Reply #58: Closing numbers and blather [View All]

[DoBotherMe]

Dow 10,461.56 +92.95 (+0.90%)
Nasdaq 2,019.95 +11.25 (+0.56%)
S&P 500 1,168.41 +4.66 (+0.40%)
10-Yr Bond 41.89 +0.67 (+1.63%)
NYSE Volume 1,610,826,000
Nasdaq Volume 1,982,576,000



Close: The market reversed a four-day trouncing, maintaining a positive tone from start to finish following a spate of stronger than expected earnings... Solid quarterly results from blue chips across several industry groups set an underlying bullish bias as buyers found renewed interest in an arguably oversold market... The majority (17 out of 25) of the S&P constituents reporting results today, from the likes of JNJ, DD, ABC, MER, SLB and XRX to name just a few, beat analysts' forecasts, sidelining continued concerns related to slowing profit growth and boosting overall sentiment...
Only 3 blue chips (i.e. BLS, SGP and UIS) missed expectations while five others (i.e. MRK and TLAB) matched consensus estimates... Not even a 1.7% surge in crude oil futures ($49.64/bbl +$0.83), which approached their highest levels of the month due to continued uncertainty surrounding the Iraqi elections and OPEC's output decision on Jan 30 and a potential Nigeria strike, could dampen investors' spirits... Transportation closed higher, led by strength in railroads and airline, with the latter erasing much of the 4.5% it lost during yesterday's drubbing...

Gains were also realized in steel, semiconductor, software, drug, biotech, homebuilding and energy... Telecom services (-1.0%) led the list of laggards while utility, hardware and disk drive were also weak... While an unexpected rise in January consumer confidence to 103.4 (consensus 101.3) did little to move stocks notably in either direction when the data were released, it did provide a floor of buying support that kept the indices in positive territory throughout the session...

The surprise in consumer confidence did, however, invite selling interest in treasuries, reinforcing speculation that low bond yields reflect too much uncertainty about slowing economic growth... The 10-year note fell 16 ticks to yield 4.18%... But the rise in consumer confidence did help strengthen the dollar, against both the euro (1.2958) and the yen (104.24), which climbed after China said it would not alter the yuan's peg to the dollar... Existing home sales for December checked in at a 6.69 mln annual rate, slightly worse than the 6.80 mln economists expected, but was viewed as a nonevent...DJTA +2.2, DJUA -0.8, DOT +0.8, SOX +1.8, XOI +0.3, NYSE Adv/Dec 1659/1672, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1675/1398




U.S. stocks rally; Dow heads for biggest gains of '05 (25 days?)http://biz.yahoo.com/cbsm-top/050125/acc626c7a14a98ef1d0cd5103e034d51_1.html
I would laugh hysterically if I wasn't stunned at the audacity of the statement.