Stocks Jump, Wyeth Sold, Home Sales Surprise

  • January 26, 2009
  • Dave Goodboy

The stock market surged today on a positive home sales figure, optimism over Pfizer buying out Wyeth, and rising leading economic indicators. The DJIA surged intraday prior to pulling back, closing up +38.47 to 8116.03, the tech heavy Nasdaq was pulled along for the ride, ending the day up +12.17 to 1489.46 and the broad based market barometer S&P 500 added +4.62 to 836.57.

Caterpillar
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PowerRating) rained on the optimistic day with cuts in its 2009 profit forecast. The stock closed down 8.41% or $3.00 to $32.66/share.

Ford
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Sovereign
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PowerRating) climbed 4.65% or 0.10 cents to $2.25/share after announcing an expected profit of $750 million by 2011.

Home Depot
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PowerRating) added 4.56% or 0.99 cents to $22.71/share upon announcing job cuts, store closures, and other cost cutting measures.

Oil fell 0.74 cents to $45.66, gold added $13.00 to $910.70 and the fear index VIX dipped 3.34% to 45.69.

Market Snapshot

Dow

 +38.47 8116.03

NASDAQ

 +12.17 1489.46

S&P 500

 +4.62 836.57

Economic
News

Existing Home Sales (Dec): Consensus: 4.40M, Prior: 4.49M

Leading Indicators (Dec): Consensus: -0.3%, Prior: -0.4%

Consumer Confidence (Jan): Consensus: 38.0, Prior: 38.0

S&P/CaseShiller Composite (Nov): Consensus: NA, Prior: -18.04%

Crude Inventories (Jan. 23): Consensus: NA, Prior: 6.1 min

FOMC Rate Decision (Jan. 28): Consensus: NA, Prior: 0-0.25

Durable Orders (Dec): Consensus: -1.8%, Prior: -1.5%

Initial Claims (Jan. 24): Consensus: 575K, Prior: 589K

New Home Sales (Dec): Consensus: 400K, Prior: 407K

Chain Deflator-Adv. (Q4): Consensus: 0.6%, Prior: 3.9%

GDP-Adv. (Q4): Consensus: -5.4%, Prior: -0.5%

Chicago PMI (Jan): Consensus: 34.0, Prior: 34.1

Mich Sentiment-Rev (Jan): Consensus: 61.9, Prior: 61.9

Employment Cost Index (Q4): Consensus: 0.7%, Prior: 0.7%