Jobs Data Improving, But Not For This Company
Stocks
treaded lower today as investors locked in gains. US
firms slashed fewer than 100,000 jobs in November, a sharp drop from October’s
peak of 172,000. Chicago-based firm Challenger, which keeps track of such data,
reported a 17% drop in job cuts when compared with the previous year. The
current unemployment rate is at 6.0%. The US dollar continues its descent as it
hit an all-time low of $1.2091 against the euro. Gold reached an eight-year
high of $407 an ounce. Ford
(
F |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported a 2.4% decline in November
sales with its fleet business down a whopping 10% It plans to cut
fourth-quarter production by 20,000 due to reduced rental demand for its Taurus
sedan. Data storage device manufacturer McData
(
MCDTA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announced
higher revenues of $94.7 million but reported a net loss of $50 million.
| Dow | -0.25% | 9874.25 |
| S&P 500 | -0.08% | 1069.24 |
| Nasdaq | +0.02% | 1990.11 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Biotechs
(
$BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.37%, Healthcare
(
$HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.28%, Oil Service Sector
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.01%, Hardware
(
$HWI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.85%, and Health Provider
(
$RXH.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.81%.
Weak today are Airlines
[XAL.X|XAL.X] -1.47%, Retails [RLX.X|RLX.X]
-1.19%, and Software
(
GSO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.54%.
Economic news releases for auto
and truck sales were not available at the time this article was written.
10-year Notes are -75
at 111 235.
The dollar
is -0.74 at 89.69.
Gold is +0.30 at 400.30.
Volume is 675,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 927,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1710 | Up Vol 336 |
| Declining | 1387 | Down Vol 313 |
| Ratio | 1.23 | 1.07 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 1685 | Up Vol 551 |
| Declining | 1396 | Down Vol 319 |
| Ratio | 1.21 | 1.72 |
Top Dow stocks are:
Hewlett Packard
(
HPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2.64% at 22.41, Merck [MRK|MRK],
+1.20% at 42.68, GE [GE|GE],
+0.83% at 29.21, and Intl Paper
(
IP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.72% at 39.20.
Stocks in the news:
HealthSouth
(
HLSH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
announced it would replace five directors who served the board during the
alleged $2.6 billion accounting fraud fiasco. The move follows a lawsuit brought
by Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana.
Maxim Pharmaceuticals
(
MAXM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
announced it would license its MX90745 series of compounds to Myriad Genetics
(
MYGN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
for $27 million. MAXM is trading 7% higher.
Health Retailer CVS
(
CVS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported a 5.3% increase for in same-store sales with revenue reaching $2.07
billion, up from $1.93 billion a year ago.
Pepsi
(
PEP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
announced plans to close its snack plant and cut 750 jobs, splitting its North
American drinks business back into three units, Pepsi-Cola, juice, and
Gatorade. The company will also begin to expense options.
If you have any comments or
questions, please feel free to email me.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com