US open: Stock bounce continues despite housing data
Thu 25 Oct 2012
LONDON (SHARECAST) - -Ford expects European losses to exceed $1.5bn this year
Dow Jones Industrial: 0.54%
Nasdaq Comp.: 0.55%
S&P 500: 0.59%
The main US equity benchmarks are now registering moderate advances following the release of somewhat mixed economic indicators and much the same on the corporate front.
Fifty-four companies in the S&P 500 were scheduled to release results today. Earnings at about 71% of the index’s companies have beat analysts’ estimates, while third-quarter sales missed forecasts at 61% of firms, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The corporate news-flow today seems a bit mixed but nonetheless better than when compared with the last few days’.
Quarterly earnings from Procter&Gamble and Aetna have both come in ahead of expectations.
Akamai Technologies is rocketing higher after reporting sales and earnings which beat estimates.
Analysts at Oppenheimer & Co. have raised their recommendation on the company’s shares to outperform from market perform, with a target price of $50 per share.
Slightly mixed economic data
Initial US weekly unemployment claims have fallen by 23,000 to 369,000 (Consensus: 370,000), while the previous week's data has been revised slightly higher.
Durable goods orders for the month of September have come in at a 9.9% month-on-month rate of increase (Consensus: 7.5%). Excluding the transportation sector orders increased at a 2% month-on-month rate (Consensus: 0.9%).
Core capital goods orders (excluding revisions) have also come in ahead of forecasts.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s national activity index for the month of September has come in at 0.00 (Consensus: -0.20).
US pending home sales increased by 0.3% month-on-month in September (Consensus: 2.5%). Versus the previous year they increased by 8.5%, instead of the 17.4% foreseen by economists.
This was Barclays's take on that last report: "Pending home sales have not had as strong a relationship with existing home sales in recent years given tightened credit standards and the higher rate of cancellations prior to close, but the broad trend in pending home sales mirrors that of the broader housing market and is, yet again, another indicator suggesting that the recovery in housing has broadened and has sustained momentum."
Treasury yields rise
Front month West Texas crude futures are now bouncing by 0.91% to the 86.51 dollar per barrel level on the NYMEX.
10 year US Treasuries are now down by 15/32 dollars with yields at 1.82%.
S&P 500 - Fallers
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $81.82 -12.32%
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (CLF) $38.97 -8.71%
Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. (MJN) $65.46 -5.83%
Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) $16.00 -5.42%
Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI) $26.80 -4.18%
AutoNation Inc. (AN) $46.15 -3.93%
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (HOT) $51.95 -2.77%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $62.48 -2.50%
Range Resources Corp. (RRC) $65.11 -2.38%
Motorola Solutions Inc (MSI) $50.38 -2.33%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $70.30 +3.26%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $25.61 +1.19%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $42.15 +1.05%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $14.19 +1.03%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $71.34 +0.85%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $44.59 +0.81%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $46.25 +0.81%
General Electric Co. (GE) $21.43 +0.80%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $192.22 +0.79%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $9.38 +0.75%
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Boeing Co. (BA) $72.03 -0.94%
AT&T Inc. (T) $34.50 -0.61%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $17.29 -0.52%
3M Co. (MMM) $87.95 -0.50%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $77.79 -0.14%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $18.83 +8.34%
Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) $38.54 +6.73%
PACCAR Inc. (PCAR) $42.17 +6.57%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $118.71 +5.72%
Stericycle Inc. (SRCL) $92.89 +4.29%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $96.63 +3.28%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $24.62 +2.84%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $46.52 +2.78%
Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB) $145.92 +2.72%
Randgold Resources Ltd. Ads (GOLD) $119.74 +2.26%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $81.82 -12.32%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $62.48 -2.50%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $47.12 -1.77%
Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) $42.57 -1.25%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $46.56 -1.20%
Expedia Inc. (EXPE) $51.70 -1.09%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $17.29 -0.52%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $227.51 -0.43%
Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) $32.15 -0.37%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $614.70 -0.35%
LONDON (SHARECAST) - -Ford expects European losses to exceed $1.5bn this year
