Have You Taken This Drug? It’s Being Pulled Off The Market
Stocks were higher, with the Dow making it four in a
row. Oil fell 3%–to the lowest levels in a week–driving the market
to close near its highs. Gasoline was lower
as well. The Nasdaq rose 1%, closing above
2000.
Jobless claims for the week of 4/2 fell 19,000 to 334,000, the biggest drop
in two month. The 4-week moving average fell to 336,500.
Alcoa (AA)
beat by a penny; revenues were up 12.5% from a year ago but missed estimates by
a very small margin. AA rose almost 5%.
Dell
(
DELL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) backed its Q1 outlook–0.37–and will raise its share
buyback program to $2 billion. The company is meeting with analysts today.
Bed Bath & Beyond
(
BBBY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.04.
Retail was in focus as many companies reported same-store-sales for March.Â
American Eagle
(
AEOS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) March comps rose +29.2%. Abercrombie
& Fitch
(
ANF |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) March comps rose 21%. Ann Taylor
(
ANN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) March
comps fell -1.7%. Gap Inc.
(
GPS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) March comps fell -4%. Gap’s Old Navy
line was -9%. Federated
(
FD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) March same-store-sales rose +3.4%.
Target
(
TGT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) comps rose 14.3%.
Pfizer
(
PFE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) will withdraw Bextra from the market as per an FDA
request. The FDA also asked company to include include a strong safety warning
on Celebrex. The agency said the overall risk vs benefit profile is unfavorable.
Stock buybacks among S&P 500 stocks increased 72% in Q4, and the IT
sector accounted for 26% of it. Total stock buybacks rose 51% in 2004.
Trim Tabs reports that M&A is running at $1.5 billion per day over the
last month. The company also predicts that fund flows will rise from $10 billion
to $30+ billion in April.
KB Homes
(
KBH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) declared a 2:1 stock spilt.
The Department of Energy said that it sees oil prices staying above
$50 for 2005 and 2006.
The IRS says that the average tax return was up 6% from last year.
Strong sectors were: Â Biotech
(
$BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.46% Â Â
Semis
(
$SOX.X$ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.97% Â Airlines
(
$XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.84%
Weak sectors were:Â Oil Services
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.16%Â Â
 Natural Gas
(
$XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.85%Â Â Â Â Oil
(
$XOI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-0.33%
| Dow | +60.08 | 10,546.10 |
| Nasdaq | +19.65 | 2018.79 |
| S&P 500 | +7.09 | 1191.16 |
The dollar was +0.18 at
84.87
Crude Oil was -1.74 at
54.11
Gold was -0.40 at 426.60
billion on the Nasdaq
Market breadth was positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1953 | Up Vol 1063 |
| Declining | 1288 | Down Vol 582 |
| 1.51 | 1.82 | |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 1791 | Up Vol 1172 |
| Declining | 1274 | Down Vol 377 |
| 1.40 | 3.10 |
Stocks in the News
Pier One Imports
(
PIR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported a sharp drop in quarterly
earnings–missing by 0.05–and guided lower.
Smith Barney downgraded General Motors
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to ‘sell’ and Ford
(
F |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to ‘hold.’ GM is up 1.27%.
Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said that Phase II trials for cervical cancer drug
Gardasil was successful. The drug could hit the market as early as next year.
Wal Mart
(
WMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said it expects to report earnings at the lower end
of estimates.
Starbucks
(
SBUX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported a smaller-than-expected monthly sales
increase.
Brice Wightman