When Good News Is…Good News!
Stocks are higher amid a mix of economic news.
Consumer confidence index rose
unexpectedly to 92.9 on optimism of an economic recovery. This is the first rise
in four months. Leading steel producer United States Steel
(
X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported
its first quarterly profit in five quarters with income at $58 million, beating
estimates by 9 cents with revenue up 55% to $2.97 billion. Continued demand from
China and a weak dollar contributed to the positive numbers.
ImClone
(
IMCL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) turned a profit of
$62.7 million with revenue up 500% to $109.6 million, both way ahead of
analysts’ estimates. IMCL said its Erbitux sales were strong and that they are
awaiting approval from the EU for sale overseas. Verizon
(
VZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported
earnings of $1.2 billion with revenue at $17.14 from subscriber growth at its
Verizon wireless division. VZ also managed to add 345,000 DSL customer for a
total of 2.7 million subscribers.
So far, more that 3/4 of
companies reporting beat Wall Street forecasts, with only 10% missing.
| Dow | +67.35 |
10512.44 |
| S&P 500 |
+8.36 | 1143.53 |
| Nasdaq | +4.87 | 2041.59 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Oil Services
(
OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +3.70%, Energy
(
DXE.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.39%,
Oil Index
(
XOI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.68%, Natural Gas
(
XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.53%.
Weak today are Telecoms
(
XTC.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.55%, Hardware
(
HWI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.47%.
Economic news releases today:Â
Consumer confidence index higher at 92.9.
10-year Notes are +10 at
110 260
The dollar
is -0.17 at 90.68
Gold is -0.20 at 395.80
Crude Oil is +0.33 at
37.30
Volume is 700,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 909,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing |
1928 | Up Vol 466 |
| Declining | 1228 | Down Vol 218 |
| Ratio | 1.58 | 1.01 |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing |
1594 | Up Vol 484 |
| Declining |
1455 | Down Vol 410 |
| Ratio | 1.08 | 1.17 |
Top Dow stocks are:
Honeywell
(
HON |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2.72% at 35.71, Exxon Mobil
(
XOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.69% at 43.70, Pfizer
(
PFE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.65% at 36.02, Altria
(
MO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.62% at 56.43,Â
Stocks in the news:
Lockheed Martin
(
LMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported earnings that rose 16% to $291
million with revenue up 18% to $8.35 billion. The company expects full year
earnings to reach $2.55 a share with revenue at $34 billion.
BJ Services
(
BJS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said increased
drilling activity boosted its quarterly earnings to $73.3 million with revenue
up 21% to $647.1 million.
Immucor
(
BLUD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
received FDA approval for its blood transfusion system and was up 25% on the
news.
IBM increased its dividend 12.5%.
Transocean
(
RIG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted earnings
that fell to $22.7 million but ahead of estimates with revenue up at $652
million.
Brice Wightman
bricew@tradingmarkets.com