Stocks posted slight gains, with the Dow delivering its ninth consecutive day of gains on solid economic data. Retail sales were up 1.1% last month, the largest gain in five months and better than forecast. Business inventories rose 1% in January. On the corporate front, Netflix rallied 5.6% after the co. started new social features with Facebook . Walgreen gained 4.2% after UBS hiked its rating on the drugstore chain to buy from neutral. BlackBerry soared 8.2% on announcement that an unnamed partner has placed an order for 1 million BlackBerry 10 smartphones. Also, Verizon Wireless announced that it plans to begin selling the new BlackBerry Z10 smartphone in the U.S. on March 28, about a week after AT&T. Texas Instruments fell 0.9% after Bernstein Research downgraded the co. to a neutral rating, citing the need to “move to the sidelines on cyclically-exposed names” based on signs of higher inventories and “modest” expectations.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Rose again on upbeat retail sales data
Stocks posted slight gains, with the Dow delivering its ninth consecutive day of gains on solid economic data. Retail sales were up 1.1% last month, the largest gain in five months and better than forecast. Business inventories rose 1% in January. On the corporate front, Netflix rallied 5.6% after the co. started new social features with Facebook . Walgreen gained 4.2% after UBS hiked its rating on the drugstore chain to buy from neutral. BlackBerry soared 8.2% on announcement that an unnamed partner has placed an order for 1 million BlackBerry 10 smartphones. Also, Verizon Wireless announced that it plans to begin selling the new BlackBerry Z10 smartphone in the U.S. on March 28, about a week after AT&T. Texas Instruments fell 0.9% after Bernstein Research downgraded the co. to a neutral rating, citing the need to “move to the sidelines on cyclically-exposed names” based on signs of higher inventories and “modest” expectations.
