Stocks finished higher despite a fairly bland round of economic news. Initial jobless claims rose unexpectedly to 380,000 in the latest week, up from a revised reading of 367,000, which was also revised higher. Recent data out of China have been mixed, raising fears of a sharp slowdown in the region. Separate reports showed no increase in overall wholesale prices in March, which was better than the 0.2% increase forecast, and the nation's trade deficit declined unexpectedly in February. The tech sector recorded broad gains, with Hewlett-Packard leading the advance and Google rising 2.37% in advance of the co.’s quarterly results. H-P rose 7.2% after IDC and Gartner Inc. reported H-P’s first-quarter PC shipments rose more than 3% from a year ago and remained the world’s No. 1 PC maker by units shipped. In the evening trade Google added 0.8% after the co. reported a 61% surge in quarterly earnings and said it plans to create a new class of nonvoting stock. Implied volatility dropped sharply below the 18 level on massive trading volumes.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Finished higher on earnings expectations
Stocks finished higher despite a fairly bland round of economic news. Initial jobless claims rose unexpectedly to 380,000 in the latest week, up from a revised reading of 367,000, which was also revised higher. Recent data out of China have been mixed, raising fears of a sharp slowdown in the region. Separate reports showed no increase in overall wholesale prices in March, which was better than the 0.2% increase forecast, and the nation's trade deficit declined unexpectedly in February. The tech sector recorded broad gains, with Hewlett-Packard leading the advance and Google rising 2.37% in advance of the co.’s quarterly results. H-P rose 7.2% after IDC and Gartner Inc. reported H-P’s first-quarter PC shipments rose more than 3% from a year ago and remained the world’s No. 1 PC maker by units shipped. In the evening trade Google added 0.8% after the co. reported a 61% surge in quarterly earnings and said it plans to create a new class of nonvoting stock. Implied volatility dropped sharply below the 18 level on massive trading volumes.
