| CATEGORY: MARKET REPORT - US SECTOR: HEALTH CARE AND RELATED SERVICES |
US midday: Stocks tread water |
|
Wed 29 Oct 2008
|
Market Movers
Dow Jones 30: 9,080, up 15 (0.17%)
S&P 500: 940, up 0 (0.01%)
NASDAQ Composite: 1,650, up 0 (0.03%)
LONDON (SHARECAST) - US investors adopt a wait-and-see attitude ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision today. A half-point cut from 1.5% to 1% is confidently expected, as are rate cuts by the world’s other major central banks. China's central bank today cut its benchmark interest rates on loans and deposits for the third time in six weeks, while there are strong indications that the Bank of Japan is also considering a rate cut.
On the economic front, the Commerce Department said new orders for manufactured big-ticket items rose 0.8% in September compared to a revised 5.5% fall in August. Experts anticipated a 1.5% drop. September saw a rise in aircraft orders and an increase in defence related orders; with transport equipment exlcuded, order for US durable goods fell by 1.1%.
Domestic cleaning products maker Procter & Gamble saw sales grow 9% to $22bn thanks to sales in its home and baby care divisions.
General Motors reported a 11% drop in third-quarter world-wide sales, with sales in North American down 19% versus a year ago.
Kraft Foods more than doubled diluted third quarter earnings per share (EPS) after the maker of Ritz crackers and Oreo biscuits raised prices to cope with higher commodity prices. Diluted EPS rose to $0.93 from $0.44 over the same period a year ago, as sales climbed 19.4% to $10.5bn.
“Strong organic net revenue growth was driven by pricing actions to offset significantly higher input costs,” the Northfield, Illinois-based company said. "Kraft had a strong quarter in a difficult environment," added chairman and chief executive Irene Rosenfeld.
Breakfast cereal maker Kellogg reported rises in third quarter sales and earnings per share (EPS) despite having to pay higher prices for commodities such as corn and sugar. The company said net sales rose to $3.3bn, up 9% from the same period a year ago, while EPS rose 17% to $0.89 a share.
Kellogg said it now anticipates that 2008 EPS will be closer to the high end of the previous guidance of $2.95 to $3.00, adding that it remains confident of high single digit EPS growth over 2009.
Money manager Legg Mason tops the gainers, after second quarter earnings per share came in ahead of market expectations at $0.97. Analysts had been anticipating earnings of $0.86 per share.
Health insurer Aetna is looking sickly after it slimmed down its earnings forecast for the year as a result of credit-crunch related losses on investments.
Healthcare product maker Johnson & Johnson was the worst performing Dow Jones constituent, after its rating was cut to “neutral” from “overweight” by JPMorgan on fears of competition from generic drugs.
S&P 500 - Risers
Legg Mason Inc. (LM) $17.08 +31.59%
Cit Group Inc. (Del) (CIT) $3.78 +21.94%
Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) $32.93 +18.58%
Autonation Inc. (AN) $5.98 +18.42%
Nabors Inds Inc. (NBR) $14.00 +14.47%
Cons Energy Inc. (CNX) $27.61 +14.14%
Noble Energy Inc. (NBL) $48.89 +13.91%
Range Res Corp. (RRC) $37.92 +12.92%
Wyndham Worldwide (WYN) $6.40 +12.48%
Baker Hughes International (BHI) $34.98 +12.44%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Sealed Air Corp. (SEE) $16.69 -20.56%
Manitowoc Co. (MTW) $9.13 -13.05%
Cigna Corp. (CI) $19.70 -11.46%
Boston Pptys Inc. (BXP) $65.00 -10.34%
Fiserv Inc. (FISV) $30.30 -9.61%
Convergys Corp. (CVG) $6.48 -9.50%
Mckesson Corp. (MCK) $36.49 -8.55%
Aetna Inc. (AET) $25.49 -8.31%
Interpublic Group (IPG) $5.09 -8.12%
Qwest Comm International Inc. (Q) $2.39 -8.08%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $11.20 +3.90%
Boeing Co (BA) $50.63 +3.52%
United Tech (UTX) $53.01 +3.35%
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Johnson and Johnson (JNJ) $61.49 -4.21%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $15.32 -3.37%
Procter Gamble Co (PG) $61.28 -3.08%
|
|
| |
|
 |
Archived Stories |
 |
|
Front Page Stories |
|
|
