LONDON (SHARECAST) - -Spanish 10 year bond yields down 1bp to 5.94%
-Bank of America to pay $2.43bn in settlement
-Nike off on China demand concern
-Consumer confidence pressured by stagnant incomes
-Personal income well below forecasts (with revisions)
-Chicago PMI at 3 year low
-Chicago PMI not signaling substantial further decline -Barclays
-Fisher afraid Fed painting itself into a corner with QE3
Dow Jones Industrial: -0.36%
Nasdaq Comp.: -065%
S&P 500: -0.45%
Wall Street benchmarks finished in the red on the last trading day of a quarter which saw the S&P 500 rise by almost 9% at one point.
That after, mid-way through the session, Spain´s announcement of a smaller than expected capital shortfall at its banks –of 53.9bn euros- led to an advance in shares which almost took them into the blue.
Thus, investors have been left wondering whether the end-of-quarter weakness –despite fund managers´ presumed best attempts at window dressing- is a harbinger of further weakness to come or, rather, just a light dose of profit-taking.
Sportswear firm Nike announced earnings after the bell –on Thursday- which came in ahead of expectations, although it faces the hurdle of slowing growth in China. This pressured its shares.
Bank of America has agreed to a $2.43bn settlement with investors who suffered losses during its acquisition of Merrill Lynch.
Losses, also reported Thursday night, by Research In Motion, the maker of the still popular but no longer market-leading Blackberry smart-phone, were not as bad as feared. Its stock bounced back by 5% after earlier having risen by close to 20%. Worth noting perhaps, some market commentary on the company continued to be rather poor.
Crown Castle agreed to acquire the rights to operate 7,200 cellular towers from T-Mobile USA for $2.4bn, giving the carrier’s owner Deutsche Telekom cash to invest in its US wireless network.
From a sector stand-point the worst performers were: Renewable energy equipment(-4.22%), Tires (-1.93%) and computer hardware (-1.92%).
Amongst the most heavily traded issues on the NYSE were: Ford, Sprint and Bank of America.
Weak income numbersOn the macro-economic front, US personal consumption expenditures (PCE) in August were up 0.5%, in line with expectations, after rising 0.4% in July.
However, personal income was up 0.1%, slightly below expectations of a 0.2% increase. The July reading was revised to show a 0.1% gain from 0.3% previously. The personal savings rate fell to 3.7% from 4.1% in July.
The Core PCE index rose 0.1% in August, as expected. Core prices were up 1.6% from a year earlier, versus a 1.3% annual increase in July.
The notoriously volatile regional Chicago NAPM manufacturing sector purchasing managers' index for the month of September has come in at 49.7 (Consensus: 53), after a reading of 53 for the previous month. The new orders sub-index has come in at 47.4 (from 54.8) while the prices paid sub-index has printed a reading of 63.2 (after 57).
“While this report is soft on the whole, the Chicago PMI had been running well above the ISM since 2011. We view the September print as bringing the Chicago PMI in line with the softer prints in the other manufacturing surveys rather than signaling a more substantial future decline,” comment analysts at Barclays Research.
The University of Michigan's gauge of consumer confidence for the month of September has come in at 78.3 (Consensus: 79) after the previous month's reading of 74.3 and a preliminary print of 79.2.
The current situation sub-index fell to 85.7 from 88.3 (Consensus: 88) -largely reflecting stagnant income trends- but the expectations component actually rose; to 73.5 from 73.4 (Consensus: 73).
Inflation expectations one year out fell to 3.3% year-on-year from 3.5%, while expectations five years out remained unchanged at 2.8% year-on-year.
Other asset classes little changedFront month West Texas crude futures closed up slightly, by 0.27%, at the 92.10 dollar level on the NYMEX.
10 year US Treasuries rose by 6/32 dollars, with yields at 1.63%.
Credit Suisse expects to see the ounce of gold trading above the 1,800/oz. mark in three months´ time.
S&P 500 - Risers
Accenture Plc (ACN) $70.03 +7.11%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $77.39 +3.88%
Coach Inc. (COH) $56.02 +3.15%
Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (EW) $107.37 +1.75%
Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. (WPI) $85.16 +1.73%
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $69.89 +1.70%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $19.09 +1.60%
Janus Capital Group Inc. (JNS) $9.44 +1.51%
Iron Mountain Inc. (IRM) $34.11 +1.46%
PPL Corp. (PPL) $29.05 +1.43%
S&P 500 - Fallers
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $22.15 -4.18%
Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR) $17.11 -3.17%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $30.96 -3.04%
JDS Uniphase Corp. (JDSU) $12.38 -2.98%
LSI Corporation (LSI) $6.91 -2.95%
Lexmark International Inc. (LXK) $22.25 -2.71%
Alpha Natural Res (ANR) $6.57 -2.67%
Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX) $62.63 -2.52%
Denbury Resources Inc. (DNR) $16.16 -2.30%
Federated Investors Inc. (FII) $20.69 -2.27%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $19.09 +1.60%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $60.37 +0.82%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $207.45 +0.75%
American Express Co. (AXP) $56.86 +0.51%
Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) $41.35 +0.38%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $69.36 +0.09%
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Intel Corp. (INTC) $22.66 -1.86%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $91.75 -1.63%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $8.83 -1.56%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $8.85 -1.45%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $29.76 -1.33%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $50.27 -1.12%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $86.04 -1.01%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $37.93 -0.99%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $17.06 -0.96%
AT&T Inc. (T) $37.70 -0.76%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM) $7.50 +5.04%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $77.39 +3.88%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $116.89 +2.00%
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $69.89 +1.70%
Infosys Technologies Ltd. (INFY) $48.54 +1.70%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $19.09 +1.60%
Warner Chilcott Plc (WCRX) $13.50 +1.43%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $54.06 +1.16%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $114.40 +1.02%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $76.53 +0.93%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR) $23.74 -4.08%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $30.96 -3.04%
Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX) $62.63 -2.52%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $667.10 -2.09%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $54.44 -2.00%
Flextronics International Ltd. (FLEX) $6.00 -1.96%
Altera Corp. (ALTR) $34.00 -1.93%
Fossil Inc. (FOSL) $84.70 -1.88%
Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (MRVL) $9.15 -1.88%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $22.66 -1.86%
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