The Week In Review
6/7-6/11/10
June 11, 2010U.S. stocks started lower Friday, with consumer discretionary companies down the most, after an unexpectedly weak retail sales report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 79 points to 10,093. The S&P 500 Index dropped 9 points to 1,077. The Nasdaq Composite declined 17 points to 2,200. The retail sector is leading the markets lower. Walgreen is down 2% on a downgrade. Amazon is down 2% on a downgrade. Skechers is trading higher on positive analyst comments. In the tech space, NSM is higher following better than expected earnings. Research in Motion opened lower, but rebounded on positive analyst comments and a settlement with Motorola. Motorola is higher as well. Google is lower even though FBR made positive comments. Dell is lower after settling with the SEC regarding how they booked gains with Intel. Corning is acting well, up 4.5%. The financials opened lower except for Goldman which got clobbered yesterday. Goldman also made positive comments on the big banks regarding unrealized gains sitting on their books. Banco Santander is jumping 5% on earnings guidance. After the first half an hour the averages started to battle back. Bristol Myers is jumping 4% on an upgrade. In the commodity space, BP continues to rebound. Suncor Energy is higher on an upgrade. Transocean is up 2% even though Citigroup removed it from their conviction buy list. US Steel is up 2% on an upgrade. Through the morning the Nasdaq rallied into the green. The Dow climbed back to the unchanged level, but then sold back off. Through out the afternoon the Dow remained in the red, but off the lows. The Nasdaq remained in the green, but not by much. In the last hour we actually rallied into the close. Go figure. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 38 points at 10,211. For the week, the Dow rose 2.8%. The S&P 500 index gained 4 points to 1,091, led by a 1.2% advance in the materials sector and a 1.1% rise in technology shares. The Nasdaq Composite rose 24 points, or 1.1%, to 2,243.
June 10, 2010
U.S. stocks opened sharply higher Thursday as Europe's common currency was lifted by a variety of developments, including reports that the German Constitutional Court had rejected an effort to block Germany from participating in guarantees viewed as critical to Europe's stabilization program and positive comments from the ECB's Jean Claude Trichet. The euro climbed above $1.21 and more recently stood at $1.2096. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 168 points to 10,068. The S&P 500 Index rose 18 points to 1,073. The Nasdaq Composite added 31 points to 2,190. Everything looks good this morning including BP which is jumping 10%. The company issued a release indicating there was no reason for the big drop in their stock yesterday. All the oils are performing well. Oil drillers are jumping on upgrades. Baker Hughes is up 8%. Weatherford and ENSCO are up 4% each. Braziliam oil company, Petrobras is up 2% today and up 15% in the last two weeks. The techs are performing well this morning. Symantec is up 4% after winning a contract with HP. The chips are performing well. Apple and Google are higher. IBM is up 2.5%. The financials are performing well except for Goldman Sachs and National Financial Partners. Visa and Mastercard are jumping on upgrades. In the retail space, Del Monte is up 6% following earnings. Lululemon Athletica is up 6% after beating estimates and raising guidance. Family Dollar, Dollar General, US Airways, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Kelloggs are all higher on upgrades. Autozone is lower on a downgrade. After the first hour the Dow rose over 200 points. All the Dow components are higher. The Nasdaq rose 38 points. So far so good. Through the morning and into the afternoon the averages remain strong, but off the highs. In the financial sector Goldman Sachs is taking a hit down 3.5% ahead of Congressional finance reform bill discussions. Through the afternoon and into the close the averages actually improved making new highs for the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 273 points, or 2.8%, at 10,172. The S&P 500 Index climbed 31 points, or 3%, to 1,086. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 59 points, or 2.8%, to 2,218.
June 9, 2010
U.S. stocks started higher on Wednesday following through from yesterday as investors anticipate further talk of economic improvement from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 53 points to 9,993. The S&P 500 Index rose 6 points to 1,068. The Nasdaq Composite rose 18 points to 2,188. The techs and commodities are performing well this morning. Baidu.com, Texas Instruments, and Marvell were all upgraded. Ciena is up 6% following earnings. Google looks good this morning. In the commodity space, Potash is jumping 2% on an upgrade. Freeport McMoRan is up 3%. The oils are weak. BP is down 3% after one analyst predicted a 50% dividend cut. The financials are struggling this morning. US Bancorp is modestly higher on an upgrade. Goldman Sachs and a number of the big banks are lower on concerns of financial reform and the political primaries last night. National Financial Partners is down 9% after offering a convertible senior note that could dilute shareholders. Spanish bank, Banco Santander is higher after making a $2.5 billion acquisition in Mexico. That's a bullish statement indicating that neither the Spanish economy or the Spanish bank are not in such bad shape. In the pharmaceutical industry Forest Labs is higher on an upgrade. Cardinal Health is modestly higher after making an acquisition. After the first half an hour the averages remain in the green, but off the highs. Through the morning the averages actually improved. The Dow rose 80 points as many of the financials moved into the green. The Nasdaq rose 26 points. Bernanke seems to be saying the right things to Congress. The bounce continues. In the afternoon the averages remain strong with the Dow over 100 points. The Nasdaq rose 30 points. The dog of the day goes to BP down 8% on speculation the company will file for bankruptcy to limit their losses. In the middle of the afternoon the averages gave up some
of their gains even though the release of the Beige Book indicated that economy is actually performing well. Entering the last hour the rally started to evaporate. BP is down 14% to new lows on concerns of bankruptcy. In the last hour the averages fell into the red. So much for our rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 40 points at 9,899. The S&P 500 Index declined 6 points to 1,055. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 11 points to 2,158.
June 8, 2010
U.S. stocks opened higher receiving a lift after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said he doesn't expect a double dip recession in the U.S.. These comments and a firming in the European markets are helping soothe investors' nerves. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 31 points to 9,848. The S&P 500 index rose 4 points to 1,055, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 4 points to 2,178. A couple of Dow components are performing well. Caterpillar is up 2% after reiterating guidance for the next two years. Boeing and JP Morgan are higher on upgrades. The financials are modestly higher after getting clobbered the last several days. Suntrust is up 2% on an upgrade. Deutsche Bank is higher as well on an upgrade. In the tech space Apple and Corning were upgraded. Both are higher. Intel and Broadcom are lower on downgrades. Altera reiterated guidance, but the stock is not reacting. In the retail space Dollar General is higher following earnings. Bed Bath and Beyond is up on an upgrade. Talbots is lower following earnings. Pep Boys is down 7% following lackluster earnings. Within the first half an hour the averages fell into the red. Here we go again. Goldman Sachs downgraded a number of oil drillers including Diamond Offshore and Transocean. Both are down over 3%. A few commodity stocks are higher including Freeport McMoRan thanks to an upgrade. After the first hour the averages remain in the red. No buyers as of yet. Through the morning the selling accelerated a little bit. Fewer and fewer stocks are in the green. At 11:30 when the European markets were to close, the averages perked up with the Dow moving back into the green. The Euro perked up as well as the U.S. dollar sold off. In the afternoon the Dow rose as much as 70 points before pulling back. The Nasdaq remained in the red. By the middle of the afternoon the Dow fell back into the red only to rebound once again. At least the bulls are putting up a fight today. In the last hour, into the close, the Dow put in a good rally dragging the Nasdaq with it. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 123 points, or 1.3%, at 9,939. The S&P 500 index rose 11 points, or 1.1%, to 1,062. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite remained underwater, losing 3 points to close at 2170.
June 7, 2010
The markets tally modest gains on Monday following the drumming on Friday due to the weak employment data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 45 points to 9,977. The S&P 500 Index rose 5 points to 1,070. The Nasdaq Composite gained 9 points to 2,228. The rally did not last long. The weak employment data out on Friday took the wind out of the sails for the bulls case. The commodities push lower on fears of an economic slowdown except for BP. Go figure. The financials are weaker. Goldman suggested a hedge using the financial ETF in case of more weakness. Bank of America is down over 2% after settling a $108 million lawsuit against Countrywide. That merger has not worked out well. Metlife, American Express, and Capital One are modestly higher on upgrades. In the tech space Apple keeps getting upgrades, but the stock is lower. A report out this weekend indicates that the ipad is nearly sold out country-wide. That's amazing. Plenty of upgrades in the tech space including Seagate, Symantec, HP, Cisco, and Yahoo. Only Seagate and HP are lower. Surprisingly a number of retailers are performing well. Imax and Amazon are higher on upgrades. Walmart is performing well following their annual meeting on Friday. Nike is lower on a downgrade. In the drug space Bristol Myers is jumping 8% on positive late stage data on their leukemia drug. Abbott Labs is lower on a downgrade. Through the morning the averages did not vacillate far from the unchanged level. No rally as of yet. In the afternoon the Dow moved into the green. The oil companies are performing well. In the tech sector, Research in Motion is down nearly 4% as Apple presents a roadshow indicating they are selling ipads every three seconds. Amazing. Through the afternoon the selling accelerated moving closer to the lows of the year, below the flash crash lows. Not pretty. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 115 points, or 1.2%, to end at
9,816, below the blue-chip average's May 6 low of 9,869. The S&P 500 index fell 14 points, or 1.4%, to 1,050, weighed down by a 2% drop in financials and a 1.9% drop in the technology sector. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 45 points, or 2%, to 2,173.