The Week In Review
419-4/23/10
April 23, 2010U.S. stocks open flat, but the news keeps coming in better than expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 5 points to 11,139. The S&P 500 Index opened flat at 1,208. The Nasdaq Composite held steady at 2,519. Plenty of spectacular earnings and upgrades this morning. In the financial sector American Express and Capital One are sharply higher following strong earnings. TR Price is higher following earnings. Huntington Bancshares is jumping 4% on an upgrade. Wilmington Trust and Travelers are lower after missing estimates. Stifel upgraded a number of banks including Wells Fargo, KeyCorp, and Suntrust. In the retail space Deckers Outdoors is jumping 8% following great earnings. Columbia Sportswear is higher following earnings. AnnTaylor is higher following an upgrade. Costco is higher after upping their dividend. In the tech sector Microsoft easily beat, but the stock is modestly lower. PMC Sierra is also modestly lower following earnings. Not Apple, however. Apple keeps pushing higher making new highs every day. Western Digital is jumping 8% on an upgrade. Nokia is lower on a downgrade. After the first half an hour better than expected housing numbers sent the averages into the green. The homebuilders are all performing well. After the first hour the averages gave up most of their gains. Through the morning more of the same. Not many stocks are in the green. In the afternoon the averages slowly improved. Heading into the last hour the averages were solidly in the green. Eight Dow components are at new 52 week highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 69 points at 11,204. For the week, the Dow gained 1.7%, marking the 8th straight week of gains for the blue-chip average, its longest winning streak since the 8 weeks ended Jan. 16, 2004. The S&P 500 index gained 8 points to 1,217, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 11 points to 2,530. For the week, the Nasdaq rose 2%, also the 8th straight week of gains for the tech-heavy benchmark. The S&P 500 gained 2.1% for the week, after falling 0.2% last week.
April 22, 2010
U.S. stocks opened steeply lower on Thursday with eBay among the companies offering disappointing outlooks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 79 points to 11,045. The S&P 500 Index declined 12 points to 1,193. The Nasdaq Composite shed 27 points to 2,477. A couple hundred earnings reports to go through this morning. A number of stocks are sharply lower following earnings including Ebay, Qualcomm, Janus, Peabody Energy, Union Pacific, Southwest Air, Kimberly Clark, Verizon, Pepsi, Philip Morris, Diamond Offshore, Fifth Third, Continental, Nokia, Blackstone, Nucor, NY Times, Sybase, Cypress Semi, Briggs & Stratton, and BB&T. In other words, most stocks and sectors are lower. A few stocks are higher following earnings including Chipotle Mexican Grill, Sallie Mae, Starbucks, Noble Drilling, Netflix, Hershey, Sandisk, Textron, and PNC Financial. Boeing is higher once again following strong earnings yesterday. Regional bank, Huntington Bancshares is higher thanks to an upgrade. And that's about it. After the first half an hour the Dow dropped 90 points while the Nasdaq declined 27 points. The healthcare sector is weak. Baxter International is down 15% after lowering guidance. After the first hour the averages slowly improved, before selling back off. Greece had their debt downgraded by Moodys. A number of banks are improving even as President Obama travels to New York to pitch his financial reform. Through the morning and into the afternoon the averages slowly improved. A number of banks are making new 52 week highs today. That's good. Two Dow components, Boeing and Home Depot made new highs today. So the news isn't all bad. In the last hour the Nasdaq improved dragging the Dow into the green. Microsoft and Amazon report earnings after the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 9 points at 11,134. It was the fourth straight session of gains for the blue-chip average. The S&P 500
index rose 2 points to 1,208, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 14 points to 2,519.
April 21, 2010
U.S. stocks opened slightly higher on Wednesday lifted by great earnings including Apple's spectacular numbers out last night. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 19 points to 11,136. The S&P 500 Index climbed a point to 1,209. The Nasdaq Composite added 8 points to 2,508. Apple is jumping 6% on blow out numbers. Other techs beating numbers include Yahoo, VMware, Juniper Networks, Seagate, Altera, and EMC. Surprisingly, the chips are lower. Research in Motion is higher on an upgrade. The regional banks are on fire this morning. KeyCorp and Huntington Bancshares are both up 14% this morning following better than expected earnings. The big banks are doing pretty good as well. Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, and Suntrust all beat earnings estimates. All three are higher. Moodys and Knight Trading are lower following earnings. Five Dow components reported this morning including Boeing, AT&T, McDonalds, United Tech, and Altria. Only AT&T is lower. Other earnings coming in include Ryder, Freeport McMoRan, Abbott Labs, St Jude, Lockheed Martin, and Polaris. Polaris is up 7% while Freeport and Gilead Sciences are both down over 4%. After the first hour the averages remain in the green. As the morning progressed the averages gave up most of their gains. Nasdaq fell into the red. The chips are weak and the commodities are not participating in the rally. In the afternoon, more and more stocks fell into the red. Apple and the regional banks remain strong. Heading into the last hour the averages sold off. Apple, KeyCorp, Huntington Bancshares, Boeing, and United Tech look good. Everything else is pulling back. In the last hour the averages fought back into green territory. You can't keep this market down. The Dow finished up 7 points at 11,124. The S&P 500 declined a point to 1,205. The Nasdaq Composite rose 4 points to 2,504.
April 20, 2010
U.S. stocks started higher on Tuesday after a round of mostly better-than-expected earnings, including results from Goldman Sachs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 19 points to 11,111. The S&P 500 Index climbed 6 points to 1,203. The Nasdaq Composite gained 10 points to 2,490. The earnings keep coming in better than expected. Even though the news is all good, not all stocks are higher. Case in point, IBM easily beat estimates and raised guidance, yet the stock is down 3%. J&J and Coke also beat estimates, but are trading lower. Goldman Sachs beat estimates by 40%, initially traded up, but then sold off. The regional banks are also under pressure. Northern Trust, Regions Financial, State Street, Bank of New York, and Jefferies are lower following better than expected earnings. Zions Bancorp is up 3% following earnings last night. M&T Bank is higher on an upgrade. US Bancorp is modestly lower following in-line numbers, but the rest of the big banks look good. Wells Fargo is higher ahead of earnings tomorrow. After the first hour the averages remain in the green, but not by much. A number of big cap stocks are lower including IBM, Apple, and Goldman Sachs. Plenty of other companies are reporting numbers including Illinois Tool, Supervalu, Delta Air, Biogen, Parker Hannifin, Coach, Harley Davidson, Weatherford, Unitedhealth Group, Brinker International, AK Steel, EMC, and Forest Labs. Illinois Tool is up 4%, Harley is jumping 8%, while AK Steel and Brinker International are both down 5%. Other than the steel companies, the rest of the commodities are performing well. Heading into the lunch hour the averages slowly improved. In the afternoon the averages remained in the green. Only a few blue chips like Apple, IBM, and Goldman remain in the red. Goldman has pushed lower on rumors AIG is mullying a lawsuit against the firm. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 25 points to end the day at 11,117. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 20 points to finish at 2,500. The S&P 500 Index tacked on almost 10 points to end the day's trading at 1,207.
April 19, 2010
U.S. stocks wavered between gains and losses in the early going on following better than expected earnings from Citigroup. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4 points to 11,014. The S&P 500 Index fell 2 points to 2,189. The Nasdaq Composite fell 2 points to 2,478. Citigroup is jumping 6% after making 15 cents or $4 billion. Goldman Sachs is still under pressure following worries about the government's civil fraud suit against them. Bank of America is higher after receiving four upgrades. Bank of New York and State Street are higher thanks to a positive article in Barrons. M&T Bank is higher after beating estimates. Visa is higher thanks to an upgrade. A REIT, Ares Capital is jumping 3% on an upgrade. Other than Goldman, the financials look pretty good. In the tech sector Intel, Novellus, and Microsoft are higher on upgrades. Xerox is higher on an upgrade. Apple was upgraded, but the stock is modestly lower. Palm is down 8% on a downgrade. In the retail space Hasbro is higher following earnings. Lowes is higher on an upgrade. Mohawk Industries is jumping 3% on an upgrade. After the first half an hour the averages started cooking. The Dow rose 25 points. The Nasdaq rose 2 points. Even Goldman's stock has rebounded. Through the morning the rally fizzled. The financials and techs sold back off. Citigroup continues to perform well following earnings. IBM is higher ahead of earnings tonight. The commodities prices are weaker today. An oil and gas company McMorRan is lower by 10% following earnings. DuPont, Arch Coal, and Halliburton are modestly higher on upgrades. Heading into the lunch hour the selling accelerated particularly in the tech sector. By the middle of the afternoon the Dow recovered again, rallying 40 points. The Nasdaq slowly improved. Heading into the last hour, Goldman Sachs rallied back into the green. IBM still looks good ahead of earnings. In the last hour the Dow kept improving. The Dow average finished up 73 points, or 0.7%, at 11,092. The S&P 500 gained 5 points, or 0.45%, to 1,197 while the Nasdaq dropped a point to 2480.