Post Fire, Here’s What’s Leading
The
major indexes are modestly higher midday after a terrorism spook from
an oil refinery explosion in New York sent prices sharply lower. At present the
explosion is not considered to be an act of terrorism. Positive CPI numbers have
helped the bulls’ cause, while earnings news is mixed. The semiconductors are
currently in negative territory, unable to follow through on yesterday’s solid
performance. Volume remains very light as market conditions appear to keep a
good number of buyers and sellers at bay.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is +0.89% at 7,985.62. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is +1.05% at 845.86. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is +0.49% at 1,337.70.
Leading sectors are oil
service
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.25%, oil
(
$OIX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.87%, retail
(
$RLX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.70%, and forest and paper
(
$FPP.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.68%.
Biggest decliners are
networking
(
$NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.48%, gold and silver
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-1.78%, and semiconductors
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.49%.
In economic news, CPI came in at an
expected 0.3%, and core CPI was at 0.1% vs. expectations of 0.2%.
The 10-year U.S. Note
is -070 at 115 155.
The Dollar is +0.33 at
99.98.
Gold is -0.60 at 352.50.
Crude Oil unchanged at
36.79.
Volume is at 707,661,000
on the NYSE, and at 712,097,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of 1.98, and up
volume over down volume by a 2.12 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining
issues are at 1.28, and up volume over down volume is at a 1.14 ratio.
Current Dow leaders are:
Johnson & Johnson
(
JNJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.95% at 53.45,
International Paper
(
IP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.37% at 35.49, Home Depot
(
HD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2.03% at 22.09, Hewlett Packard
(
HPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.13% at 18.25, and
Altria
(
MO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.76% at 37.67 Wal-Mart
(
WMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.56% at 48.83.
Stocks In The News:
Software company BEA Systems
(
BEAS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -4.10% at
10.75, announced that its fiscal fourth-quarter tripled from a year ago, though
has guided lower for the current quarter.
Retailer Nordstrom
(
JWN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.17% at 17.20, said
that it earned $0.44 per share for the fourth-quarter, %0.02 ahead of estimates.
In the oil services sector, Noble Drilling
(
NE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.98% at 36.08, has been downgraded by Morgan Stanley to “underweight” from
“equal-weight.” Global Santa Fe
(
GSF |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+4.10% at 21.05, has been upgraded by Morgan Stanley to “overweight” from
“equal-weight.” Burlington Resources
(
BR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.63% at 45.97, has
been upgraded by Lehman Brothers to “overweight” from “equal-weight.”
Healthcare facilities company
United Surgical Partners
(
USPI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.48% at 17.15, beat its fourth-quarter earnings expectations by $0.03 with
profits of $0.01 per share.
Also in the healthcare
facilities sector, Universal Health Services
(
UHS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.18% at 38.53,
announced it is being investigated by the SEC after the departure of the
company’s CEO.
Electronic instruments and
controls company Agilent
(
A |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), , announced it will eliminate 4,000 jobs
over the next few months in an effort to cut costs. The company also announced
second-quarter earnings of $0.23, beating analyst projections by $0.03.
In the chip biz, Texas Instruments
(
TXN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.81%
at 15.70, announced that it will buy back 18 million shares.
Retailer Target
(
TGT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +5.04% at 28.12, has been
upgraded by Piper Jaffray to “strong buy” from “outperform,” and has also
received positive comments from Goldman Sachs who believes the stock has
attractive valuation.Â
Tobacco company Altria
(
MO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.76% at 37.67, has
won a New York Supreme Court case as a defendant against a former smoker.Â
Gold mining company Barrick Gold
(
ABX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.18%
at 15.92, has been downgraded by Prudential to “hold” from “buy.”
In the biotech sector,
Biogen
(
BGEN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.32% at 34.50, has been downgraded by JP Morgan to
“neutral” from “overweight.” And, Cima Labs
(
CIMA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +6.65% at 20.20,
beat its fourth-quarter earnings expectations by $0.04 with profits of $0.45 per
share.
danielb@tradingmarkets.com