More Earnings After The Close, Plus, Here’s The Consensus For Friday’s Jobs Report
Stocks
rose slightly in choppy trading ahead of Friday’s jobs report.
Federal Reserve
Governor Ben Bernanke said he expects “big numbers of jobs” created in the
coming year.
Retailer Wal-Mart
(
WMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported stronger January sales of $18.4 billion with same-store sales
rising 5.7%, way ahead of expectations. Other retailers such as Target
(
TGT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
Costco
(
COST |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), and Kohls
(
KSS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) are also expected to
benefit as the frigid weather in the Northeast boosted sales of winter apparel
and other cold weather goods.
Five IPOs opened for trading today with financial
services company Assurant
(
AIZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) leading the way, followed by energy
equities Todco
(
THE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), AssetAcceptance Capital
(
AACC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
drug-maker Renovis
(
RNVS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Bakers Footwear Group
(
BKRS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).
The Bank of England raised
interest rates 0.25 percentage points to 4 percent, making Britain’s borrowing
costs higher than the rest of Europe and the US, as the bank seeks to curb rapid
borrowing among consumers. The European Central Bank kept rates in the euro zone
steady at 2%, but once again warned about the strength of the euro. The Group of
Seven begins a two-day meeting tomorrow.
After the close, Electronic
Data
(
EDS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported 0.12 vs 0.11, but after a large charge it becomes a
loss of (0.74). The stock was halted after the close. Maxim Integrated
(
MXIM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
came in at 0.28, beating by a penny and beat on revenues. Getty Images
(
GYI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
beat by 0.03 after factoring in a gain. THQ Inc.
(
THQI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was in-line,
as was Watson
(
WPI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). Adolph Coors
(
RKY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was way above
expectations at 0.98.
Pixar said it would begin looking for a new film distribution partner
next month. Medtronic
(
MDT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) cut its quarterly revenue expectations
For tomorrow’s employment number, consensus expectation is for a gain of 175,000
jobs.
| Dow | +24.81 |
10495.55 |
| S&P 500 |
+2.07 | 1128.59 |
| Nasdaq | +5.42 | 2019.56 |
The day’s leading sectors were Internet
(
GIN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.85%, Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.71, Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.33%, Amex Gold Bugs
(
HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.94%, and Retail
(
RTH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.04%.
Weak today were Oil
(
OIH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.79%, Oil Services
(
OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.55%, and Natural Gas
(
XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.59%.
Economic news releases included
lower-than-expected productivity that rose 2.7%, and Initial Claims that rose to
365K on a weekly basis.
10-year Notes were -145
at 113 075
The dollar
was +0.04 at 86.88
Gold was -2.46 at 397.75
Crude Oil was +0.05 at
33.08
Volume was
1,572,506,000 on
the NYSE, and 1,954,105,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1744 | Up Vol 915 |
| Declining | 1536 | Down Vol 650 |
| Ratio | 1.13 | 1.40 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 1780 | Up Vol 1034 |
| Declining | 1410 | Dow Vol 874 |
| Ratio | 1.26 | 1.18 |
Stocks in the news:
Softdrink manufacturer PepsiCo
(
PEP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported higher profits on strength from its Gatorade and diet softdrinks
divisions. The company earned $897 million on revenue of $8.07 billion.
Akamai Technologies
(
AKAM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
posted fourth-quarter revenue of $45.2 million and narrowed its loss to $2.1
million, down from $3.9 million the previous quarter. Its shares rose 20% on
the positive earnings and positive growth outlook.
Abercrombie and Fitch
(
ANF |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
raised earnings forecasts on strong sales for the month of January. It now
expects to surpass previous forecasts of 93 cents a share as same-store sales
rose by 2% for the month.
Sales at BJ’s Wholesale
(
BJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose
by 8.8%, beating Wall Street estimates, with shares jumping 7%. BJ’s also
raised fourth-quarter earnings past previous estimates of 64 cents a share.
Level 3 Communications
(
LVLT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported higher revenues of 988 million from $926 million a year ago, with a net
loss of $121 million. The company also reported possible lower revenue due to
lower demand for its dial-up services as AOL
(
TWX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) noted it will lower its
dialup capacity and purchases.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com