How The Flu Season Impacted This Company
Stocks
are up slightly ahead of the Fed announcement at 2:15 P.M. ET. Consumer
goods manufacturer Procter & Gamble
(
PG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported a 22% gain on net
income with an optimistic outlook for the next quarter. Strong sales of OTC flu
medications including Nyquil and beauty products propelled its earnings to $1.82
billion on revenue of $13.22 billion. Broadcom
(
BRCM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported
higher fourth-quarter earnings of $6.1 million vs. a net loss of $1.76 a year
ago. Revenue shot up 62% to $479.1 million. Time Warner
(
TWX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported net income of $638 million on a 16.4% increase of revenues of $11.43
billion. Altria
(
MO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported earnings that were 18% higher at $2.09
billion on revenue up 10% at $20.69 billion. Kraft
reported income of $869 million on $8.33 billion revenue.
After the bell, JDS Uniphase
(
JDSU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), WellPoint Health
(
WLP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), and Activision
(
ATVI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
are expected to report earnings of $-0.02, $1.72, $0.69 a share, respectively.
| Dow | +21.11 |
10631.06 |
| S&P 500 |
+3.27 | 1147.20 |
| Nasdaq | +2.84 | 2118.78 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Amex Gold Bugs
(
HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.50%, Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+2.29%, Semis
(
SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.03%,
and Utilities
(
UTY.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.79%.
Weak today are and Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -2.10%, and Natural Gas
(
XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.40%.
Economic news releases included
New Home sales dipping to 1060K, and unchanged durable orders.
10-year Notes are +115
at 114 115
The dollar
is -0.04 at 86.50
Gold is +3.80 at 415.00
Crude Oil is -0.66 at
32.60
Volume is 780,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 1,049,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is mixed.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1691 | Up Vol 403 |
| Declining | 1425 | Down Vol 291 |
| Ratio | 1.21 | 1.38 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 1462 | Up Vol 545 |
| Declining | 1580 | Down Vol 427 |
| Ratio | 1.07 | 1.29 |
Top Dow stocks are:
Du Pont [DD|DD],
+3.49% at 44.08, Merck [MRK|MRK],
+1.56% at 48.11, AT&T
(
T |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.18% at 20.17, and Altria [MO|MO],
+1.01% at 55.58.
Stocks in the news:
Shares of Tenet Healthcare
(
THC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
dropped 20% after reporting a planned $1.4 billion restructuring charge as it
expects to sell 27 hospitals, 19 of which are located in California.
Flextronics
(
FLEX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) tacked on 9% as it
reported earnings of $93.9 million on revenue of $4.15 billion, well ahead of
analysts’ consensus.
Antivirus-software maker Network Associates
(
NET |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported net income of $41.3 million on $268.9 million revenue. NET
expects full-year revenue to reach $930 million.
Oil titan ConocoPhillips
(
COP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported fourth-quarter earnings income of $985 million, a 74% increase from the
year-ago period. Revenue was up 11% to $26 billion, thanks to higher gas and oil
prices.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com