The Week In Review
1/3-1/7/10
January 7, 2011U.S. stocks struggle to rally following a disappointing December jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 5 points to 11,702. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index opened up a fraction at 1,274. The Nasdaq Composite fell 3 points to 2,706. The economy only added 113,000 new jobs while investors were expected 200,000 to 300,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate did dip. One investment bank not concerned about the weaker jobs number is Goldman Sachs raising their S&P 500 forecast to 1500 for the year. Not bad. The financials are modestly higher although ironically Goldman is lower even though it was upgraded. PNC is lower even though it was upgraded. Bank of America is up a percent. Genworth is up 3% for the second straight day. Sallie Mae is up 3% on an upgrade. In the tech space Google, Apple, and Research in Motion are higher. The rest of the techs are lower. The commodities are mixed. The fertilizers are lower for once. Cliffs Natural Resources is lower. Freeport is up on an upgrade. The oil drillers look great after Goldman upgraded Diamond Offshore and Baker Hughes. Both are up over 5%. Thompson Greek Metals is higher on an upgrade. After the first hour the averages remain in the green, but not by much. Through the morning the averages pushed lower led by the financials after Wells Fargo and US Bancorp lost a mortgage court case in the state of Massachusetts. Wells Fargo is down 4%. During the lunch hour the Dow fell over 50 points. The Nasdaq declined 20 points. Fewer and fewer stocks are left in the green. The oil drillers Diamond Offshore and Baker Hughes still look good. Ford is still positive making a new 52 week high today. In the last hour the averages recovered, but remained in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 22 points to end at 11,674, weighed by its financial sector stocks, such as JP Morgan Chase off 1.9% and Bank of America down 1.3%. The S&P 500 index lost 2 points to end at 1,271. For the week, the Dow gained 0.8% and the S&P 500 rose 1.1%, marking the sixth consecutive week of gains for both benchmarks. The Nasdaq Composite fell 6 points to 2,703 on Friday, for a weekly gain of 1.9%.
January 6, 2011
U.S. stock indexes had a shaky start on Thursday as investors sorted through mixed results from retailers and weekly data on the labor front. After a four-session winning run, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4 points to 11,718. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell a point to 1,275. The Nasdaq Composite dipped a point to 2,701. Many of retailers are lower even though December sales were pretty good. Target is down 6%. Macys and Kohls are down over 2%. Este Lauder is lower even though it was upgraded. On the flip side TJX, Ross Stores, Dillards, and Pier One look great. Chipotle Mexican Grill and Cheesecake Factory are higher on upgrades. GM and Ford are at new 52 week highs. Diageo and Hershey are higher on upgrades. The financials are mixed this morning. Moodys is jumping 7% after raising their sales and profit forecasts. The big banks Bank of America and Citigroup look good this morning. Goldman Sachs is lower after having their estimates cut once again. The regional banks are higher after several received upgrades. In the tech space Apple and Google look good. Apple made another new high. Netsuite and Motorola Mobility are higher on upgrades. Netflix is lower on a downgrade. Research in Motion is down 3%. In the chip space Intel is lower while ARM Holdings is up 4% after Microsoft included their chip in their new operating software. After the first hour all the major averages moved into the green. The commodities look good. Monsanto is jumping 4% after beating earnings estimates. Exxon Mobil is at a new 52 week high on an upgrade. Freeport McMoran is one of the few commodities lower. The rare earth metals are also lower. Through the morning the selling accelerated with the Dow dropping 50 points. The Nasdaq declined only a couple of points. In the afternoon the averages slowly recovered into the last hour. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had its first down day for the year, falling 25 points to 11,697. The S&P 500 lost 2 points to 1,273, with the telecom sector dropping 2.8%. The Nasdaq Composite bucked the down trend, rising 7 points to 2,709.
January 5, 2011
U.S. stocks opened modestly lower on Wednesday as a rising dollar hit commodities and natural-resource companies. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 27 points to 11,663. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined 3 points to 1,266. The Nasdaq Composite shed 6 points to 2,674. Ahead of Wall Street's start, stock futures trimmed their decline after payrolls processor ADP reported an unexpectedly large hike in private-sector job gains in December. The big banks surprisingly look good. Bank of America is up 1.5%. Visa and Mastercard are higher on upgrades. Wells Fargo, American Express, JP Morgan, and Citigroup are also modestly higher. Genworth is modestly lower on a downgrade. The commodities are lower except for the fertilizer stocks. The fertilizers are higher thanks to better than expected earnings out of Mosaic last night. Mosaic is up 1.5%. In the chip space Qualcomm is buying out Atheros for $3 billion. Atheros jumped 18% yesterday as the buyout rumor surfaced. Plenty of upgrades in the tech space, but they don't seem to be helping just yet. The upgrade list includes Salesforce.com, Nvidia, Amazon, Cisco Systems, Juniper, NCR, Autodesk, and Google. In the retail space Walgreen is modestly higher even though they missed estimates. Family Dollar is down 7% after missing estimates. BJ's is lower after switching up management and deciding to shut down some stores. A couple of retailers like Barnes & Noble, Priceline, and Amazon are higher on upgrades. After the first half hour the averages improved thanks to better than expected manufacturing data, however, the Dow remained in the red. After the first hour the Dow sold back off falling 25 points. The Nasdaq held on to modest gains. Through the morning the averages improved led by the financials. The techs are perking up. Google, Apple, and Research in Motion look good. Even the commodities are rebounding. Fertilizers still look good and the oil drillers look great for once. In the afternoon the averages pushed higher. The Dow rose 50 points. The Nasdaq rose 16 points. A lot of stocks are making new 52 week highs. Ford for some reason is breaking out today up 3% to new highs. Starting the last hour the averages remained strong near the highs of the day. The financials look good with Citigroup hitting $5 a share for the first time since April. The Dow Jones Industrials Average finished up 31 points at 11,722, led by a 2.9% gain in the shares of American Express. The S&P 500 gained 6 points to 1,276, led by a 1.2% rise in financials. The Nasdaq Composite rose 20 points to 2,702 points.
January 4, 2011
U.S. stocks open higher once again following a great start to the New Year on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 16 points to 11,686. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index inched up a point to 1,272. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 6 points to 2,697. Shortly after the open, the sellers stepped in bringing the averages down to the unchanged level. The financials are modestly lower even though analysts made some positive comments on Bank of America, Suntrust, and RBS. The financials were one of the leading sectors yesterday. One hot sector of late that's trading lower is the commodities. Freeport McMoran, Agrium, Silver Wheaton, and a number of oil drillers are lower. Alcoa and Potash are higher on upgrades. Alcoa reports earnings next Monday. One rare earth metal stock, Molycorp is jumping 6% this morning, but the rest of the rare earth stocks are modestly lower. The retail sector is mixed. The grocery store companies Supervalu, JM Smucker, and Safeway are down over 4% on downgrades this morning. Nike is lower after being removed from Goldman's buy list. Dicks, Polo, Best Buy, Amazon, and Carnival are higher on upgrades. GM is unchanged on an upgrade. The techs are mixed this morning. Apple and Qualcomm are higher on upgrades. Google, IBM, and Corning are lower. The chips are higher. AMD and Micron are modestly higher after introducing new chips. Motorola split into two firms today. Motorola Solutions is modestly lower, but Motorola Mobility which owns the DROID and set top boxes is jumping 8%. Not bad. After the first hour the averages held near the unchanged level. Through the morning the averages kept looking like they were going to sell off, but didn't. Then during the lunch hour the Dow fell 31 points while the Nasdaq declined 26 points. A few stocks remain in the green. GM is higher thanks to strong December sales. Alcoa and Cliffs Natural Resources are higher in the commodity space. After the Fed minutes at 2 o'clock, the averages rebounded with the Dow moving back into the green. The Nasdaq remains stuck in the red. In the last hour the Dow was about to hold on to its gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 20 points at 11,691. Blue-chip gains were led by a 4.6% rise in shares of aluminum giant Alcoa after receiving positive analyst comments Monday following a year of restructuring its operations. The S&P 500 index, the broad market gauge, however fell a point to 1,270, weighed down by the energy and consumer discretionary sectors. The Nasdaq Composite fell 10 points to 2,681.
January 3, 2011
Up, up, and away. U.S. stocks opened higher on Monday as Wall Street extended its 2010 rise in the first day of trading of the New Year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 94 points to 11,671. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 10 points to 1,268. The Nasdaq Composite rose 26 points to 2,679. Everything looks good this morning. The financials look great. Bank of America is jumping 4% on news the bank is settling with Fannie and Freddie Mac over their collateralized mortgage mess. That's good. Goldman Sachs is up 2% after making an investment in Facebook, valuing the Internet giant at $50 billion. Morgan Stanley, Franklin Resources, and Lazard all received upgrades this morning. The commodities continue to push higher. BP is up 2.5% on an upgrade. Freeport McMoran, Cliffs Natural Resources, Exxon Mobil, Agrium, and Potash are all at new 52 week highs. The rare earth metals are jumping once again. Molycorp is up 9% on an upgrade. Alcoa is up 4% on an upgrade. A number of oil drillers are lower, one of the few groups trading lower this morning. A number of retailers received downgrades this morning. Aeropostale, Under Armour, Tyson Foods, American Eagle, Coach, Tiffanys, and Urban Outfitters are all lower on downgrades. Clorox is down 4% after lowering guidance. Barnes & Noble is up 6% after issuing same store sales. Staples and Office Depot are up over 3% on upgrades. Jos, A Bank is higher on an upgraded. In the tech space Apple and Google look great. Research in Motion looks good even though they received some cautious analyst comments. Intel is lower on a downgrade, but AMD is up 3% on an upgrade. After the first hour the Dow rose over 100 points. The Nasdaq jumped 46 points. So far so good to start the New Year. Through the morning the averages inched higher. No pull backs yet. Ten Dow components are at or just underneath their 52 week high. A real bull market. Through the morning and into the afternoon the averages moved sideways near the highs of the day. A few select techs are lower, a number of oils including oil drillers are lower, and a number of retailers are lower, but that's about it. In the last hour we finally saw a little profit-taking, taking us back to where we started the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 93 points at 11,670, marking its highest close since August 2008 and its biggest jump since early December. Blue-chip gains were led by a 6.4% jump in shares of Bank of America shares which agreed to pay $2.6 billion to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to settle claims over loans it sold. The S&P 500 index rose 14 points, or 1.1%, to 1,271, led by a 2.3% jump in the financial sector. The Nasdaq Composite gained 38 points, or 1.5%, to 2,691.