Dow Surges 91 Points
Stocks were higher Thursday as a late
surge lifted stocks. This despite oil hitting an intraday high of
$66–a fourth new high in five sessions. Â The Dow
was propelled by Alcoa
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which was upgraded to ‘buy’ at UBS. Weakness in the dollar drove commodity
prices, with gold and copper making new highs.
After the
bell, Dell
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PowerRating) reported record Q2 earnings, in-line at 0.38/share. Net
income was $1.02 billion. Revenue was $13.4 billion, slightly lower than
expected. The stock traded lower after hours.
Retail sales for July rose +1.8%. ex-autos, +0.3%.
Jobless claims for the week ending 8/6 fell 6000 to 308,000. The 4-week
moving average fell 7250 to 309,250.
News Corp
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PowerRating) beat by 0.05; Q4 profit rose 67%. Deutsche Bank
upgraded the stock to ‘buy.’
Target
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also beat expectations at $11.99 billion. Same store sales rose 6.7%.
Refco (RFX)
offered stock to the public today–26.5 million shares at $22, above the $19-$21
range. The stock opened at $27. Refco raised $583 million on the
deal, with the company selling 12.5 million shares. Refco is a leading
derivatives, FX and fixed income broker. Refco accounts for more contracts
traded on the CME than any other firm. The lead underwriters were CSFB,
Goldman and Bank of America.
Former Worldcom CFO Scot Sullivan was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
His former boss, Bernie Ebbers, earlier received 25 years.
Strong sectors were: Â Â Gold
(
XAU |
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PowerRating) +4.11%Â Â Â Â Biotech
(
BTK.X |
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PowerRating) +1.41%Â Â Â Oil
(
XOI.X |
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PowerRating) +0.96%
Weak sectors were: Â Airlines
(
XAL |
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PowerRating) -0.86%Â Â Â Â Â Retail
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PowerRating)
-0.20%Â Â Â Â
| Dow | +91.48 | 10,685.89 |
| Nasdaq | +16.74 | 2174.55 |
| S&P 500 | +8.68 | 1237.81 |
Stocks in the news:
CV Theraputics
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PowerRating) said its heart imaging agent Regadenoson met its
primary endpoint its Phase 3 trial.
Medtronic
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MDT |
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PowerRating) said the FDA approved
its glucose monitoring system Guardian for diabetics.
JP Morgan cut Novellus
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PowerRating) to
neutral from outperform.
Yahoo
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PowerRating) will pay $1 billion for a
40% stake in Chinese online retailer Alibaba.
Brinker
(
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PowerRating) beat by a penny and
guided higher for Q1.
Conoco Phillips
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PowerRating) announced an
additional $1 billion stock buyback.
AIG raised its quarterly dividend 20% to 0.15.
Brice Wightman