Stocks declined for a second straight day on a batch of negative news. A survey of purchasing managers showed Europe's downturn worsened in February. Jobless claims rose by 20,000 to 362,000 last week, above economists’ expectations. The Philly Fed’s index fell to -12.5 in January from -5.8 December, while economists were expecting the index to rise to 1.5. Meanwhile, the U.S. leading indicators index climbed for a second month in January; and the existing home sales up 0.4% in January, but sales dropped to the lowest level in more than 13 years. The CPI was unchanged month-over-month in January, and up 1.6% from a year ago, core CPI increased 0.3% month-over-month in January, and 1.9% from a year earlier. Wal-Mart climbed 1.5% after the co. reported better-than-expected earnings and hiked its annual dividend by 18% but said sales had softened towards the end of January, and into February. Verifone Systems fell 42.8% after the co. projected second-quarter profit below estimates due to Europe’s soft economic climate. Apple lost 0.6% as David Einhorn held a conference call to discuss the company. Google rose 0.4% after Bernstein Research raised the price target to $1,000, anticipating “mass adoption of smartphones, tablets and the mobile Web is a large value-creation opportunity for Google”. Groupon rose 3.8% on a Piper Jaffray upgrade. In the evening trade Hewlett-Packard and Marvell both rose more than 4.0% after better-than-expected financial results and upbeat forecasts. Outside of quarterly results, Texas Instruments shares were unchanged after the co. said it’s raising its quarterly dividend by 33% and added $5 billion to its authorized share buyback program.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Slid further on negative news
Stocks declined for a second straight day on a batch of negative news. A survey of purchasing managers showed Europe's downturn worsened in February. Jobless claims rose by 20,000 to 362,000 last week, above economists’ expectations. The Philly Fed’s index fell to -12.5 in January from -5.8 December, while economists were expecting the index to rise to 1.5. Meanwhile, the U.S. leading indicators index climbed for a second month in January; and the existing home sales up 0.4% in January, but sales dropped to the lowest level in more than 13 years. The CPI was unchanged month-over-month in January, and up 1.6% from a year ago, core CPI increased 0.3% month-over-month in January, and 1.9% from a year earlier. Wal-Mart climbed 1.5% after the co. reported better-than-expected earnings and hiked its annual dividend by 18% but said sales had softened towards the end of January, and into February. Verifone Systems fell 42.8% after the co. projected second-quarter profit below estimates due to Europe’s soft economic climate. Apple lost 0.6% as David Einhorn held a conference call to discuss the company. Google rose 0.4% after Bernstein Research raised the price target to $1,000, anticipating “mass adoption of smartphones, tablets and the mobile Web is a large value-creation opportunity for Google”. Groupon rose 3.8% on a Piper Jaffray upgrade. In the evening trade Hewlett-Packard and Marvell both rose more than 4.0% after better-than-expected financial results and upbeat forecasts. Outside of quarterly results, Texas Instruments shares were unchanged after the co. said it’s raising its quarterly dividend by 33% and added $5 billion to its authorized share buyback program.
