The Week In Review
6/21/10-6/23/10
June 23, 2010U.S. stocks opened down slightly on Wednesday, while investors await data on housing and the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates in the afternoon. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 10 points to 10,282. The S&P 500 index fell a point to 1,094. The Nasdaq Composite fell 4 points to 2,257. The oil drillers had a nice bounce after a Federal judge on Tuesday struck down the Obama administration's moratorium on deep water drilling, imposed after the Gulf oil spill disaster. Transocean is modestly higher on positive analyst comments. Petrobras is lower after postponing a public offering. In the tech space Redhat and Jabil Circuit are higher following earnings. Adobe is down 4% following earnings. It did get upgraded. Apple was upgraded, of course, but the stock is lower. Salesforce.com is lower as well even though it was upgraded. At 10 o'clock a disastrous housing number sent the averages lower. The Dow dropped 40 points. The Nasdaq declined 20 points. The retail space is mixed this morning. Carmax and Rite Aid are higher following earnings. Dr Pepper Snapple and Walgreen are lower on downgrades. Dreamworks is higher on an upgrade. Medtronic is down 3% after reiterating guidance. Phillip Morris is higher by 3% after lowering guidance due to the weak Euro currency. In the afternoon the averages slowly improved back to the unchanged level. The Fed left rates unchanged indicating the economy is growing, but not by much. The averages initially sold off, but then rebounded back into the green thanks to a declining U.S. dollar. In the last hour the averages vacillated around the unchanged level. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 4 points at 10,298. The S&P 500 Index declined 3 points to 1092. The Nasdaq Composite declined 7 points to 2,254.
June 22, 2010
U.S. stocks opened higher on Tuesday, with investors setting aside concerns over European banks and turning to earnings in the consumer and technology sectors. The Federal Reserve also starts its two-day meeting on interest rates, although there's not much they can do. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 20 points to 10,462. The S&P 500 index rose a point to 1,114, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 13 points to 2,302. A quiet morning for news. In the tech space Apple continues to push higher. Research in Motion is modestly higher ahead of earnings on Thursday. Adobe is modestly higher ahead of earnings tonight. IBM is quietly pushing hiNiki Nokia continues to struggle, down nearly 50% in the last three months. S&P cut their debt outlook to negative. In the financials space we're seeing some profit-taking. Visa and Mastercard are lower following a big run up yesterday. Oppenheimer reiterated buy ratings on all the big banks, but investors are remaining on the sidelines until the Congressional financial reform bill is passed. T.R. Price is lower on a downgrade. Jefferies is bucking the trend, jumping 8% following better than expected earnings. In the retail space, Walgreen is down 8% following earnings. Carnival is lower as well following earnings. I guess people don't want to sail through the oil spill. Big Lots is down 4% on a downgrade. At 10 o'clock weaker than expected existing home sales in May sent the averages lower, falling into the red. As the morning progressed, the averages rebounded back into the green, thanks in part to the financials improving. A quiet morning so far. One stock performing well is Autozone, making a new 52 week high. In the afternoon the averages slowly sold off, accelerating in the last hour. Where did the buyers go? The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 148 points, or 1.4%, to end at 10,293. Out of the blue-chip average's 30 omponents, 27 ended
lower, led by a 3.7% drop in shares of Alcoa. The S&P 500 index fell 17 points, or 1.6%, to 1,095, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 27 points, or 1.2%, to 2,261.
June 21, 2010
U.S. stocks opened sharply higher on Monday after China said it would let its currency appreciate against the U.S. dollar. China has kept the yuan artificially low in a move that has boosted its exports and kept imported goods costly for its consumers. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 124 points to 10,575. The S&P 500 Index climbed 13 points to 1,130. The Nasdaq Composite gained 27 points to 2,337. A number of mergers announced over the weekend, another good sign things are picking up. JP Morgan is in talks to acquire a Brazilian asset management firm. All the Brazilian stocks like Petrobras are trading higher. Petrobras is up 3%. Brazil's steel company, Gerdau is up 3% as well. The commodities are performing well. Freeport McMoran is up 5%. Exxon Mobil is up 2% even though it was downgraded. BP is down 3% as the cost of the oil spill has risen to over $2 billion. In the transportation space, Union Pacific is up 2% on an upgrade. In the tech space Micron and Brocade are higher on upgrades. Apple is at another new high. Shocker. Research in Motion was upgraded, but the stock has gone no where. The company reports earnings on Thursday. The financials are modestly higher this morning thanks to all the merger activity over the weekend. After the first hour the averages remain strong near the highs of the day. A few techs fell into the red including Google, Research in Motion, and Microsoft. The retail sector is one of the weakest sectors in the market today. Through the morning the averages gave up half their gains. Research in Motion is down 3% ahead of earnings on Thursday. The financials have improved a little bit. Visa and Mastercard are both improving, up over 3% on revisions to the financial reform bill. Metlife and Stifel Financial are higher thanks to positive Barrons articles. In the afternoon the averages rebounded, then sold off into the last hour. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 8 points at 10,442. The S&P 500 index fell 4 points to end at 1,113. The Nasdaq Composite fell 20 points to end at 2,289.