This Dividend Slashed By 90%
Stocks
are higher after the much anticipated jobs number was released. Jobs
in January grew by 112,000 — the fastest pace in three years. The nation’s unemployment rate
fell to 5.6%, the lowest since January 2002, but jobs growth numbers
disappointed some as consensus was 165,000 and because 70% of the new jobs were
added to the retail sector. The December jobs number was revised to 16,000 from
1,000. Health Insurer Cigna
(
CI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported higher earnings despite a drop in enrollment. Earnings rose to $290
million on revenue of $4.5 billion. CI also announced it would cut dividends
from 33 cents to 2.5 cents a share and reduce expenses by eliminating 3000 jobs.
California Micro Devices
(
CAMD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported earnings of a $2.5 million
vs. a $164,000 loss last year. Revenue rose 14% to $17 million. CAMD shares are
up 23% for the day. Telecommunications maker
Ericsson
(
ERICY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported earnings of $13.6 million on revenue of
$4.9 billion. Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock on the news and ERICY is trading
11% higher..
| Dow | +56.98 |
10522.76 |
| S&P 500 |
+9.44 | 1138.56 |
| Nasdaq | +28.55 |
2048.14 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Semis
(
SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +3.07%, Amex Gold Bugs
(
HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +3.14%,
Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.75%, Networking
(
NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+2.10%, and Hardware
(
GHA.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.94%,
The Services sector
(
GSV.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is down -0.11%.
Economic news releases included
lower-than-expected Average Workweek hours at 33.7, and Productivity levels up
2.7%. Nonfarm payrolls fell to 112K, and the unemployment rate fell to 5.6%.
10-year Notes are +255
at 114 010
The dollar
is -0.95 at 86.17
Gold is +5.80 at 404.60
Crude Oil is -0.32 at
31.83
Volume is 682,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 940,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 2323 | Up Vol 534 |
| Declining | 819 | Down Vol 139 |
| Ratio | 2.83 | 2.11 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 2105 | Up Vol 744 |
| Declining | 937 | Dow Vol 178 |
| Ratio | 2.31 | 4.17 |
Top Dow stocks are:
Citigroup [C|C],
+2.22% at 49.18, Caterpillar
(
CAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.22% at 78.07, Home Depot
[HD|HD], +2.13% at
36.24, and Intel [INTC|INTC]
+2.02% at 30.51.
Stocks in the news:
American Power Conversion
(
APCC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
posted a $58 million profit or 28 cents a share on revenue of $430.6 million, up
20%. The company traded lower on a downgrade by Stephens Inc.
Corning
(
GLW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reaffirmed its
earnings outlook on $800 million sales at 4 cents a share, citing strong demand
for LCDs and stable telecommunications operations.
McDonalds
(
MCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported a 13.4%
rise for same-store US sales, with total European sales up by 25.6%. Bank of
America raised MCD’s full-year earnings estimates by 2 cents.
GlaxoSmithKline is expected to book a
$403 million legal charge in its 2003 fourth quarter after settling a US
anti-trust case over its arthritis drug Relafen.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com