Earnings Season Begins — Here’s The First Company To Report
Stocks rose
Thursday on strong earnings expectations.
Networking was on fire, with the Dow making a
22-month high, the S&P 500 a 21-month high, and the SOX at an 18 month high. Initial Jobless Claims rose by 14,000 to 353,000 for the first week of
the year, slightly higher than expectations.
Phone maker Nokia
(
NOK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
surged after it raised raised its fourth-quarter numbers. It now expects
pro-forma earnings of 0.28 cents a share, up from forecast of 21 cents. It said
it saw an increase in operating investments and a 4% rise in its mobile phone
unit. Verizon Wireless
(
VZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) will spend $1
billion over the next two years to build a high-speed wireless network.
Procter & Gamble
(
PG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) raised second-quarter outlook on strong sale of
cold and flu medicines. It now expects to earn $1.28 a share. Wal-Mart
(
WMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported December sales numbers up 4.3%, near
the high end of expectations. Tiffany
(
TIF |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said that demand for
diamonds improved its Q4 earnings prospects. Sun Microsystems
(
SUNW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
rose 10% on a Bank of America upgrade. Taiwan Semiconductor
(
TWN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
said it had a 68% jump in sales in December. JP Morgan cut estimates on
JetBlue
(
JBLU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), saying the company was expanding too fast.
Look for the December jobs
report on Friday.
| Dow | +63.41 |
10592.44 |
| S&P 500 | +5.59 | 1131.92 |
| Nasdaq | +22.57 |
2100.25 |
The day’s leading sectors were
Networking
(
NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +6.04%, Hardware
(
HWI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +3.64%,
Semis
(
SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +3.39%, and Telecoms [XTC.X|XTC.X]
+2.17%.
Weak today were Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -2.34%, and Retail
(
RLX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.50%.
Economic news releases included
initial claims that fell to 353,000 and wholesale inventories that rose 0.5%.
Gold was +3.51at 423.34
Crude Oil was +0.44 at
33.98
Volume was
1,860,663,000 on
the NYSE, and 2,670,847,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was Positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 2033 | Up Vol 1245 |
| Declining | 1254 | Down Vol 604 |
| Ratio | 1.62 | 2.06 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 1996 | Up Vol 1821 |
| Declining | 1221 | Down Vol 815 |
| Ratio | 1.63 | 2.23 |
Stocks in the news:
After the bell,
Alcoa
(
AA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported 0.39 vs. 0.34 estimate. The company cited
strengthening demand, which helped lift aluminum prices. Q4 income from
continuing operations was $340 million; a year ago the company had a large loss.
Friday, look for earnings from Burlington Coat
Factory
(
BCF |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea
(
GAP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).
Communications equipment maker Andrew
(
ANDW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
raised its first-quarter forecast, citing a continuation of improving industry
trends. It now expects revenue to reach $400 million, up from $320 million,
while earnings is expected to exceed 6 cents a share.
The FDA rejected Inamed’s
(
IMDC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
application to market silicone breast implants. The FDA said it needed more
information before it would revisit the application.
Nortel Networks
(
NT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) signed a three-year deal with Avici Systems
(
AVCI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to support AVCI with IP routers
and devices that direct data on networks.
Retailer Kohl’s
(
KSS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell 8%
after indicating a lower fourth-quarter earnings due to disappointing sales in
December. It now expects to earn 68 cents a share for the quarter. Same-store
sales also fell by 1.2%.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com