May 3, 2024

You are here: Home / Archives for nasdaq composite

Stocks Flat After Earnings and Housing Data

October 19, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Apple Inc. slumped 5 percent after the company’s income and revenue fell short of Wall Street’s expectations. It was a rare miss for the company, which had jumped 31 percent this year through Tuesday. Apple blamed the shortfall on a later-than-usual release of its newest iPhone.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 25 points a half-hour after the opening bell. Other indexes also had small losses.

The disappointing results from Apple were tempered by a rebound in the housing market in September. Builders began new homes at the fastest pace in 17 months. Most of the gains came from the construction of new apartments. The pace is still about half what economists say consistent with a healthy housing market.

The Dow fell 0.2 percent, to 11,548 at 10 a.m. Eastern. The SP 500 was down 3, or 0.3 percent, to 1,222. The Nasdaq composite slid 19, or 0.7 percent, to 2,638.

Abbott Laboratories jumped 4.5 percent after announcing plans to spin off its drug business.

AMR Corp., the parent of American Airlines, dove 7.6 percent after reporting a loss that was worse than Wall Street analysts predicted. The company said that its fuel spending jumped 40 percent, wiping out revenue gains from higher fares and fees.

Morgan Stanley rose 3 percent after a jump in investment banking revenue helped it earn $1.15 a share, well above analyst expectations of 30 cents per share. Intel Corp. jumped 4.5 percent after its net income rose 17 percent last quarter, beating Wall Street’s target.

At 2 p.m. the Federal Reserve will release its survey of business conditions around the nation.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=b62b136032cf0065bcc512bac7815103

Filed Under: Business News Tagged With: , ,

Markets Slightly Higher Despite Services Data

July 6, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The Institute for Supply Management reported that business growth slowed at service providers in the United States in June. Financial companies and health care providers reported the weakest results. The I.S.M. report followed a broad sell-off in Europe and another interest rate increase in China.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 38 points, or 0.3 percent, to 12,607. The Standard Poor’s 500 index gained 1 point, or less than 0.1 percent, to 1,338. The technology-focused Nasdaq composite added 7 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,832.

DuPont rose 2 percent, the most of any stock in the Dow, followed by Intel and 3M.

Some investors were surprised that stock indexes did not add to Tuesday’s modest declines following the weak economic report. Dorsey Farr, a co-founder of the Atlanta investment advisory French Wolf Farr, said attractive stock prices in technology and pharmaceutical companies helped the market rebound.

Financial companies fell sharply after Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Portugal’s debt late Tuesday. That raised fresh concerns about the strength of the European financial system and investment bank’s exposure to possible bond defaults. The Euro Stoxx 50, an index of companies in countries that use the euro, fell nearly 1 percent. Bank of America lost 2.2 percent. JPMorgan Chase dropped 1.5 percent.

China also raised a key interest rate for the third time this year in an effort to curb inflation. Many American companies have focused on the country as a source of profit growth and are hoping that interest rate increases there will not lead to an economic slump.

On Wall Street, General Motors gained nearly 2 percent after analysts upgraded the stock. The Walgreen Company rose 1 percent after the retailer said its June sales were higher than anticipated.

Trading was light during the holiday-shortened week as investors looked ahead to Friday’s employment report. Economists expect that the unemployment rate was 9.1 percent in June, unchanged from the month before.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=d6208f9046746fa882d956e8c4842bee

Filed Under: Economy News Tagged With: , ,

Wall Street Edges Higher, Helping European Stocks Recover

June 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The New York opening helped improve the performance of European shares, which had fallen more than 1 percent earlier in the day.

In early trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 51.16 points, or 0.4 percent, at 12,055.52. The Standard Poor’s 500-stock index rose 3.42 points, or 0.3 percent, at 1,274.92. The Nasdaq composite was 2.86 points, or 0.1 percent, higher at 2,619.34.

Banking stocks, which have been declining since February, were among the worst performers after the ministers said Greece would need to introduce harsh austerity measures before it received a 12 billion euro ($17.07 billion) loan tranche.

Moody’s threat that it might cut Italy’s credit ratings intensified fears that the problems of the euro zone’s peripheral countries would spread. Moody’s said it was concerned about Italy’s increased borrowing costs as a result of the Greek crisis.

Italy’s benchmark index dropped 2.4 percent, significantly underperforming markets in countries most affected by the debt issue; Spain’s IBEX 35 was down 1 percent, and Portugal’s PSI 20 was 1.3 percent lower.

Italian banks were among the worst performers, with Banca Popolare di Milano down 6.5 percent. Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which was also affected by the first day of trading of its rights issue, fell 4.9 percent.

In afternoon trading in Europe, markets were off their lows for the day. the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was down 0.4 percent, recovering some losses in early trading after Euronext opened late after a technical glitch. London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.3 percent, while Frankfurt’s DAX index was 0.2 percent lower. The CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.6 percent.

Investors were also awaiting a confidence vote on Tuesday called for by Greece’s prime minister, George Papandreou, in a bid to push through the reforms.

“They want to make sure Greece is adhering to the package. It is going to be quite a close call if they get the money in time before the country needs funding,” said Richard Batty, global investment strategist at Standard Life Investments, which has £157 billion of assets under management.

Nomura analysts said in a note the market could be ripe for a rally, with a potential upside of 18 percent for the rest of the year if Greece avoided a near-term default and if the recent soft patch of economic data failed to translate into earnings downgrades.

United States stock index futures fell Monday after the delay in emergency loans to Greece and a possible downgrade of Italy’s credit rating.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=416669f0e425b273eea6d2504cdf2412

Filed Under: Business News Tagged With: , ,

U.S. Markets Calm as Greece Weighs on Europe

May 9, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Markets were lower in Europe, pressured by financials, as investors sold riskier assets after talks on a revised bailout package for Greece highlighted the fragile debt situation in peripheral euro zone countries.

In the United States, the major averages rose slightly in the first half-hour of trading. The Dow Jones industrials were up 23.31, or 0.2 percent, to 12,662.05. The Standard Poor’s 500-stock index showed a similar gain, and the Nasdaq composite was marginally higher.

Commodities bounced some way back on Monday from their biggest weekly drop since 2008, revived by a weaker dollar and strong United States jobs data, which helped restore some confidence to a shaken investment community.

Brent crude oil broke above $111 a barrel and United States silver leapt by more than 5 percent after data from Washington on Friday showed private employers added jobs at the fastest pace in five years in April.

The dollar slipped against a basket of currencies as as heartened investors turned to higher-yielding, riskier assets, to the benefit of commodities.

In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.8 percent after rising 1.2 percent on Friday. The index has fallen in four out of five sessions and is up just 1.4 percent this year.

Financials were among the top decliners, with the STOXX Europe 600 banking index falling 1.5 percent and Bank of Ireland down 3.7 percent. The National Bank of Greece fell as much as 5.7 percent after Standard Poor’s cut the rating on Greece’s sovereign debt to B from BB- and said that may hurt the creditworthiness of the country’s four biggest banks.

After an unannounced meeting of top euro zone finance officials in Luxembourg on Friday night, Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the euro zone’s finance ministers, said there was consensus that Greece needed a new plan.

A 110 billion euro, or $157 billion, rescue of Greece was negotiated last May.

“This has potential to disrupt the market in the near term as it looks increasingly likely that we will see another adjustment package for Greece,” said Klaus Wiener, chief economist at Generali Investments.

“The credit crisis is unlikely to be over for quite a while,” Mr. Wiener said. “We need to see first that those countries which are not so much under market pressure right now stick to their consolidation path, otherwise they will not be able to regain the necessary market trust. And rebuilding trust takes time.”

The Euro STOXX 50, the euro zone’s blue chip index, fell 1.9 percent.

Among individual movers, Barclays and HSBC fell 1.2 percent and 1.5 percent respectively after Barclays said it would make a £1 billion, or $1.6 billion, provision in the second quarter of 2011 to cover the costs related to sales of payment protection insurance, with HSBC setting aside $440 million.

MAN was up 3.2 percent after Volkswagen said it was making an offer for the company. The truck maker Scania jumped 6.9 percent because the company is in talks with MAN over a potential tie-up.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=201975f219cd9aca89ff538d246fc0e5

Filed Under: Business News Tagged With: , ,

Stocks & Bonds: Critical Reports on Banks Weigh on Financial Shares

April 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment

A Senate report released late Wednesday criticized rating agencies and banks, like Goldman Sachs, for their practices during the financial crisis, while federal regulators also released a report saying that banks did a poor job of handling the flood of foreclosures. The regulators said they would impose penalties, without giving the timing or amount.

In response, the banking sector was down almost 1 percent Thursday. Among the decliners were some of the 14 mortgage servicers that had signed consent agreements promising to overhaul their foreclosure practices.

“The uncertainty over this whole mortgage mess is contributing” to the decline in the financial sector, said Anthony G. Valeri, a senior vice president and market strategist for LPL Financial. “I think the market is waiting to see what the fines will be.”

“But it is a short-term concern for the market until we ultimately find out what the exact dollar amount is,” he said.

JPMorgan Chase, one of the banks signing a consent agreement, said it would add as many as 3,000 employees to meet the new regulatory demands. Its shares were down 2.8 percent at $44.97. Among other major banks, Citigroup fell 1.6 percent to $4.43; Bank of America was down 1.1 percent to $13.13; Wells Fargo declined 1.7 percent to $30.15; and Goldman Sachs lost 2.7 percent to $155.79.

Major indexes closed the day mixed. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 14.16 points, or 0.12 percent, to 12,285.15, while the Standard Poor’s 500-stock index added less than a point to close at 1,314.52. The Nasdaq composite slipped 1.3 points, or 0.05 percent, to 2.760.22.

Alan B. Lancz, the president of Alan B. Lancz Associates, said indexes might have gotten late-day help from initial public offerings, like that of the car-sharing company Zipcar, which gained 56 percent.

“As we headed into the last hour they were still showing significant gains,” Mr. Lancz said. “That maybe gave a spark to the buyers.”

Google rose $2.23, to $578.51, in the regular session but lost more than 5 percent in after-hours trading after reporting a quarterly profit that missed forecasts.

Shares of consumer staples were up 0.63 percent as a sector. Supervalu gained more than 16 percent, to $10.61, after forecasting fiscal-year earnings above Wall Street expectations. Kraft Foods closed at $32.95 and Coca-Cola at $68.31, each gaining more than 1 percent.

While the banking sector’s responsibility for the mortgage crisis drew most of the attention, analysts said other factors also weighed on the sector.

Nomura analysts said in a research note that a downward revision to gross domestic product, negative revenue and loan growth and an unpredictable regulatory backdrop have discouraged investors.

“We have spent the past few weeks on the road visiting investors,” the analysts said. “The overwhelming feedback on banks has been ‘Why bother?’ ”

“It’s just hard to get people to care about bank stocks right now,” Nomura said.

An increase in unemployment filings last week also weighed on the markets, as well as a monthly index on producer prices that showed energy costs were responsible for almost all of the increase in March.

Economists are concerned that increases in wholesales prices will be passed along and damp spending by consumers.

Downward revisions to economic growth, like the recent cut by the International Monetary Fund in its United States growth estimate, may have discouraged investors, Mr. Valeri added.

But the bond market has benefited. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond was little changed Thursday at 3.5 percent.

“We thought going into this week that it would be a tough week for Treasuries given the fresh supply,” Mr. Valeri said, referring to an auction of 10-year bonds. “A new theme emerging this week that seems to have trumped the data, and even the auctions, was the potential of a slowdown in the economy.”

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=020af463424071306512cea4fab8ab8e

Filed Under: Business News Tagged With: , ,
« Previous Page