The Week In Review
1/17-1/21/11
January 21, 2010U.S. stocks opened higher on Friday led by better than expected earnings from the likes of General Electric and Google. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 57 points to 11,880 thanks to a 5% jump in GE. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 7 points to 1,287. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 13 points to 2,717. The earnings keep coming in better than expected. In the tech space Google, Intuitive Surgical, Flextronics, and Maxim Integrated are all higher following earnings. Google is at a new recent high after receiving a couple of upgrades. Surprisingly, Apple is only modestly higher. Micron is up 2% on an upgrade. AMD is one of the few techs lower following earnings. In the financials space Capital One, GE, Suntrust, and BB&T are higher following earnings. PNC, Travelers, Banco Santander, and Banco Santander Brasil are higher on upgrades. Bank of America opened lower following earnings, but has since rebounded. The commodities are rebounding except for Freeport. Schlumberger is up 2% after beating earnings estimates and raising their dividend. After the first half an hour the Dow rose over 70 points to 11900, new highs for the year. The Nasdaq rose 17 points. Through the morning the averages slowly pulled back. A number of stocks that looked good earlier have pulled back including Schlumberger, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Freeport, and a number of techs. Apple fell into the red first followed by most of the blue chip techs. Google looked great earlier, but rumors of a lawsuit from Oracle caused that stock to give up all its gains. Through the afternoon the Dow held up thanks to GE which actually make a new 52 week high. The techs are sinking lower. Google looks worse, now down 2% and down 4% from this morning's highs. Not good. In the last hour the Dow held up while the Nasdaq sank lower. The Dow average finished up 49 points at 11,871, gaining 0.7% for the week, rallying for an eighth straight week. The S&P 500 ended up 3 points to 1,283, but lost 0.8% for the week, breaking a seven-week winning streak. The Nasdaq Composite lost 14 points to 2,689 and tumbled 2.4% for the week, its' first down week for the new year.
January 20, 2010
U.S. stocks opened lower on Thursday, with the Standard & Poor's 500 Index extending its largest fall this year, as the quickening growth of China's economy sparked worries it may move further to curb inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 42 points to 11,782. The S&P 500 declined 6 points to 1,275. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 19 points to 2,705. The earnings are flooding in better than expected, but investors are in a selling mood. High flying techs like F5 Networks is down 18% after a slight revenue miss. Another high flyer Salesforce.com is down 5% in sympathy. Juniper is lower even though it was upgraded. Seagate, Fairchild Semi, and Xilinx are all lower following earnings. Even the great Apple is down a percent. One tech, Ebay is up 5% following better than expected earnings. Micron is up 2% on an upgrade. The commodities are getting hit on the chin. Freeport McMoran is down 4% following blow out earnings. The fertilizers are all down over 2%. The financials are mixed this morning. Fifth Third, Huntington Bancshares, and PNC Bank are lower following earnings. Raymond James and Morgan Stanley are higher following earnings. The big banks like Citigroup, JP Morgan, and Wells Fargo are all modestly higher this morning. Other companies reporting earnings this morning include Southwest Airlines, Union Pacific, Johnson Controls, Tyco, Unitedhealth Group, Progressive, and Parker Hannifin. Only Progressive is higher. Wendys is jumping 5% after disclosing they're expected to sell Arbys. In the biotech arena, Mannkind is down 42% after the FDA rejected their insulin inhaler. After the first half an hour the Dow improved, but the rally was short-lived. After the first hour the Dow fell 50 points while the Nasdaq declined 25 points or 1%. The Dow fell 75 points before recovering during the lunch hour. Walmart looks good after announcing price cuts. One sector that is rallying is retail. Dillard is jumping 15% after their management indicated they will create a REIT to hold their real estate holdings to unlock value. It seems to be working. The financials are perking up particularly Visa and Mastercard on revelations the Dodd Frank bill may get tweaked. In the afternoon the Dow actually moved into the green only to fall back into the red in the last hour. The financials are one of the few sectors that look good this afternoon. GE and Bank of America are modestly higher ahead of earnings tomorrow morning. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down just 2 points at 11,822, led by a 2% drop in the shares of Caterpillar. The S&P 500 lost a point to 1,280, led by a more than 1% drop in its material subsector. The Nasdaq Composite fell 21 points to 2,704.
January 19, 2010
U.S. stocks opened mostly lower on Wednesday, after Goldman Sachs reported a drop in earnings and housing data didn't live up to expectations. Strong results from Apple and IBM are helping boost some technology stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 5 points to 11,843, thanks to a 3% jump in shares of IBM. But the broad S&P 500 index fell 2 points to 1,292. The Nasdaq Composite declined 5 points to 2,760. IBM is at a new high and Apple looks good, but that's about it for the broader market. Google opened higher, but then sold off ahead of earnings tomorrow. The financials are weak following a plethora of lack-luster earnings. Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Northern Trust, State Street, Hudson City Bancorp, US Bancorp, and American Express are all lower following earnings. Hudson City is down 6%. Legg Mason is down 2% on a downgrade. Bank of New York Mellon is one of the few financials trading higher following earnings. The commodities are taking it on the chin this morning. Fertilizer firm, Mosaic is down 6% after the company Cargill said they would sell their stake in the firm. After the first hour the averages all fell into the red. The Nasdaq declined 25 points or nearly one percent. The Dow is barely negative due in large part to the 3% jumping in IBM. A number of railroad stocks like Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific received upgrades, but the stocks are lower. In the retail space American Eagle is higher on an upgrade while Lululemon is down 2% on a downgrade. UPS and FedEx are lower as well. Not many stocks in the green today. During the lunch hour the Nasdaq pushed lower while the Dow fell just 16 points. Through the afternoon the Nasdaq remained weak. The Dow just wouldn't go down, rebounding into the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down12 points at 11,825, weighed by 4% drop in shares of Bank of America and more than 2% drops in shares of both American Express and JP Morgan Chase. The S&P 500 index dropped 13 points, or 1%, to 1,281, with financials and materials weighing the most. The Nasdaq Composite lost 40 points, or 1.5%, to 2,725. It was the worst percentage drop for both the S&P and the Nasdaq since November 16th.
January 18, 2010
U.S. stocks on Tuesday opened in a shaky manner as earnings from banking giant Citigroup further rattled investors already unsettled by concerns over Apple's CEO stepping down for health reasons. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 20 points to 11,808. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index opened flat at 1,293. The Nasdaq Composite fell a point to 2,753. Apple is down 4%, but it could've been worse. Google is up on Apple's weakness. Google also received a couple of upgrades. Yahoo is lower on a downgrade. In the financial space, Citigroup is down 5% dragging all the big banks lower. Goldman Sachs is down a percent after shunning American clients regarding the Facebook investment. AllianceBerstein and Janus are lower on downgrades. Charles Schwab is modestly lower on in line earnings. TD Ameritade is modestly higher following earnings. Comerica is making news, buying out Sterling Bancshares for a billion dollars. Sterling is jumping 16% while Comerica is down 8%. The commodities all opened higher except for McMoran Exploration down 6% following earnings. Not to be confused, Freeport McMoRan looks good this morning. Steelmaker, Nucor is higher on an upgrade. After the first hour the Dow actually improved thanks to strength in Boeing and Caterpillar. The Nasdaq is still struggling thanks in large part to Apple. The airlines are under pressure this morning after Delta and Jetblue reported disappointing earnings due in part to the higher gas prices and bad weather. Through the morning the Dow remained strong. The Nasdaq improved as Apple improved. Everyone on TV is recommending Apple. The financials remain under pressure. In the afternoon the averages moved sideways, pulling back a little bit in the last hour. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 50 points at 11,837. Blue-chip gains were led by a 3.4% advance in shares of Boeing after the firm said it expects to deliver its new 787 jet in the third quarter. The S&P 500 index gained 1.78 points to 1,295, led by the energy and materials sectors. The Nasdaq Composite rose 10 points to 2,765.
January 17, 2010
Closed in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day