The Market Shrugged Off The Durable Goods Report – Here’s Why
Stocks
were mostly higher Wednesday. Durable goods data for April came
in worse-than-expected, probably due to the
war, and didn’t hold the market back, as the Dow neared a four-month high and
the Nasdaq neared a yearly high before pulling back. The dollar bounced back today after hitting another four-year
low against the euro yesterday.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU.X |
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$SPX.X |
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rose 1.74 at 953.22. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
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PowerRating) gained 6.55 at 1563.24.
The day’s leading sectors were Broker
Dealers
(
$XBD.X |
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(
$INX.X |
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+2.08%, and Retail
(
$RLX.X |
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PowerRating), +0.83%.
Weak today were Gold
(
$XAU.X |
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-3.74%, Biotech
(
$BTK.X |
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(
$OSX.X |
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PowerRating),
1.61% and Airline
(
$XAL.X |
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PowerRating), -2.90%.
In economic news, Durable
Goods for April, fell 2.4% versus estimates of a 1% drop. This was also the
fourth decline in the last six months. Excluding transportation, durable goods
fell 1.5% and excluding defense, durables fell 1.5%.
The 10-year U.S. Note
is -025 at 118 150
The dollar was +0.77 at
93.58
Gold was down .30 at 364.30.
Crude Oil was down 0.14
at 28.44
Volume was heavy at
1,512,707,000 on the NYSE, and at
2,042,625,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was
positive, with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of
1.39, and up volume over down volume by a 1.15 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues
over declining issues at 1.40, and up volume over down volume is at a 1.42
ratio.
Top Dow stocks are:
Hewlett Packard
(
HPQ |
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PowerRating), +0.70 at
19.38, McDonalds
(
MCD |
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(
DIS |
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PowerRating)
+0.57
at 19.44, Citigroup
(
C |
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PowerRating) +20.96 at 41.14, and American Express
(
AXP |
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+0.91 at 41.63.
Stocks in the news:
Costco Wholesale
(
COST |
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PowerRating)
gained on heavy volume after reporting better-than-expected results.
The warehouse store retailer reported third-quarter earnings of 33 cents a share
compared to 28 cents a share during the same period a year ago. The company
topped estimates by 2 cents.
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
(
KKD |
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PowerRating)
traded higher on very heavy volume after the company reported first-quarter
results of 22 cents a share vs. 15 cents a share from the same period a year
ago. The company’s results topped estimates by 2 cents.
Internet Media company Real
Networks
(
RNWK |
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PowerRating) rose after the company unveiled a music-downloading subscription service called “Real
One Rhapsody.” Unlike Apple’s Itunes, Real’s service requires a monthly
subscription fee of $9.95 and over 325,000 songs will be available at $0.79
each. .
Toll Brothers
(
TOL |
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PowerRating)
rose on heavy volume; the homebuilder reported second-quarter results
of 72 cents a share vs. 69 cents a share during the same period a year ago. The
company bested estimates by 4 cents.
Novellus Systems
(
NVLS |
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was fractionally higher today ahead of its mid-quarter call after tomorrow’s
close. Lehman Brothers expects the company to maintain guidance.
Specialty retailer Sharper
Image
(
SHRP |
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PowerRating) was fractionally higher after Wedbush Morgan initiated a
“buy” rating on the stock. Wedbush believes that the stock is
undervalued when compared to other specialty retailers.