Stocks stumbled into the close, shaking off a morning rally fueled by news that European officials agreed to another round of aid for Greece. The rally was modest as Greek deal was already priced in. Among the Dow movers, Home Depot rose 0.46% on upbeat earnings, while Wal-Mart Stores fell 3.9% after its earnings fell short of estimates. Tech stocks edged down, weighed by losses in chip-makers which offset gains from Apple. Apple traded up 2.5% after China Telecom announced that it will begin taking online reservations for Apple’s iPhone 4S on March 2. J.P. Morgan downgraded semiconductor capital-equipment makers, citing the sector’s gains over the past few months. Google gave support to the sector, gaining 1.6% after a Credit Suisse note projecting that co. is poised to increase its share of the U.S. online display-advertising market from 15% in 2011 to about 24.5% in 2017. In the evening trade Dell fell 4.8% in heavy volume after the co. fell shy of profit estimates. Meanwhile, Intuit and Borcade rose 3.3% and 4.9% respectively on upbeat earnings reports. Implied volatility little changed on modest trading volumes.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Closed with mixed results as the rally was short-lived
Stocks stumbled into the close, shaking off a morning rally fueled by news that European officials agreed to another round of aid for Greece. The rally was modest as Greek deal was already priced in. Among the Dow movers, Home Depot rose 0.46% on upbeat earnings, while Wal-Mart Stores fell 3.9% after its earnings fell short of estimates. Tech stocks edged down, weighed by losses in chip-makers which offset gains from Apple. Apple traded up 2.5% after China Telecom announced that it will begin taking online reservations for Apple’s iPhone 4S on March 2. J.P. Morgan downgraded semiconductor capital-equipment makers, citing the sector’s gains over the past few months. Google gave support to the sector, gaining 1.6% after a Credit Suisse note projecting that co. is poised to increase its share of the U.S. online display-advertising market from 15% in 2011 to about 24.5% in 2017. In the evening trade Dell fell 4.8% in heavy volume after the co. fell shy of profit estimates. Meanwhile, Intuit and Borcade rose 3.3% and 4.9% respectively on upbeat earnings reports. Implied volatility little changed on modest trading volumes.
