Stock Market News for April 18, 2011 - Market News
18 Avril 2011 - 11:07AM
Zacks
Markets posted modest gains on Friday, helped by
positive economic reports that overshadowed disappointing earnings
reports from bellwether stocks. The earnings season, which was
unofficially kicked off by Alcoa, Inc, has been largely mixed up to
now. A lot is at stake for the markets during the coming week as a
significant number of companies are scheduled to report their
quarterly results.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) gained
0.5% to close at 12,341.83. The Standard & Poor 500 index edged
up 0.4% and ended the day at 1,319.68, while the Nasdaq closed at
2,764.65 after gaining 0.2%. However, the indices were down for the
week and the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq lost 0.3%, 0.6% and 0.6%,
respectively. On the positive side, the CBOE Volatility Index
dropped 13.60%, for the week, to an almost four-year low of 15.44.
On Friday, consolidated volumes on the New York Stock Exchange,
NYSE Amex and Nasdaq were 7.1 billion shares, well below last
year's estimated daily average volumes of 8.47 billion. On the
NYSE, advancers outnumbered declining stocks by a ratio of
2:1.
Among the slew of positive economic data, a
survey reported that consumer sentiment has risen in April as the
effects of surging crude prices have receded somewhat. According to
the survey, consumer sentiment in the US escalated
more-than-expected to 69.6 in April from last month’s reading of
67.5. However, crude prices are still on the higher side and
ensuing violence in the Middle East or a worsening of the Japanese
nuclear crisis can push prices further up. Additionally, a
government report suggested inflationary pressures had eased after
core inflation excluding energy and food prices came in lower than
feared. According to the Labor Department, the core Consumer Price
Index rose 0.1% in March as against 0.2% in both January and
February of this year. A surge in food and gasoline prices drove
the Consumer Price Index up by 0.5% for the month of March, in-line
with expectations, marking the ninth consecutive month of gains.
With inflation looking to be a lot tamer, there might not be an
immediate change to the Fed’s $600 billion bond-purchase
program.
In other news, China’s consumer price inflation
increased 5.4% in March, surpassing an estimated 5.2%. This was
also the fastest rate of increase since July 2008. Inflation in
Europe also rose more-than-expected to 2.7% in March.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported
that the Empire State manufacturing survey had increased for the
fifth straight month and general business conditions had increased
to 21.7. In another report, industrial production increased by 0.8%
to an index value of 93.6, higher than the expected 0.6% increase,
following a 0.1% increase in February. Manufacturing output
increased by 0.7% in March, marking the fourth consecutive month of
strong expansion.
The much awaited earnings reports from Google
Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) were
disappointing, bringing no respite to investors. Though Google
managed to surpass estimates, the company’s operating expenditure
sky-rocketed and an increase in revenues was not strong enough to
offset higher costs. Shares of Google plunged 8.3% to settle at
$530.70. However, the technology sector was not dragged down by
Google and EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC), Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCL)
and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) each gained 1.1%. Shares of
Marvell Technology Group Ltd. and Finisar Corp. gained 2.0% and
1.1%, respectively. On the declining side were Cisco Systems, Inc.
(NASDAQ:CSCO), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), Hewlett-Packard Company
(NYSE:HPQ) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and they shed
0.8%, 0.2%, 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.
On the other hand, Bank of America posted
disappointing results and reported a fall in revenue and earnings.
Reduced mortgage banking income and higher litigation expenses were
also among the negatives. Shares of Bank of America Corporation
dropped 2.4%. In another development, Bank of America Corporation
agreed to pay Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) more than $1 billion
to resolve issues related with mortgage securities. Shares of
Assured Guaranty surged 24.2%, and this development also helped
shares of MBIA Inc. and MGIC Investment Corp. to gain 17.4% and
2.3%, respectively.
Coming to the
energy sector, Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) announced
plans to acquire Bronco Drilling Co. Inc. (NASDAQ:BRNC) and shares
of these companies rose 0.3% and 5.8%, respectively.
ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), Chevron Corp.
(NYSE:CVX) and Western Refining Inc. also gained 1.1%, 1.0%, 1.3%
and 1.2%, respectively.
ASSURED GUARNTY (AGO): Free Stock Analysis Report
BANK OF AMER CP (BAC): Free Stock Analysis Report
BRONCO DRILLING (BRNC): Free Stock Analysis Report
CHESAPEAKE ENGY (CHK): Free Stock Analysis Report
CISCO SYSTEMS (CSCO): Free Stock Analysis Report
CHEVRON CORP (CVX): Free Stock Analysis Report
DELL INC (DELL): Free Stock Analysis Report
EMC CORP -MASS (EMC): Free Stock Analysis Report
GOOGLE INC-CL A (GOOG): Free Stock Analysis Report
HEWLETT PACKARD (HPQ): Free Stock Analysis Report
MICROSOFT CORP (MSFT): Free Stock Analysis Report
NVIDIA CORP (NVDA): Free Stock Analysis Report
ORACLE CORP (ORCL): Free Stock Analysis Report
EXXON MOBIL CRP (XOM): Free Stock Analysis Report
Zacks Investment Research
Bronco Drilling Company, Inc. (MM) (NASDAQ:BRNC)
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