How Consumers Are Dealing With Higher Gas Prices
Stocks
are higher on continued worries of rising energy costs with oil trading above
$40 a barrel. GE’s
(
GE |
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Chart |
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PowerRating)
spin-off of its insurance unit Genworth Financial
(
GNW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) debuted at
$19.50, below its original range of $21 to $23. As recently as yesterday, talk
was $20.50. $2.83 billion was generated from the 145 million shares issued,
which was priced comparably to China Life Insurance
(
LFC |
Quote |
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PowerRating), which went
public late last year. pr
HJ Heinz
(
HNZ |
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News |
PowerRating)
reported earnings of $196.5 million with revenue at $2.33 billion. Lower tax
rates, a favorable foreign exchange rate and lower interest costs attributed to
the higher earnings. The company expects earnings to reach $2.32 a share with
growth of 2 to 3% for 2005.
Iraqis reacted with skepticism
to Bush’s address, saying the US offer of sovereignty is not enough to restore
their freedom. The US draft of a proposed UN resolution fell short of what
Iraq’s defense minister sought: full control of its troops and oil. The Pentagon
will replace Army Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez with General George Casey as the
top US military officer in Iraq. Officials denied the change was related to the
Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal.
An International Council of
Shopping Centers survey says that higher gas prices are creating more efficient
shoppers, who make fewer trips but spend more per trip.
| Dow | +82.77 | 10040.41 |
| S&P 500 | +9.00 | 1104.41 |
| Nasdaq | +18.29 | 1941.27 |
Strong today are Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.80%, Natural Gas
(
XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.51% Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.38%, Amex Gold Bugs
(
HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.23%.
Weak today are Telecoms
(
XTC.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.29%, Semis
(
SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.15%.
Economic news releases today:
consumer confidence index that came in bleow consensus at 93.2 and existing home
sales that also missed expectations at 6.64 million units.
10-year Notes are +50 at
109 100
The dollar
is -0.59 at 90.00
Gold is +2.80 at 388.50
Crude Oil is -0.92 at
40.80
Volume is 600,000
million on the NYSE, and 686,000 million on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 2160 | Up Vol 399 |
| Declining | 947 | Down Vol 177 |
| Ratio | 2.27 | 2.25 |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 1559 | Up Vol 340 |
| Declining | 1345 | Down Vol 308 |
| Ratio | 1.16 | 1.09 |
Top Dow stocks are:
Alcoa
(
AA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.42% at
30.93, General Motors
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.30% at 44.33, Exxon Mobil
(
XOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.09% at 43.20, Johnson & Johnson
(
JNJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.07% at 54.86.
Stocks in the news:
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
(
KKD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is
cutting back new store openings to 100 this year, 17% less than initially
planned. The company reported a net-loss of $24.4 million included charges and
expects earnings of $1.05 a share for 2005.
Charles Schwab
(
SCH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announced
plans to lower commissions for online stock trades. The lower rates are
dependent on the number of trades in a quarter and the amount of assets a client
holds.
Williams-Sonoma
(
WSM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted earnings
of $21.4 million with revenue that rose 19% to $641 million. The company expects
EPS of 19 cents for the next quarter and the board approved plans to repurchase
up to 2.5 million shares.
Brice Wightman
bricew@tradingmarkets.com
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