is up 2% on positive comments from Cramer. Toro is modestly higher after hiking their dividend. Amazon is trading at a new high as the online retailer continues to see strong demand. Amazon was upgraded this morning with a $160 price target. In the tech sector, the semiconductors continue to perform well. Micron is higher on an upgrade. RF Micro Devices is jumping 5% thanks to an upgrade. Dreamworks is up 2% on an upgrade. The commodities continue to perform well. Gold is at a new high. After the first half an hour the averages remained where they started. The financials, similar to yesterday, are underperforming. After the first half an hour the averages pushed higher except for the big banks. Through the rest of the morning the Dow rallied then fell into the red due to weakness in the financials. The commodities are pulling back thanks to a rebound in the U.S. dollar. The techs remain in the green. In the afternoon and in the last hour not much changed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 18 points at 10,452. The S&P 500 Index gained less than half of a point to close at 1,109 while the Nasdaq Composite added 9 points to 2,185.
Dec 1, 2009
U.S. stocks start the month of December sharply higher ahead of economic reports on housing and manufacturing. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 109 points to 10,454. The S&P 500 rose 12 points to 1,107 while the Nasdaq Composite added 25 points to 2,169. The retailers and commodities are performing well this morning. In the retail space, Staples and Guess are jumping over 4% following strong earnings. Target, Walmart, Amazon, Nordstrom, and Costco are all higher thanks to positive analyst comments following Cyber-Monday. The commodities are performing well. Gold is pushing to a new high. Fertilizer stocks Potash, Mosiac, and Agrium are all jumping over 2% thanks to upgrades. In the tech sector, Altera is up 5% after raising guidance. Analysts expect other techs to raise guidance like Xilinx. Xilinx is up 3%. Google and Amazon opened at new recent highs this morning. The financials opened higher, but then pulled back dragging the major averages with it. After the first hour the Dow remained up 90 points. The Nasdaq rose 22 points. Through the morning and into the afternoon the averages remained strong. Only the financials are not participating. The commodities are performing well. Gold hit a new high of 1200 an ounce. In the afternoon more of the same. The techs are performing well except for Apple which saw a late day sell off. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 10,471, up 126. points, or 1.2%. The S&P 500 Index rose 13 points to 1,108. The Nasdaq Composite gained 31 points, or 1.5%, to 2,175.
November 30, 2009
U.S. stocks opened mildly lower Monday as investors weighed Dubai's debt trouble against some hopeful signals on U.S. holiday sales. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 26 points to 10,283. The S&P 500 Index was off a point to 1,089. The Nasdaq Composite shed 6 points to 2,131. The Dubai issues don't seem to be hurting the U.S. financials. Bank of America, JP Morgan, and Wells Fargo are all up 2% or more. US Bancorp is up 3.5% thanks to an upgrade. HSBC is modestly higher on an upgrade after getting hit last week. Franklin Resources is lower on a downgrade. Besides the financials, the retailers are also performing well. Best Buy is up 2% on an upgrade. Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle are higher as well due to upgrades. Today is cyber-Monday so Amazon and Ebay are also performing well. Amazon's Kindle is selling well. Deere is up 2% on an upgrade. Google is higher on an upgrade. Everyone is anticipating the new Google phone coming out next year. Research in Motion is higher even though one brokerage firm lowered their price target. After the first hour the Dow moved into the green thanks to the financials. The Nasdaq is unchanged. Through the morning and into the afternoon, the Dow gravitated back to the unchanged level. The financials remain in the green thanks to positive comments from Goldman Sachs this morning. In the afternoon, in the last hour, the averages pushed higher once again. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 34 points at 10,344, leaving it up 6.5% for November. The S&P 500 Index climbed 4 points to 1,095, up 5.7% from the month-ago close. The Nasdaq Composite gained 6 points to 2,144.60, leaving it with an advance of 4.9% for the month.