3 More Earnings Reports After The Close
The Dow and
SPX managed small gains Thursday, while the Nasdaq was off slightly.
The National Association of Manufacturers
said in its annual economic forecast that a rebounding US factory should
generate about 250,000 jobs in 2004 — with the biggest gains in fabricated
metals, industrial equipment and electronics. IBM
(
IBM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported earnings five days earlier than
expected with the stock gaining 4%.
| Dow | +15.48 |
10553.85 |
| S&P 500 | +1.53 | 1132.05 |
| Nasdaq | -2.05 | 2109.08 |
The day’s leading sectors were
Banks
(
BIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.55%, Semis
(
SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.61%,
Networking
(
NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.77%, and Biotech
(
BTKX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.57%.
Weak today were Amex Gold
Bugs
(
HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -4.06%, and Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -4.03%.
Natural Gas
(
$XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.88%.
Economic news releases included
the Consumer Price Index rising by 0.2%; NY Empire State Index at 39.2; Initial
claims at 343,000; and Retail Sales up 0.5%.
The dollar
was +0.57 at 86.60.
Gold was -9.62 at 408.71.
Crude Oil was -1.14 at
32.53.
Volume was
1,695,004,000 on
the NYSE, and 2,213,636,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was negative.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1607 | Up Vol 776 |
| Declining | 1672 | Down Vol 787 |
| Ratio | 1.04 | 1.01 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 1582 | Up Vol 1071 |
| Declining | 1578 | Down Vol 1051 |
| Ratio | 1.00 | 1.01 |
Stocks in the news:
After the close, Juniper Networks
(
JNPR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
beat Q4 estimates by 0.02 ex-items, and traded higher. Rambus
(
RMBS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
beat by 0.03; revenues rose 13% year/year. Digi Intl
(
DGII |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by
0.03.
Fairchild Semiconductor
(
FCS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted
strong earnings, with shares trading 7% higher and hitting a 20-month high. The
company reported net income of $5.3 million on sales of $369.2 million. FCS
closed at 27.80, up 1.94.
Bank of America
(
BAC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) disappointed
investors despite posting higher fourth-quarter profits. Net income rose 4% to
$2.73 billion on revenue of $9.79. The company said that commercial borrowings
remained weak while consumer lending and defaults fared better, adding that it
might exceed ’04 forecasts.
Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) traded lower after
giving investors a pessimistic first-quarter outlook. Net income for the fourth
quarter rose to $2.2 billion with sales at $8.74 billion, beating analysts’
forecasts. The company expects sales in the range of $7.9 billion – $8.5
billion, with gross margin at 60%. INTC fell 0.98 to 33.06.
Teradyne
(
TER |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported a much smaller
net loss of $11.5 million compared to $423 a year ago, as investors pushed the
stock up 7%. The company experienced a 45% spike in net orders, with sales
reaching $357.6 million.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com