The Week In Review
6/14-6/18/10
June 18, 2010U.S. stocks edged higher at Friday's start, with all three major indexes poised for weekly gains, with choppy trading likely due to a quarterly expiration of options and futures contracts. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 18 points to 10,452. The S&P 500 gained a point to 1,117. The Nasdaq Composite added 3 points to 2,310. A quiet morning so far. In the tech space Apple is higher on an upgrade. Shocker. Intel and AMD are modestly higher on positive analyst comments. Research in Motion is modestly higher on more positive analyst comments. The financials are mixed this morning. Visa is lower, but Mastercard is higher. Both received positive analyst comments. M&T Bank is lower after a nice run up due to takeover chatter. One analyst said take your profits. Good idea. In the commodity space, Rowan and BP are higher on upgrades. The rest of the commodities are quiet. After the first hour the averages remain in the green, but quiet. Through the morning the averages slowly improved. No real fanfare. In the afternoon the averages remain in the green, but not by much. Quiet, quiet, day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 16 points at 10,450. The S&P 500 Index rose a point to 1,117, while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 2 points to 2,309. The major averages posted gains for the second week in a row, rising 2.4% on the week.
June 17, 2010
U.S. stocks opened mildly higher on Thursday as a rise in weekly jobless claims dampened cheer over a largely successful bond auction by Spain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 7 points to 10,417. The S&P 500 Index added a point to 1,115. The Nasdaq Composite rose 7 points to 2,313. On the earnings front Kroger, Pier One, Smuckers, and Winnebago are all up at least 5% following better than expected earnings. Smithfield and Newell Rubbermaid are down 3% following earnings. The techs are performing well. Apple, Research in Motion, and EMC are higher on upgrades. Google is performing well. Nokia is higher even though it was downgraded. The chips are modestly lower. The financials are modestly higher. Visa and Mastercard are higher on upgrades. At 10 o'clock a brutal manufacturing number sent the averages lower. The Dow dropped 50 points. The Nasdaq declined 9 points. In the healthcare space, Aetna is up 2.5% after the company said they can beat second quarter estimates. After the first hour the averages pushed lower with fewer and fewer stocks in the green. In the afternoon the averages recovered only to sell back off in the last hour, and then rebound into the close. Go figure. BP is modestly lower as their CEO has had to sit in front of Congress all day listening to a much of grandstanding. Where were the regulators to enforce proper drilling technics. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 24 points at 10,434. The S&P 500 Index finished up a point at 1,116. The Nasdaq Composite rose a point to 2,307.
June 16, 2010
U.S. stocks opened lower on Wednesday after shipping giant FedEx offered a weak outlook and economic data did little to bolster sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 54 points to 10,350. The S&P 500 Index declined 5 points to 1,110. The Nasdaq Composite shed 9 points to 2,296. FedEx is trading down 3% dragging the transports with it. Scotts Miracle Gro is down 4% after their earnings report. Nokia is down 9% after slashing earnings estimates. Thanks Apple. Speaking of Apple, that stock is one of the few trading higher along with Google. Google is back above $500 a share for the first time in a long time. The chips are lower except for Cypress which was upgraded. The financials opened modestly lower this morning, but then tried to rebound. JP Morgan is higher on an upgrade. Jefferies is lower on cautious analyst comments. Fannie and Freddie Mac are both down 40% after announcing the delisting from the NYSE. In the commodity space, BP is down once again testing some recent lows. Sunoco is higher by 6% after announcing plans to restructure their business. In the retail sector Dreamworks is down 3% on a downgrade from Goldman Sachs. Autozone is higher by a percent after announcing a share repurchase program. After the first hour the averages remain in the red not far from where they started the day. Through the morning the averages slowly recovered led by the techs. BP had a nice turnaround on news the company is thinking of creating an escrow account to collect money for the oil disaster. In the afternoon, BP pushed higher after they suspended their dividend. The averages moved into the green. FedEx has not recovered, but the transportation average has held up. In the last hour the averages gave up their gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 4 points at 10,409. The S&P 500 index lost 62 cents to close at 1114.The Nasdaq Composite inched up 5 cents to 2305.
June 15, 2010
U.S. stocks opened higher on Tuesday thanks in part to better than expected factory and retail sales numbers. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 62 points to 10,253. The S&P 500 Index climbed 7 points to 1,097. The Nasdaq Composite gained 15 points to 2,259. The broader market looks pretty good. In the tech space, Research in Motion looks good for once ahead of earnings next week. The stock is up 3%. Google and Apple look good. Sandisk is up 2% today following a good day yesterday. Salesforce.com is up 2% on an upgrade. Amazon and VMware are higher on upgrades. The financials are modestly higher on analyst comments indicating the sector is oversold. T Rowe Price is up 2% on an upgrade. Lincoln National is higher even though they are raising capital. Annaly Mortgage is lower on a downgrade. The commodities are trading higher. Fertilizer stocks are higher on upgrades. Rowan is up 2% on an upgrade. BP opened higher, then sold off. Fitch downgraded their debt. Nucor is lower by 2% after lowering guidance for the quarter. Noble Energy is lower on a downgrade. The dog of the day comes from the retail space. Best Buy is down 7% after missing estimates by a wide margin. That's not good. Finish Line is higher on an upgrade. Lowes and Home Depot are modestly lower on downgrades. After the first half an hour the averages remain strong. So far so good. Through the morning into the lunch hour the averages continued to improve. The Dow jumped 130 points led by Boeing, Caterpillar, Disney, and Microsoft. The techs look great with the Nasdaq up 40 points. Research in Motion and Dell are up 4%. Texas Instruments and Microsoft are up 3%. The markets are starting to act better. Through the afternoon the averages kept improving. The bull market is back at least for a day.
June 14, 2010
U.S. stocks opened firmly higher on Monday, lifted by hopes of global recovery after an upbeat economic report from the euro zone. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 62 points to 10,263, lifted by gains in shares of aluminum giant Alcoa and equipment-maker Caterpillar. The S&P 500 index rose 6 points to 1,097, with the industrials sector leading the gains. The Nasdaq Composite rose 19 points to 2,262. The techs are looking good, including the chip space. Both Intel and Sandisk are higher thanks to positive comments in Barrons. Sandisk is up 6%. Google is higher even though they had their price target cut at Caris. Apple is higher of course. Many of the commodities are performing well including Freeport McMoRan up 2.3%. Cliffs Natural Resources is up 2.3% on positive analyst comments. Suncor is up 2% after agreeing to sell their stake in Petro-Canada for $582 million. Mosaic is modestly higher on rumors they are looking to acquire a Mexican fertilizer firm. One commodity not participating is BP down 5%. One sector not participating is the financial sector on more concerns of the banking reform bill. After the first half an hour the averages remain strong not far from the highs of the day. Through the morning and into the lunch hour the averages remain strong. The financial sector continues to struggle. Through the afternoon the rally started to fizzle. In the last hour the averages fell into the red. No volume or interest in this market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 20 points to 10,190, after trading as high as 10,328. The S&P 500 index fell 2 points to 1,089, hit by a 1% drop in its materials sector and a 0.7% drop in financials. The Nasdaq Composite closed up 36 cents at 2,243.