Big Day For Banks — Here’s Why
Stocks
are lower as investors await blue-chip earnings.
Four major banks reported earnings today — all showing strength in consumer
deposits and demand for credit. Citibank
(
C |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) led the pack, with
earnings rising by 27%. Revenue rose 13% to $20.15 billion. Wells Fargo
(
WFC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported 10% higher earnings at $1.62 billion on sales of $7.44 billion. US
Bancorp
(
USB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Bank One
(
ONE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) also showed improved
earnings.
Earnings of drug-maker
Johnson & Johnson
(
JNJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose 33% on strong orders for its medical
devices. The company earned $1.8 billion on sales of $11.25
billion. Manufacturing giant United Technologies
(
UTX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted a 10%
increase in revenue, earning $588 million on sales of $8.59 billion. The company
said a lower tax rate and the weak dollar helped boost its bottom line.
Dow | -60.51 |
10540.06 |
S&P 500 |
-1.59 | 1138.25 |
Nasdaq | -1.30 | 2139.27 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Amex Gold Bugs
(
HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +4.30%, Oil Services
(
OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+3.96%, Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+3.12%, and Natural Gas
(
XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.40%.
Weak today are Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.01%, and Retail
(
RLX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.95%.
No Economic news
releases today.
10-year Notes are -5 at
114 095
The dollar
is -1.13 at 86.92
Gold is +5.40 at 413.50
Crude Oil is +.49 at
34.00
Volume is 800,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 1,340,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive.
NYSE | Issues | |
Advancing | 1765 | Up Vol 478 |
Declining | 1380 | Down Vol 313 |
Ratio | 1.31 | 1.51 |
Nasdaq | ||
Advancing | 1696 | Up Vol 794 |
Declining | 1446 | Down Vol 534 |
Ratio | 1.15 | 1.49 |
Top Dow stocks are:
Alcoa [AA|AA],
+2.73% at 36.04, Johnson & Johnson
(
JNJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.58% at 51.77, SBC
Communications [SBC|SBC],
+2.01% at 27.00, and AT&T [T|T],
+1.76% at 21.40
Stocks in the news:
3M
(
MMM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported 21% higher earnings
of $619 million on sales of $4.7 billion. The company also raised its fiscal
year earnings to $3.49 a share. It reported a 38% increase in its display and
graphics unit and an 8% increase in safety and security services. GM’s US market
share deteriorated by 0.3%, to 28.0%.
General Motors
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported lower
profits, with its finance unit providing most of the gain. Net income was $1.013
billion on higher sales of $49.08 billion, with its finance division providing
$630 million of the profit.
Chip-maker AMD
(
AMD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose after Schwab
SoundView upgraded it to outperform, citing a favorable management
structure. AMD’s target price was raised to $23.
Ameritrade
(
AMTD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose more than 10%
on first-quarter earnings of $72 million on revenues of $226
million. Commissions rose to $152 million from $116 million a year ago.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com