The Week In Review
8/30-9/3/10
Sept 3, 2010U.S. stocks opened with robust gains on Friday after the August employment report continued a recent trend of economic data coming in better than feared. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 108 points to 10,427. The S&P 500 climbed 12 points to 1,103. The Nasdaq Composite gained 29 points to 2,229. The economic data is not great, but it is improving once again. The employment stocks are performing well. Monster Worldwide is up 6% this morning. Everything is performing well once again. On the earnings front, Take-Two Interactive is jumping 11% following better than expected earnings. Chip company, Finisar is jumping 13% after easily beating estimates. Krispy Kreme and HR Block are also higher following earnings. Campbell Soup is down 3% following in line earnings. The techs and financials look good once again. Commodities continue to push higher. In the retail space, Talbots is up 2% on an upgrade. Walgreen is modestly higher on better than expected August sales. At 10 o'clock weaker than expected manufacturing numbers caused some profit-taking. After the first hour the Dow was only up 50 points. The Nasdaq up 14 points. Through the morning the averages moved sideways, actually improving into the lunch hour. That's a good sign. In the afternoon the averages reaccelerated to the upside. The Dow rose 100 points while the Nasdaq climbed 29 points. So far so good. In the last hour the averages held their gains. A good start to September. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 127 points, or 1.2%, at 10,447. Blue-chip gains were led by a 2.7% gain in shares of JP Morgan Chase, up 2.7%, and Cisco Systems, up 2.5%. For the week, the blue-chip average rose 2.9%, ending a three-week losing streak. The S&P 500 index rose 14 points, or 1.3%, to end at 1,104 led by the financials sector, up 2.2%. The broad index rose 3.8% for the week, also posting a weekly gain for the first time in four weeks. The Nasdaq Composite rose 33 points, or 1.5%, to 2,233 for a weekly gain of 3.7%.
Sept 2, 2010
U.S. stocks struggled to retain slight gains at Thursday's start, with weekly jobless data coming in a tad better than expected ahead of Friday's August jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3 points to 10,273. The S&P 500 added a point to 1,081. The Nasdaq Composite fell fractionally to 2,176. More mergers and acquisitions to talk about. Burger King is jumping 24% after agreeing to be taken private. 3Par is up 5% after HP raised their bid for the firm. Moodys is up 2% on rumors of a takeover. On the earnings front, Sycamore is jumping 18% after easily beating estimates. In the retail space, better than expected August same store sales has that sector performing well. American Eagle is up 5% after reaffirming earnings estimates. Pier One is jumping 11% after upping guidance. Saks and Nordstrom are up over 5% thanks to better than expected sales. At 10 o'clock, better than expected housing numbers helped boost the averages, moving the three major indexes into the green. The financials are now in the green. The commodities continue to perform well. After the first hour the averages remain in the green, but not by much. By the lunch hour the Dow was unchanged while the Nasdaq remained in the green. It's actually a quiet day ahead of the big monthly unemployment number out tomorrow. In the last hour the averages actually improved moving to the highs of the day. I guess someone isn't afraid of the employment number out tomorrow. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 50 points to 10,320. Blue-chip gains were led by shares of Alcoa up 3%, and Home Depot up 2.6%. The S&P 500 index gained 9 points to 1,090, led by the consumer discretionary sector, up 1.8%, and industrials, up 1.3%. The Nasdaq Composite rose 23 points to end at 2,200.
Sept 1, 2010
U.S. stocks blasted higher to start the month of September, with optimistic data from China and Australia helping offset worries about the global economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 131 points to 10,146. The S&P 500 climbed 15 points to 1,064. The Nasdaq Composite added 36 points to 2,150. A new month and money is getting put to work at least on the open. The strongest stocks and sectors are the ones that depend on business in China, Brazil, and other overseas countries. Case in point, Caterpillar is up 4.5% on news the company is expanding in Brazil. Freeport McMoran which relies on China for demand, continues its' rally from yesterday, jumping 5% today. Other commodity stocks are also performing well including Cleveland Cliffs, US Steel, Potash, Petrobras, and Exxon Mobil. The financials are up two days in a row. That's a first. Charles Schwab is up 5% on an upgrade. In the retail space, Jos. A Bank is jumping 12% after beating earnings estimates. Joy Global is up 5% following earnings. AnnTaylor is up 5% on an upgrade. Express is up 2% after beating earnings estimates. Burger King is up 14% on rumors of takeover or take private deal. Not bad. Through the morning the averages kept pushing higher. The Dow rose 240 points. The Nasdaq rose 61 points. So far so good. Entering the lunch hour the averages remain strong. GE is up 4% thanks to management making positive comments about their future. Through the afternoon the averages moved sideways near the highs of the day. A good sign we're not selling off, yet we also had a similar rally to start August. In the last hour the averages remained strong. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 254 points, or 2.5%, to end at 10,269. The S&P 500 index rose 30 points, or 3%, to 1,080 led by the industrials and financials sectors, both up 3.9%. The Nasdaq Composite gained 62 points, or 3%, to 2,176.
August 31, 2010
U.S. stocks open lower once again as investors fretted over expectations that economic data would continue to cast a bleak light on the economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 48 points to 9,961. The S&P 500 Index shed 5 points to 1,043. The Nasdaq Composite declined 12 points to 2,107. The economic data is leading this market lower. The financials keep making new 52 week lows every day due to disappointing housing data. FDIC raised the number of trouble banks. The valuations for the financials remain attractive as indicated by an analyst at Collins Stewart, but unfortunately they can remain cheap for a while. Elsewhere, Monsanto is down 4.5% after lowering guidance. After the first half an hour the averages perked up a little. Better than expected manufacturing and consumer confidence numbers caused the shorts to cover. The averages actually moved into the green after the first hour, but not by much. Two commodity plays Cleveland Cliffs and Freeport McMoran are jumping 3%. Rio Tinto is up 3% on an upgrade. Go figure. Heinz is up a percent after raising guidance. The retailers in general are performing well thanks in part to the consumer confidence number. DSW is up 2% thanks to better than expected earnings. Tiffany's is higher thanks to an upgrade. Deere is higher after selling their wind turbine division for $900 million. Not bad. Saks is jumping 23% due to takeover rumors. More acquisitions keep getting announced. 3M and Google are making small acquisitions. Lions Gate is jumping 12% after Carl Icahn upped his bid. Maybe we'll have a little good news to end the month. Through the morning the Dow remained in the green thanks to the financials for once. The commodities look good. The techs are mixed. One stock that can't get out of its own way is Research in Motion at a new 52 week low. The stock is trading for 7 times earnings. Something is wrong here. In the afternoon the Dow remained in the green, the Nasdaq pretty much unchanged. Gold closed higher for the day and the month. The Fed minutes out at 2 o'clock sent the averages back to the unchanged level. Banks and commodities remain modestly remain in the green. Entering the last hour the averages were solidly in the red, but thankfully recovered into the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 4 points at 10,014. The S&P 500 index gained 41 cents to 1,049 helped by the telecoms sector, up 1.1%, also the best performing sector in August, up 2.3% for the month. One the worst performing sectors, the financials, dropped 7.9% for the month. The Nasdaq Composite declined 5 points to 2,114 on Tuesday. The Dow industrials, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq all posted their first down August in five years and saw their worst August since 2001.
August 30, 2010
U.S. stocks opened mildly lower following modest improvement in personal income and personal spending data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 19 points to 10,130. The S&P 500 Index declined a point to 1,063. The Nasdaq Composite shed 5 points to 2,148. A nice bounce on Friday has caused some profit-taking this morning. Intel continues to make news. First they announce a big deal to buy McAfee, then they lower guidance last Friday, and over the weekend they bought a division of Infineon for $1.4 billion. Intel is lower by 2% following a number of downgrades as the lower guidance is portending toward more weakness in the next several months. Most techs and especially chips are lower. QLogic is jumping 3% after announcing a $200 million stock buyback. A number of buybacks this morning and deals, but investors are more focused on the weak economic data. HP is up 3% after announcing a $10 billion buyback. Plantronics is modestly higher after announcing a buyback as well. On the deal front, other than Intel, 3M and Charles Schwab also announced small deals. Sanofi continues to stalk Genzyme. Genzyme is jumping 4%. So the companies being acquired are performing well this morning, but the rest of the market is weaker. After the first hour the Dow fell 50 points. The Nasdaq declined 11 points. The last full week of summer will be slow and probably weak. Through the morning the averages moved lower. The financials are all making new lows. In the retail space Lulumon is down 8% on a downgrade regarding slowing sales. Fossil is jumping 5% to a new high thanks to a share buyback. I don't think at a 52 week high is the time to announce share buybacks. In the afternoon the averages moved lower following the President's comments on how to get the economy going once again. It seems Wall Street doesn't trust the President. In the last hour the selling accelerated with the averages closing on the lows wiping out most of Fridays gains. Not good at all. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 140 points, or 1.4%, to 10,009, as 29 of its 30 components ended lower. Hewlett-Packard was the sole blue-chip gainer, gaining 1.5% after it announced a share-repurchase plan amid its pursuit of a deal to acquire 3Par. The S&P 500 index fell 15 points or 1.5% to end at 1,048, weighed down by a 2.2% drop in the financial sector. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 33 points or 1.6% to 2,119.