Stocks Close Lower On Higher Oil, Economic Data
Stocks fell Tuesday, despite a
late day rally. October has been a
frustrating month for traders, and today started with a disappointing consumer
confidence number. Consumer confidence fell to a two-year low in October,
to 85.0 vs the 88.0 consensus. Hurricanes and high gas prices were to blame.
Existing home sales were unchanged at 7.28 million. Natural gas rose more
than 8% and crude rose over 3% to $62.44. British Petroleum
(
BP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported profits up 34% last quarter.
After the bell Amazon
(
AMZN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by
0.02 at 0.12, ex-items, and issued less than upbeat guidance. Q3 earnings fell
44%. The stock traded lower after hours. Flextronics
(
FLEX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) missed
by 0.02 and missed on revenues; the company also guided lower. Computer
Associates
(
CA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was in-line at 0.24; the company also increased its share
repurchase program by $200 million. Chiron
(
CHIR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) missed by 0.06.
Google
(
GOOG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announced Google Base,
which the company describes as "an early-stage test of a product that enables
content owners to easily send their content to Google." Analysts feel this
brings Google closer to competing with EBay.
Texas Instruments
(
TXN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.02–with net income up 12% from a year ago–but gave a
weaker outlook for Q4.
International Paper
(
IP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.08, ex-items. Sales were lighter than expected. (story)
DuPont
(
DD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported its first quarterly loss in two years, citing hurricane related costs.
The company reported a loss of (0.09) vs. the average 0.37 estimate.
DuPont also announced a $5 billion stock buyback. (story)
IBM authorized a $4 billion stock buyback.
Strong sectors were: Natural Gas
(
XNG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.96% Oil Services
(
OSX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.94%
Oil
(
XOI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.84%
Weak sectors were:
Healthcare
(
HMO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -4.26% Airlines [XAL|XAL
-2.23%] Retail
(
RLX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.71%
|
|
-7.13 | 10,377.87 |
| -6.38 | 2109.45 | |
| -2.84 | 1196.54 |
More stocks on the move:
Lockheed
Martin
(
LMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.06 and guided 2005 higher. Revenues were slightly
lower than estimates. The company also raised its dividend to 0.30 from 0.25.
Lexmark
(
LXK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
beat by 0.12, ex-items, and guided lower. (story)
Building Materials
(
BMHC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported $2.81, handily beating the Reuters estimate of $2.13.
Halliburton
(
HAL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
beat by 0.13.
Brice Wightman