October 13, 2009

October 13, 2009
U.S. stocks on Tuesday struggled in mixed terrain shortly after the opening bell, with investors braced for more earnings after mixed results from health-care giant Johnson & Johnson. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22 points to 9,863. J&J is down 3% even though they beat results due to a lower tax rate. The S&P 500 Index fell 2 points to 1,074. The Nasdaq Composite rose 5 points to 2,144. The strength so far is with the techs. Cisco is higher after agreeing to buy Starnet Networks for $2.9 billion. Starnet is up 17% on the news. Plenty of upgrades within the techs including AMD, EMC, Apple, Yahoo, Akamai Tech, and Google. All are modestly higher. The financials are quiet after a nice run up. Citigroup is higher on an upgrade. Goldman Sachs is lower by 2% on a downgrade. A number of upgrades within the retail sector. Pacific Sunwear is up 9% on an upgrade. Decker Outdoors and Callaway are higher on upgrades. Pier One is up 15% on better than expected September sales numbers. Even with this good news, the averages remain near the unchanged level or in the red. Quiet day so far. Through the morning and into the afternoon, the averages remained in the red. The techs are performing well ahead of Intel's earnings tonight. Everything else is quiet. The healthcare sector continues to underperform due to mixed results at J&J this morning and the heated debate over the healthcare reform in Washington. In the last hour, not much changed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 14 points to end at 9,871. The S&P 500 Index declined 2 points to 1,073, while the technology-laden Nasdaq Composite stood at 2,139, up less than 1 point.


October 12, 2009
U.S. stocks opened higher Monday, with energy and materials pacing sector gains, as a weaker dollar once again bolstered the price of commodities. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 36 points to 9,901. The S&P 500 Index gained 5 points to 1,077. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 11 points to 2,150. A big week for earnings starts tomorrow. The techs continue to perform well. Goldman Sachs upped Google's price target to $585 from $560 on higher earnings estimates from 2009 to 2011. The broker's discussions with advertising agencies, including a dinner he hosted with senior agency executives, point to rising spending on Google since June, led by travel, clothing and home improvement advertisers. Goldman kept Google's rating at conviction buy. And, in their own research note on Google on Monday, J.P. Morgan analysts raised their earnings per share and revenue targets for the tech giant's third quarter. Morgan's team now sees third quarter earnings per share at $5.41, compared to their prior $5.20 cents estimate. They upped their revenue target to $4.27 billion for the third quarter, compared to $4.12 billion previously. Through the day the averages remain in the green, but quiet. Many investors may not know that the market is open on this Columbus Holiday. In the last hour, the averages pulled back, but remain in the green. Plenty of earnings starting tomorrow. Finishing at its highest level since early October of 2008, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 20 points to end at 9,885. The S&P 500 Index gained 4 points to 1,076, while the Nasdaq composite skidded fractionally lower to end at 2,139.