Stocks End Lower
Stocks fell Wednesday after a
lowered forecast from Amazon and weak results from Boeing.
Amazon
(
AMZN |
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PowerRating) beat by 0.02 at 0.12,
ex-items, and issued less than upbeat guidance. Q3 earnings fell 44%. The stock
traded lower after hours. Note the divergence in on balance volume. The stock
was downgraded at Citigroup to sell.
Boeing
(
BA |
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PowerRating) reported 0.80, ex-items,
in-line; revenues were $12.63 billion, less than expected. The company’s backlog
increased significantly.
Crude oil inventories rose by 4.4 million
barrels, more than expected; gas inventories rose 200,000 barrels, less than
expected; distillate inventories fell by 1.6 million barrels. Crude oil closed
almost 3% lower after Bush said he would work with Congress to encourage
the construction of new refineries.
10-year note yields closed near their 2005 high as traders anticipate the
new Fed appointee Bernanke will continue to increase rates. Yields on two year
notes traded to their highest levels since May 2001.
Half way through earnings season, 239 S&P
500 companies have reported, and 70% of those have beaten bottom-line estimates,
while 46% have beaten on the top line.
Strong sectors were: Chemicals
(
CEX |
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PowerRating)
+1.36% Airlines
(
XAL |
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PowerRating) +0.92%
Brokers
(
XBD |
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PowerRating) +0.77%
Weak sectors were:
Healthcare
(
HMO |
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PowerRating) -2.74%
Gold
(
XAU |
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PowerRating) -2.55%
|
|
-31.53 | 10,346.34 |
| -9.47 | 2099.98 | |
| -5.01 | 1191.51 |
More stocks on the move:
Google
(
GOOG |
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PowerRating) announced Google Base,
which the company describes as “an early-stage test of a product that enables
content owners to easily send their content to Google.” Analysts feel this
brings Google closer to competing with EBay.
ConocoPhillips
(
COP |
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PowerRating) beat by 0.22.
Anheuser Busch
(
BUD |
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PowerRating) missed by 0.02 and guided lower.
Computer Associates
(
CA |
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PowerRating) was in-line at
0.24 and guided lower; the company also increased its share repurchase program
by $200 million.
Sprint Nextel
(
S |
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PowerRating) posted a Q3 profit of
$516 million, or 0.23/share vs. a loss of $1.32 a year earlier.
Centex
(
CTX |
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PowerRating) beat by 0.49–after a tax
refund of 0.21. Q2 profits rose 59%; the company also raised its outlook.
Flextronics
(
FLEX |
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PowerRating) missed by 0.02 and
missed on revenues; the company also guided lower.
Brice Wightman