The Week In Review
1/31-2/4/11
February 4, 2011U.S. stocks sputter on the open as investors mulled a largely disappointing monthly jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 10 points to 12,052. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined a point to 1,305. The Nasdaq Composite fell nearly 2 points to 2,751. The averages were ready to take off with a good jobs number. But the winds were taken out of the Bull's sails after the number was released. The earnings reports keep flooding in with mixed results. Dolby, Las Vegas Sands, and Coinstar are all down over 6% following earnings. Netsuite, Clorox, Simon Property, and Constellation Energy are lower as well following earnings. NCR, Tyson, Aon, Pulte Group, Aetna, Weyerhaeuser, and Amerisource Berger are higher following earnings. Aetna is jumping 12% after beating estimates and raising their dividend. All the insurance stocks are higher, yet the rest of the financials are lower. Blackstone received an upgrade, but the stock is lower. The techs are mixed this morning. Apple looks good, but Google is lower. Autodesk, NCR, Research in Motion, and Avid Tech are all higher on upgrades. In the retail space Gamestop is up 3% after announcing a share buyback. Big Lots is jumping 4% on an upgrade. Within the first hour the averages started to sell off, but then rallied back to the unchanged level. The Bulls won't let this thing sell off. After the first hour the Dow jumped 15 points while the Nasdaq rose 8 points. Through the morning the rally fizzled with the Dow dropping back into the red. Verizon is lower even though their Verizon Iphone sold out in just 17 hours. Not bad. In the afternoon the Nasdaq improved with Apple rallying a percent. Corning looks good up 4% as the company is hosting their annual shareholder meeting today. In the last hour the Dow moved into the green no thanks to the financials which remain stuck in the red although the insurance stocks are strong. Aetna remains up 12%. This market doesn't want to go down. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 29 points at 12,092 for its fifth straight day of gains. The S&P 500 added 3 points to 1,310. The Nasdaq Composite ended up 15 points at 2,769. For the week, the Dow rose 2.3%, the S&P 500 gained 2.7%, and the Nasdaq advanced 3.1%.
February 3, 2011
U.S. stocks wavered at the start as solid retail sales and decent economic data did little to lift the averages. Tomorrow is the big monthly unemployment number. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 9 points to 12,032. The Standard & Poor's Index fell a point to 1,302. The Nasdaq Composite declined a point to 2,748. Commodity prices move higher, but the commodity stocks are lower. The commodity exchange, the CME Group is down 5% after missing estimates. Arch Coal is lower even though it was upgraded. The techs are mostly lower. Apple and Google are down. Corning and Micron are lower even though they were upgraded. Research in Motion is up 2% due to missteps at Nokia. Nokia is down 3%. Juniper, Cisco, and Sandisk are higher on upgrades. A number of retailers look good after reporting January sales numbers. Aeropostale, American Eagle, Gap, Limited, Dillards, and Nordstrom are all up over 3%. AutoNation is up 8% on earnings. BJ's is jumping 12% on news the company will considering selling a division or the whole company. Saks is down 3% on their sales report. CVS Caremark is down 5% following earnings. In the healthcare sector Merck is down 3% following lackluster earnings. Cigna is also lower on earnings. GlaxoSmithCline is up 2% on earnings. The financials are trying to rebound. Deutsche Bank, Hartford, Visa, and Mastercard are all higher following earnings. Other companies reporting earnings this morning include Kelloggs, Reynolds America, Diamond Offshore, Viacom, ITT, Starwood, Ryder Systems, Green Mountain Coffee, Shutterfly, Viacom, and Dow Chemical. Shutterfly is jumping 16%, while Green Mountain Coffee is up 18%. Through the morning the averages pushed lower, but not by much. In the afternoon the averages hovered around the unchanged level, much like yesterday. Entering the last hour the averages started to rally ahead of tomorrow's monthly unemployment data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 20 points at 12,062, led by more than 1% gains in the shares of Cisco Systems, Bank of America, and AT&T. The S&P 500 added 3 points to 1,307. The Nasdaq Composite ended up 4 points to 2,753.
February 2, 2011
U.S. stocks started mildly lower Wednesday after climbing to their highest finish in more than two years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 7 points to 12,032. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined 3 points to 1,304. The Nasdaq Composite declined 4 points to 2,746. The earnings keep coming. Aflac, Broadcom, Allergan, Marathon Oil, Whirlpool, Hospira, and Genworth are all lower on earnings. Some stocks are higher following earnings including Western Union, Time Warner, Electronic Arts, Hershey, Mattel, and Suncor Energy. Electronic Arts is jumping 15%. The commodities look great. Freeport McMoran split two for one this morning. Transocean is modestly lower on a downgrade, but the rest of the oils look good. The techs look good this morning. The chips look good even though Broadcom is lower. The financials are all lower this morning. GE is unchanged on an upgrade with a $25 price target. Blackstone is up a percent on an upgrade. In the retail space Tupperware keeps moving higher thanks to an upgrade this morning. AnnTaylor lifted sales guidance, but the stock is lower. After the first hour the averages recouped their losses moving into the green. Resilient market. Through the morning the averages continued to hug the unchanged level. The commodities look good. The techs look good except for Apple. The financials are still in the red except for Goldman Sachs which is perking up. In the afternoon the averages kept vacillating around the unchanged level. The bad weather in Chicago and the Northeast has many investors staying at home today. Even though we haven't gone anywhere, seven Dow components had new 52 week highs. Investors love the big cap stocks once again. The Dow ended up a point at 12,041, its third-straight day of gains, led by more than 1% gains in the shares of Walt Disney and Caterpillar. The S&P 500 closed down 3 points at 1,304, with tech stocks the only sector to nudge higher. The Nasdaq Composite slid a point to 2,750.
February 1, 2011
U.S. stocks on Tuesday started the new month on a high note as Wall Street's focus shifted back to optimism about the global recovery ahead of U.S. manufacturing data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 66 points to 11,958. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 10 points to 1,296. The Nasdaq Composite added 26 points to 2,726. Everything, literally everything is working today. The commodity space is running again. Archer Daniels Midland is up 7% after beating estimates. Patriot Coal is up 5% on an upgrade. Potash and Valero are up 2% on upgrades. All the commodities are higher steel, gold, coal, fertilizers, and copper play Freeport McMoran. BP is one of the few commodity plays not working after missing earnings estimates. The oil giant did raise their dividend. The higher oil prices don't seem to be hurting the transportation stocks. UPS is jumping 3% following earnings and a share buyback. China tech giant Baidu.com is jumping 8% following earnings. Lexmark is up 10% after easily beating estimates. The new chip favorite, Arm Holdings is up 7% on earnings. Novellus is up 4% on earnings. AMD is up 4% on an upgrade. Google, Apple, and IBM look great. In the healthcare space Biogen and Pfizer are higher following earnings. In the retail space Tupperware is jumping 14% on earnings. Wolverine Worldwide is up 8% on earnings. Owens Corning and Mens Wearhouse are higher on upgrades. At 10 o'clock, a better than expected manufacturing number sent the averages higher. Through the morning the averages pushed higher with the Dow rising 100 points back toward that 12000 level. The Nasdaq is up 40 points. The S&P 500 is right back at that 1300 number. During the lunch hour the major averages broke through resistance with the Dow jumping 150 points and the Nasdaq rising 50 points. Everything is looking great. Easy day to make money. Heading into the last hour the averages pulled back from the highs only to rally once again. The first day of a new month has been very good to the markets since September. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 148 points, or 1.25%, at 12,040.its first close above 12,000 since June 19, 2008. The S&P 500 ended up 21 points, or 1.67%, at 1307, its first close above 1,300 since Aug. 28, 2008. The Nasdaq Composite rallied 51 points to 2751. The Nasdaq is up 31% since the start of September. Not bad.
January 31, 2011
U.S. stocks opened higher Monday after tensions in the Middle East in particular Egypt have eased a little bit. Better than expected earnings from Exxon Mobil is lending support to the markets as well. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 29 points to 11,852. Exxon Mobil is trading up a percent right at its 52 week high. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed 3 points to 1,278 while the Nasdaq Composite rose 5 points to 2,691. It's another merger Monday morning. Alpha Natural is buying Massey Energy for $8.5 billion. Massey is up 10% while Alpha is down 7%. All the coal stocks including Arch Coal are trading higher on this merger news. All the oil stocks are performing well following Exxon's earnings. Frontier Oil is jumping 5% on an upgrade. Alcoa is up a percent after announcing a $240 million acquisition. The fertilizers and Freeport McMoran are also trading higher. The financials are also performing well so far this morning. In the retail space Illinois Tools is down a percent after missing estimates. Lowes is down a percent on a downgrade while Home Depot is higher on an upgrade. Darden Restaurants is up 2% after raising guidance. Ford is up a percent after getting clobbered on Friday. The tech space is mixed. Corning is up 2% continuing their rally from last week following earnings. IBM is higher as well, but most techs are negative or unchanged. After the first half an hour Intel lowered guidance due to a chipset error, something company specific. Even so the averages gave up most of their gains with the Nasdaq falling into the red and the Dow up only single digits. After the first hour the Dow improved again. The Nasdaq improved to the unchanged level. Intel is down only a percent. Through the morning the averages improved with the Dow rising 50 points and the Nasdaq rising 12 points. Resilient market. In the afternoon the Dow rose 60 points before pulling back a little. The commodities and financials look good. The techs are mostly in the red. In the last hour the averages remained strong actually rallying into the close. Did not see this coming. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 68 points, or 0.6%, at 11,891 and gained 2.7% for the month, its best January since 1997. The S&P 500 added 9 points to 1,286 led by a 2.6% gain in energy stocks. It rose 2.3% for the month. The Nasdaq Composite added 13 points to 2,700 gaining 1.8% for the month.