| CATEGORY: MARKET REPORT - US CLOSE |
US close: Dull end to week |
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Fri 20 Nov 2009
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LONDON (SHARECAST) - US shares ended the week lower following disappointing figures from PC supplier Dell last night, while a dollar rally hit resource companies.
Nasdaq closed down 11 points at 2,146, while the S&P 500 index shed threepoints lower at 1,091. The narrowly based Dow Jones Industrial Average gave back 14 points at 10,318.
Dell’s third-quarter revenue and profits missed Wall Street projections, but sales rose 1% from the second quarter and the company said that they would continue to increase in the coming months, marking three periods of sequential improvement.
Third quarter profits dropped to $337m, or 17c a share, from $727m, or 37c, a year earlier as sales shrank to $12.9bn from $15.2bn.
Unemployment rose in 29 US states in October. Michigan’s jobless rate of 15.1% was the highest.
Pharma companies were among the few risers in the Dow. Merck has gained a recommendation for the approval of a fertility drug by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency. Pfizer rose in sympathy.
Jam and preserves maker Smuckers was sharply higher after underlying earnings for the second quarter came in substantially ahead of market expectations.
Fashion retailer Gap posted a 25% rise in quarterly profit as sales rebounded at its Old Navy chain and the company recorded its highest margins in a decade. Sales at Gap stores, as well as its more upscale brand Banana Republic, remained sluggish.
House builder D R Horton’s shares suffered from subsidence after the company’s fourth quarter figures revealed a loss of 73 cents per share, much worse than the market had been expecting. Sector peer Pulte Homes falls in sympathy following a rise earlier in the week when Citigroup raised its recommendation on the stock from hold to buy.
S&P 500 - Risers
Smuckers J M (SJM) $56.35 +5.37%
Gamestop Corp. (GME) $25.49 +4.04%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $36.46 +3.20%
First Horizon Ntl Corp. (FHN) $13.12 +2.90%
S&P 500 - Fallers
D R Horton Inc. (DHI) $10.37 -15.35%
Dell Inc. (DELL) $14.29 -9.96%
Nabors Inds Inc. (NBR) $19.83 -5.75%
GANNETT CO INC (GCI) $10.38 -4.68%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $36.46 +3.20%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $18.36 +1.38%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $57.48 +1.05%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $63.97 +0.88%
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $57.95 -1.13%
General Electric Co. (GE) $15.59 -1.08%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $23.43 -1.04%
3M Co. (MMM) $76.64 -0.79%
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