Stocks finish higher after a tough week
Stocks staged a short-lived
rally after this morning’s September jobs report, but drifted in a range the
rest of the session, closing slightly higher.
Nonfarm payrolls for September fell 35,000, better than expected; the
unemployment rate was 5.1%. The full impact of Hurricane Katrina did not show up
in the numbers. Average hourly earnings rose 0.2%.
The S&P 500 was off -2.8% this week on inflation
fears and higher interest rates. Crude oil fell 5% on the week. Gold is near an
18-year high.
Accenture
(
ACN |
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PowerRating) beat by 0.02 and beat
on revenues. Quarterly profits rose 25%.
Blockbuster
(
BBI |
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PowerRating) said that its goal
of reaching 2 million subscribers would be reached later in 2006 than it had
originally anticipated.
Meritage
(
MTH |
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PowerRating) reiterated last week’s
guidance of $8.25 -$8.50 for 2005 and said new home orders rose 33%. The company
also said its backlog jumped 85% from last year to $2.5 billion.
UT Starcom
(
UTSI |
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PowerRating) lowered Q3 revenue
guidance and said it was the subject of a formal SEC inquiry.
Wholesale inventories rose 0.5% vs. the
0.4% consensus.
Strong sectors were: Gold
(
XAU |
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PowerRating) +2.78% Natural Gas
(
XNG |
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PowerRating)
+2.23% Oil
(
XOI |
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PowerRating) +2.13
Weak sectors were:
Airlines
(
XAL |
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PowerRating) -0.47% Drugs
(
DRG |
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PowerRating)
-0.42%
|
|
+5.21 | 10,292.31 |
| +6.27 | 2090.35 | |
| +4.41 | 1195.90 |
More stocks on the move::
Wyeth
(
WYE |
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PowerRating) Q3 boosted its Q3 guidance.
Lehman Brothers reiterated its ‘overweight’ rating
on Halliburton
(
HAL |
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PowerRating).
Oxford Industries
(
OXM |
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PowerRating) beat by 0.18
but issued mixed guidance for the second quarter and for 2006.
A unit of Perini Corp.
(
PCR |
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PowerRating) was
awarded a large contract to build Trump International Hotel & Tower Las Vegas.
Value: $370 million.
Odyssey Re Holdings
(
ORH |
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PowerRating) said it
expects a much larger Q3 loss dur to Katrina. Originally the company expected
$80-$100 million in pre-tax losses; now it believes that figure is closer to
$225 million.
Brice Wightman