The Week In Review
5/4-5/8/09
May 8, 2009U.S. stocks started higher on Friday, with investors heartened by Labor Department data illustrating a slowdown in job losses in April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 99 points to 8,509. McDonalds is up 3% on better than expected April sales. The S&P 500 rose 11 points to 918. The Nasdaq Composite gained 16 points to 1,733. The bank stress test results are in, pretty much in line with expectations. Federal regulators have ordered 10 of the nation's biggest banks on Thursday to raise a total of $75 billion in extra capital. The banks are mixed so far. Citigroup and Bank of America are higher even though both have to raise additional capital. Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley are modestly lower after announcing public offerings to raise additional capital. Metlife, JP Morgan, PNC, State Street, and Capital One look great due to the fact they don't need to raise any more capital. RBS is up 14% even though they lost $1.3 billion in the quarter. Allstate is down 10% following dismal results. The commodities continue to preform well. The retail sector is succumbing to profit-taking. Target is up 2%, but Lowes, Aeropostale, American Eagle, Best Buy, and Gap are lower by at least 4%. Crocs and Activision are lower following earnings. The tech sector is quiet this morning. Nvidia is down 10% following earnings. IBM, Apple, Intel, Cisco Systems, and Texas Instruments are lower. Google is up 2% following a couple of upgrades. After the first hour and through the morning the averages remain in the green, but off the highs. In the afternoon, the averages tried to sell off only to rebound to new highs each time. Not bad. Entering the last hour, the Dow jumped as much as 170 points before pulling back in the last hour. The Nasdaq rose 32 points before pulling back in the last hour. Can't complain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 164 points, or 2%, to 8,574, giving the blue chips a weekly gain of 4.4%. The S&P 500 rose 21 points, or 2.4%, to 929, up 5.9% for the week. The Nasdaq Composite gained 22 points, 1.3%, to 1,739, up 1.2% from the week-ago close.
May 7, 2009
U.S. stocks marched higher at Thursday's start, with sentiment bolstered by another batch of better-than-expected economic data and agreeable April sales results from a number of retailers, including Walmart. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 63 points to 8,575. Walmart is up over 2%. The S&P 500 climbed 9 points to 929 while the Nasdaq Composite rose 11 points to 1,770. The retailers are performing well. Kohls, Target, and Gap are up over 4% or more. The financials are jumping ahead of the stress tests results tonight. Bank of America is up 15% on an upgrade from Morgan Stanley. Goldman Sach upgraded virtually the whole financial sector. Fifth Third, Capital One, and Genworth are all up over 17% thanks to positive comments from Goldman. Prudential is soaring 20% on better than expected earnings. Barclays is one of the few financials trading lower on earnings. The commodities are acting well. Rowan is up 6% on earnings. Goldcorp is up 4% after beating estimates by 10 cents. The oil stocks look great. The techs are struggling. Cisco Systems and Symantec are both lower even though both beat earnings estimates last night. Very few techs are higher. After the first half an hour, the rally fizzled with the major averages giving up all their gains. Most of the financials and the commodities remain in the green. Other companies reporting earnings this morning include Cablevision, Wendys/Arbys, Sirius XM, and Sara Lee. Sirius and Wendys are lower. Cablevision is up by 14%. The company is considering selling or spinning off the Madison Square Garden. Through the morning the averages remained in the red. In the afternoon, more of the same. The Dow dropped 100 points. Fewer and fewer stocks remained in the red. The commodities sold off. Fewer and fewer financials are in the green. In the last hour, no major rebound. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 102 points at 8,409. The S&P 500 declined 12 points to 907, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 42 points, or 2.4%, to 1,716.
May 6, 2009
U.S. stocks rose firmly at Wednesday's open, boosted by a better-than-expected reading of private-sector employment in April and optimism over the ability of banks to raise capital. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 60 points to 8,471. Disney is up 10% after beating earnings estimates by 3 cents. The S&P 500 index rose 8 points to 912, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 5 points to 1,759. Bank of America shares sold off premarket then rose 7% on confusing reports said the firm would need more than $30 billion in new capital to comply with the stress test. The other financials are also performing well. Wells Fargo is up 7% ahead of speaking at a Barclays conference. Citigroup is up 4% on news they need to raise more capital. Blackstone and Fortress are both up over 12% on earnings or lack there of. Lincoln National is jumping 20% even though they missed estimates by 5 cents. Plenty of earnings keep flooding. Plantronics, Transocean, and Devon Energy are higher following earnings. Las Vegas, Atmel, Foster Wheeler, Dollar Thrifty, and Agrium are lowering following earnings. After the first hour, the rally started to fizzled. The financials are holding up well. Through the morning the averages drifted to the unchanged level. The financials and the commodities are performing well. During the lunch hour, the Dow improved led by the financials. Through the afternoon, the financials and the Dow kept improving. More leaks regarding what banks need or more importantly don't need capital keep coming out. In the last hour, the Dow and the financials sold off, then rallied once again. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 102 points, or 1.2%, at 8,512. The S&P 500 gained 15 points, or 1.7%, to close at 919, putting its gains for the year at 1.8%. The Nasdaq Composite gained 5 points to 1,759
May 5, 2009
U.S. stocks opened lower on Tuesday after a nice run up yesterday particularly in the financials. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 12 points to 8,439. The S&P 500 index fell 60 cents to 906, still positive for the year. The Nasdaq Composite declined 7 points to 1,756. More news this time from the Wallstreet Journal indicating as many as 10 of the 19 largest banks will need to raise capital as a result of the stress test. Shares of Bank of America and Citigroup are trading higher even though both are expected to need additional capital. GE is higher on an upgrade. Wells Fargo, JP Morgan, and US Bancorp are lower following a nice run up yesterday. Legg Mason looks lousy, down 20% following a quarterly loss. Plenty of earnings keep flooding in. Molson Coors, Kraft, Automatic Data, Marvel Entertainment, and Louisiana Pacific are higher following earnings. Archer Daniels Midland is lower by 6% after missing estimates. AK Steel is down 8% after lowering guidance.Commodities in general are trading lower. After the first half an hour, the averages remained range-bound near the unchanged level. Can't go up every day. After the first hour, the averages drifted lower. No heavy selling. Entering the lunch hour, the averages slowly recovered, moving back to the unchanged level. The financials are looking better. In the afternoon, the averages drifted lower once again. In the last hour, the averages tried to claw their way back to the unchanged level. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 16 points at 8,410. The S&P 500 index finished down 3 points at 903, unchanged for the year. The Nasdaq Composite lost 9 points to close at 1,754.
May 4, 2009
U.S. stocks opened broadly higher on Monday, with investors taking a positive stance on financial firms, looking beyond worries about banks that have undergone government-administered "stress tests". The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 80 points, or 1%, to 8,294. The S&P 500 gained 9 points, or 1%, to 887, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 16 points, or 1%, to 1,735. Most of the financials are higher. Citigroup is trading up 5% even though several news sources indicate the bank needs to raised at least $10 billion in fresh capital to pass the stress test. Bank of America is also up 5% even though they probably will need to raise fresh capital as well. Wells Fargo and US Bancorp are higher thanks to positive comments from shareholder, Warren Buffett. CNA Financial is up 9% after beating estimates by 18 cents. Loews, which owns a majority stake in CNA, is up 5% even though they reported a quarterly loss. Other companies reporting earnings this morning include Sysco Foods, Tyson Foods, Estee Lauder, Sprint/Nextel, and Chesapeake Utility. Only Sysco is lower. The tech sector is performing well this morning. Intel is up 5% on an upgrade. Google is inching closer to $400 a share once again. IBM is performing great, trading up to $106 a share. Research in Motion is up 3% as the company commences its analyst day. One of the few techs trading lower is Adobe, down 4% on a downgrade. At 10 o'clock, better than expected housing data sent the Dow up over 150 points. The Nasdaq rose 26 points. So far so good. After the first hour, the Dow remained strong, up 170 points. The Nasdaq rose 30 points. Through the morning the averages remained strong. The financials are performing great. In the afternoon, rumors broke that regulators asked Wells Fargo to raise fresh capital. The stock pulled back, then rallied to new highs jumping 14%. Bank of America is up 10%. The strength of the financials are leading the broader averages higher. The Dow rose as much as 200 points. The Nasdaq rose 33 points. In the last hour, the averages moved higher thanks to the financials. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 214 points, or 2.6%, to end at 8,426. The S&P 500 index gained 29 points, or 3.4%, to close at 907, a four-month high. The S&P is now positive for the year. The Nasdaq Composite gained 44 points, or 2.6%, to end at 1,763. The technology-heavy index is now up 11.8% for 2009.