The Week In Review
1/24-1/28/11
January 28, 2011U.S. stocks edged higher to start Friday's session, with the government reporting economic expansion gathered steam in the final quarter of 2010, albeit a tad under forecasts. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 6 points to 11,995. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added nearly a point to 1,300. The Nasdaq Index for some reason is not trading. The earnings keep flooding in with mixed results this morning. The stocks trading lower following earnings including Ford, Chevron, T Rowe Price, Arch Coal, Monster Worldwide, QLogic, Amazon, Sandisk, and Dominion. Ford and Amazon are down over 7%. Monster Worldwide is down 17%. Sara Lee is lower after announcing the much anticipated split up of the company. A couple of companies are trading higher following earnings including KLA Tencor, Rambus, Honeywell, and Invesco. Plenty of upgrades and downgrades this morning. AT&T is lower on a downgrade. Potash is higher thanks to three upgrades. Rival Mosaic is also higher on an upgrade. Another commodity play Halliburton is higher on an upgrade. Rackspace and Nokia are higher on upgrades. GE is at another new high thanks to an upgrade. The financials are one of the best performing sectors so far this morning. After the first hour the Dow fell 35 points. The Nasdaq Index finally opened down 26 points. Besides the earnings disappointments, the riots in the streets of Egypt are not helping things. Through the morning the selling accelerated. The Dow dropped 80 points while the Nasdaq declined 40 points. Not many stocks are left in the green. However the diamond of the day goes to an IT firm Terremark up 35% after Verizon agreed to buy the firm for $1.4 billion. Not bad. In the afternoon the averages moved lower. It looks like we're going to have our first down week for the Dow since the middle of November. About time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average's finished down 166 points, or 1.4%, at 11,823, the biggest drop since Nov. 16th. Microsoft led the Dow decliners with a 3.9% loss. The index ended down 0.4% for the week. The S&P 500 lost 23 points, or 1.8%, to 1,276, led by consumer discretionary stocks including Ford Motor. It lost 0.6% for the week. The Nasdaq Composite fell 68 points, or 2.5%, to 2,686.89 and edged back 0.1% for the week.
January 27, 2011
U.S. stocks opened slightly lower on Thursday, after the Labor Department reported a bigger-than-expected increase in weekly jobless claims. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2 points to 11,983 as shares of Procter & Gamble declined 3.1%, and of AT&T dropped 2.3%. The S&P 500 index opened flat at 1,296. The Nasdaq Composite rose 7 points to 2,747. Thursdays seem to be the biggest day for earnings. In the tech sector Qualcomm, Symantec, and Cypress Semi are all up over 4% on earnings. Motorola's two stocks and Nokia are lower following earnings. It's hard to compete against Apple and Google in the smart phone arena. Corning is higher once again at a new 52 week high. Both Apple and Google are higher. The commodities are having a good day following strong earnings from fertilizer firm Potash. The stock is up 3% after beating estimates, raising guidance, increasing the dividend, and announcing a 3 for 1 stock split. All the fertilizers are higher. Freeport McMoran opened higher, but then sold off. Nucor is lower following earnings. The financials are quiet this morning. First Niagara and Invesco are higher following earnings. Suntrust is higher on an upgrade. GE is at another new high. Janus is lower following earnings. Other companies reporting earnings include Starbucks, Tractor Supply, Netflix, Noble Corp, Under Armour, PG, Jetblue, Bristol Myers, Caterpillar, Balck & Decker, Baxter, Raytheon, DR Horton, Altria, Lockheed Martin, Tyco, Eli Lilly, Time Warner, Arctic Cat, and Briggs Stratton. Arctic Cat and Netflix are up 13%. Tractor Supply is up 6%. Within the first hour the averages sold off and then rallied again. Following the first hour the Dow rose 27 points above 12000 again. The Nasdaq rose 10 points. The S&P 500 rose to 1300 for the first time in 2 and half years. Through the morning the rally unraveled. The Dow fell into the red while the Nasdaq fell back to the unchanged level. The commodities had a nice rebound, but reversed course except for Potash. A very negative sign. In the afternoon the averages recovered a little bit. Ford is up 2% ahead of earnings tomorrow. The financials are all in the green. The commodities are still weak. In the last hour the Dow gave up most of its gains while the Nasdaq remained strong. Microsoft rallied then pulled back into the close after releasing earnings early. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 4 points at 11,989, led by 1.8% gains in General Electric and a 2.9% drop in Procter & Gamble. The S&P 500 rose 2 points to 1,299, led by a 15% rise in the shares of Netflix. The Nasdaq Composite added 15 points to 2,755.
January 26, 2011
U.S. stocks opened mostly up on Wednesday amid another heavy round of earnings with Boeing weighing on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Dow fell 4 points to 11,972 on the open due in part to a 3% drop in Boeing. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 2 points to 1,293. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 4 points to 2,723. The earnings are mixed this morning. Rochester, New York is not having a good day. Local firms Xerox and Eastman Kodak are both down over 7% following earnings. Other stocks trading lower following earnings include NY Community Bancorp, Abbott Labs, Southern Company, St Jude Medical, Legg Mason, Textron, ADP, Callaway, Altera, Yahoo, and CA Tech. The financials in general are lower once again except for Piper Jaffray up 14% following earnings. Stocks trading higher following earnings include Juniper Networks, Gilead Sciences, Conoco Phillips, Swift Transport, US Airways, General Dynamic, Hess, Valero Energy, Wellpoint, and Canadian Pacific. The commodities are performing well with the fertilizers, the oils, the steels, Freeport McMoran, and Cliffs Natural Resources all trading sharply higher. Baker Hughes is jumping 6% on an upgrade. Noble Corp was downgraded, yet the stock is up 2%. Plenty of upgrades this morning. Verizon, Corning, Xilinx, Intel, Salesforce.com, and Amazon are all higher on upgrades. After the first hour the Dow rose over 20 points above 12000 for the first time in two and a half years. The Nasdaq rose 20 points. Through the morning the averages pulled back only to rally once again. In the afternoon the Fed left rates unchanged once again producing little reaction. In the last hour the Dow pulled back while the Nasdaq remained strong. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 22 points at 11,999. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 5 points to 1,297. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 20 points to 2,739.
January 25, 2011
U.S. stocks opened lower on Tuesday as investors sort through a slew of corporate earnings, including a disappointing 2011 outlook from health-care giant Johnson & Johnson. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 21 points to 11,959 after closing at a two and a half year high yesterday. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined 3 points to 1,287. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 12 points to 2,705. This was the biggest day for earnings year to date. Most stocks are modestly lower due to profit-taking after a nice run up. The commodities are particularly weak due in part to weakness in the Chinese markets. US Steel is lower following earnings. The fertilizer stocks are weak. Freeport McMoran is down 3% as copper prices decline. The oil stocks like Peabody Energy, Baker Hughes, and Dupont are higher following earnings. In the tech space Corning is jumping 4% following earnings. Google opened lower, but then jumped 2% off the lows. Xilinx is higher on an upgrade. EMC is lower following earnings. Adobe was upgraded, but the stock is lower. The financials are lower except for Blackrock jumping 2% following earnings. Travelers is also up 2% following strong earnings. Keycorp is up 3% after beating estimates. GE is modestly higher at a new 52 week high. Regions is down 2% following earnings. The big banks like Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo are lower. In the retail space Ethan Allen, Sherwin Williams, Kimberly Clark, Harley Davidson, and Coach reported. Only Coach is lower. After the first half an hour better than expected consumer confidence numbers sent the averages back to the unchanged level, but the rally was short-lived. After the first hour the Dow fell 40 points led by a 2% drop in J&J, Alcoa, American Express, and 3M. The Nasdaq declined 12 points. Shortly after the first hour the Dow fell over 70 points before recovering in the afternoon. The financials and commodities remain weak, but the techs are improving. IBM and Corning are at new highs. Google and Apple look good. Resilient market. In the last hour the averages sold off, then quickly rallied to the unchanged level thanks to some erroneous trades in IBM, then sell off once again, only to rebound into the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3 points to 11,977. The broad S&P 500 index rose 34 cents to 1,291 with a 1% advance in the telecom sector. The Nasdaq Composite rose a point to 2,719.
January 24, 2011
U.S. stocks struggle on the open as investors digest quarterly earnings from fast-food giant McDonald's and others. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 13 points to 11,885. McDonalds is trading down a percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index inched up a point to 1,284 while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 7 points to 2,696. A quiet start to the day as the averages don't really know which way to go. The financials are lower. Bank of America, Suntrust, and PNC Financial are all lower on cautious analyst comments. The one financial trading higher is GE at a new high following better than expected earnings last Friday. The techs are mixed this morning. Google is lower after a reversal on Friday following earnings. Intel is higher after increasing their share buyback. Xerox, EMC, and HPQ are lower even though all three received upgrades. F5 Networks is down 3% adding to a 25% decline on Friday after missing revenue estimates. Salesforce.com is down 3% after Barrons wrote a negative article while Nvidia is up 7% on a positive Barrons article. After the first hour the averages pushed higher. The Dow rose 55 points to new recent highs. The Nasdaq rose 10 points. The commodities are bouncing back after getting hit last week thanks in part to a decline in the US dollar. The financials remain one of the weakest sectors. The retail space is mixed this morning. JCPenney is jumping 7% after announcing a restructuring and new investments from private equity and a REIT firm. Radio Shack is down 12% after lowering guidance. Through the morning the rally accelerated with the Dow jumping 90 points moving toward 12000. Six Dow components are making new 52 week highs. The Nasdaq jumped 24 points. In the afternoon the averages improved with the Dow rising over 100 points. The Nasdaq remained up a percent. In the last hour the averages pulled back only to rally into the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up108 points at 11,980, led by a 4.1% rise in the shares of Alcoa. It was the index's first triple-digit rise of the year. The S&P 500 gained 7 points to 1,290. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 28 points to 2,717.