The Expanding Economy And What That Might Mean To You
Stocks are flat this mid-day with continued positive earnings news.
Alan Greenspan spoke today and said that the US economy has entered a period of
more vigorous expansion and may require higher interest rates to keep inflation
in check. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s Applications Index fell for the
fifth straight week
as 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 5.84%
from 5.77% the week before.
Ford Motor
(
F |
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Chart |
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PowerRating) posted
earnings that more than doubled to $1.95 billion on strong gains in its
automotive business. Ford was able to slash costs by $600 million. The company
upped full-year earnings forecasts to $1.55 a share. Motorola
(
MOT |
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PowerRating)
surprised Wall Street by earning $609 million with revenue up a whopping 42% to
$8.6 million, well ahead of estimates. MOT is trading up 18%. Its handset
division experienced a 67% increase in sales with profits that more than
tripled. The semiconductor unit reversed course and went back to the black,
earning $ 107 million with sales up 21% to $1.4 billion.
| Dow | +3.58 | 10318.32 |
| S&P 500 |
+5.92 | 1124.89 |
| Nasdaq | +10.45 |
2019.01 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Healthcare Provider
(
RXH.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.32%, Networking
(
NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.48%, Healthcare
(
HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.31%, Semis
(
SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.34%.
Weak today are Amex Gold
Bugs
(
HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.31%, Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.06%,
No Economic news releases
today.
10-year Notes are -100
at 110 250
The dollar
is +0.57 at 91.32
Gold is -0.37 at 394.60
Crude Oil is -0.40 at
36.10
Volume is 832,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 1,098,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is negative.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing |
1301 | Up Vol 454 |
| Declining | 1849 | Down Vol 369 |
| Ratio | 1.39 | 1.22 |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing |
1569 | Up Vol 623 |
| Declining |
1412 | Down Vol 396 |
| Ratio | 1.11 | 1.55 |
Top Dow stocks are:
Kodak
(
EK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.84% at
25.72, Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.04% at 47.12, SBC Communications
(
SBC |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.63% at 24.70, General Motors
(
GM |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.36% at 48.43,
Stocks in the news:
Teradyne
(
TER |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted net income of $40.2 million
with sales up at $430.6 on strong demand for its test and measurement equipment.
For the next quarter, it expects earnings to reach 35 cents with sales exceeding
$500 million.
Kodak
(
EK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) earnings more than tripled from strong
digital camera sales and a declining dollar. Profits rose to $28 million with
revenue up to $2.92 billion.
United Technologies
(
UTX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) earned $579 million in
the first-quarter with sales up $ 29% to $8.6 billion, both ahead of Wall Street
consensus.
Warren Buffett was re-elected to the Coca-Cola
(
KO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
board after the company reported earnings that rose to $1.13 billion with sales
up to $5.08 billion. Its international sales was strong, with a 4% volume growth
in Europe, 14% 16% in Argentina and in China.
Brice Wightman
bricew@tradingmarkets.com