Stocks Mixed, Earnings Letdown, Obama Insists

Stocks closed mixed today on poor earnings results and weak growth in the service sector. Pfizer and Ryder Systems led the pack of poor results while the ISM service index missed estimates adding to the bearish tone. President Obama reiterated his support of the near failing health care reform and banking regulations further increasing economic uncertainty. The DJIA fell -26.30 to 10270.55, the Nasdaq eased higher by +0.85 to 2190.91 and the S&P 500 slipped -6.04 to 1097.28.

^APKT^: Jumped higher by 27.37% or $2.92 to $13.59/share after forecasting 2010 profits that beat analysts estimates.

^BGP^: Surged 38.30% or 36 cents to $1.30/share upon billionaire investor William Ackman telling CNBC that it’s more attractive than its competitor.

^PFE^: Led the DJIA lower falling 2.31% or 44 cents to $18.62/share after missing analysts projections.

^TM^: Fell 6% or $4.69 to $73.49/share due to major defects and a Goldman Sachs downgrade.

Oil dropped 27 cents to $76.96, gold fell $5.60 to $1112.30 and the VIX index added 0.56% to 21.60.

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Market Snapshot

Dow

-26.30 10,270.55

NASDAQ

+0.85 2,190.91

S&P 500

-6.04 1,097.28
Economic
News

Personal Income (Dec): Consensus: 0.3%, Prior: 0.5%, Revise From: 0.4%

Personal Spending (Dec): Consensus: 0.3%, Prior: 0.7%, Revise From: 0.5%

Construction Spending (Dec): Consensus: -0.5%, Prior: -1.2%, Revise From: -0.6%

ISM Index (Jan): Consensus: 55.5, Prior: 54.9

Pending Home Sales (Dec): Consensus: 1.1%, Prior: -16.0%

Auto Sales (Jan): Consensus: NA, Prior: 4.14M

Truck Sales (Jan): Consensus: NA, Prior: 4.49M

Challenger Job Cuts (Jan): Consensus: NA, Prior: -72.9%

ADP Employment Change (Jan): Consensus: -40K, Prior: -84K

ISM Services (Jan): Consensus: 50.9, Prior: 50.1

Crude Inventories (01/29): Consensus: NA, Prior: -3.89M

Initial Claims (01/30): Consensus: 454K, Prior: 470K

Continuing Claims (01/30): Consensus: 4600K, Prior: 4602K

Productivity-Prel (Q4): Consensus: 6.0%, Prior: 8.1%

Unit Labor Costs – Preliminary (Q4): Consensus: -2.5%, Prior: -2.5%

Factory Orders (Dec): Consensus: 0.6%, Prior: 1.1%

Nonfarm Payrolls (Jan): Consensus: 13K, Prior: -85K

Unemployment Rate (Jan): Consensus: 10.0%, Prior: 10.0%

Average Workweek (Jan): Consensus: 33.2, Prior: 33.2

Hourly Earnings (Jan): Consensus: 0.2%, Prior: 0.2%

Consumer Credit (Dec): Consensus: -$9.5B, Prior: -$17.5B