Oil Made Record Highs. So Why Was This Sector Up?
Stocks were mixed after a
morning gap-up. Q4 productivity rose
2.1%. Jobless claims fell 1000 to 310,000, in-line. The 4-week moving average
fell 1500 to 307, 000, the lowest level since October 2000. Continuing claims
were 2.67 million. The ISM was 59.8 February, slightly below expectations, vs
59.2 for January. Any number above 50 indicates expansion.
Same store sales were generally higher. Eighty-four percent of retailers are
beat expectations for February, which is impressive because of tough comps and
wet weather in the West. Overall, sales are up 4.4% from last year.
For the second straight day, an intraday oil
surge stopped the rally. Brent crude closed at a historic high in London,
52.58. In the US, crude topped $55/barrel. An OPEC representative said he
couldn’t rule out spikes to $80/barrel. Airlines, curiously, were up on the day.
Coach
(
COH |
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PowerRating) beat and raised second half guidance. Limited
(
LTD |
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PowerRating)
said same store sales fell 4%. Starbucks’
(
SBUX |
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PowerRating)Â same store sales rose 9% in February.
The Wall Street Journal reports that ChevronTexaco
(
CVX |
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PowerRating)
may be interested in buying Unocal
(
UCL |
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PowerRating). Many energy stocks made
historic highs, including MRO, PXY and SUN.
Fannie Mae
(
FNM |
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PowerRating) may required to recognize $2.8 in additional
derivative losses due to new accounting concerns.
WalMart
(
WMT |
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PowerRating) is raising its dividend by 0.08 to 0.60/share; the
company has raised its dividend every year since going public.
The average tax return is $2400, up 9% from last
year. One-half of all returns are now filed electronically.
Martha Stewart is due to be released from prison anytime after 12:01 AM
tomorrow. Martha made $26.25 over the last 5 months working at the prison in
Alderson.
Strong sectors were: Oil Services
(
$OSX.X |
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PowerRating)
+2.36%Â Â Oil
(
$XOI.X |
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PowerRating) +2.32%Â Â Â
Airlines
(
$XAL.X |
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PowerRating) +1.93%Â Â
Weak sectors were: GoldÂ
(
$HUI.X |
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PowerRating)
–1.51% Â Semis
(
SOX.X |
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PowerRating) -1.27%Â Â Hardware Â
(
$HWI.X |
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PowerRating)
-1.08%Â Â
Dow | +20.40 | 10,832.59 |
Nasdaq | -8.80 | 2058.40 |
S&P 500 | +0.30 | 1210.38 |
The dollar was +0.19 at
83.30
Crude Oil was +0.45 at
53.50
Gold was -2.90 to 429.80
ce=”Arial” size=”2″ face=”Arial”>Volume was 1.6 billion on the NYSE and
1.87 billion on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was positive.
NYSE | Issues | |
Advancing | 1790 | Up Vol 768 |
Declining | 1484 | Down Vol 672 |
1.20 | 1.14 | |
Nasdaq |
||
Advancing | 1505 | Up Vol 684 |
Declining | 1610 | Down Vol 1034 |
1.06 | 1.51 |
Stocks in the News
WalMart
(
WMT |
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PowerRating) same store sales rose 4.1% in February; the company
said it will do even better in March.
Astrazeneca
(
AZN |
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PowerRating) said the FDA approved revisions for Crestor.Â
Numis Securities says “The data points out that Crestor suffers from the same
incidence of the rare side effect of serious muscle weakness to other statins,
and from this there would appear nothing to support the critics of the drug.”
Petsmart
(
PETM |
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PowerRating) missed revenue estimates.
Brice Wightman