Stock Market News for August 18, 2011 - Market News
August 18 2011 - 5:10AM
Zacks
On Wednesday, The Dow Jones Industrial Average see-sawed between
positive and negative territory, eventually closing flat as did the
S&P. The Nasdaq closed in the red after tech shares dragged the
index lower following Dell’s revised sales forecast. However, a few
positive earnings results from retail stocks and a couple of
economic reports helped the markets ward of another slide in the
middle day of the week.
The Dow ended with a small gain of 4.28 points to close at
11,410.21, gaining 4.28%. During the day, the blue chip index
managed to touch an intraday high of 124 points and an intraday low
of 84 points. The Standard & Poor 500 (S&P 500) increased
marginally, by 1.12 points to settle at 1,193.88. Helping the
S&P to close in the green was
Sprint Nextel Corp (NYSE:S). Shares of the company gained 3.6%,
making it the leading component of the index. Of all the sectors in
the index, the telecom sector witnessed the highest gains and the
tech lagged the most. The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index
shed 0.47% and closed the day at 2,511.48.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) ended below 32. However,
the fear-gauge is still above the technical level of 30, which is
considered to reflect a high degree of fear in the market. It was
also one of the busiest days in over a year as consolidated volumes
reached 15.9 billion shares, twice as much as the average volume on
the New York Stock Exchange, Amex and Nasdaq. On the NYSE, 937 million shares were traded and for
every three stocks that advanced, only two stocks fell. The
Dow kept moving to and fro between positive and negative territory.
After the initial jump, the blue-chip index plunged, then the index
recovered its losses and eventually closed flat. Leading the gains
was American Express Co. (NYSE:AXP) whose share prices were up by
2.2% and Hewlett-Packard Co (NYSE:HPQ) which declined by
3.7% makeing it the leading declining
stock of the index.
Coming to earnings reports, share prices of retailer Target
Corporation (NYSE:TGT) gained momentum during the day’s trade after
the discount retailer reported its second quarter earnings results.
The company posted EPS of $1.03 which came in above analysts’
expectations of $0.97 per share while sales came in at $15.9
billion. The company also provided an optimistic outlook for the
year ahead. Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLS) reported its earnings
figure for the second quarter which came in at $0.22 per share. The
office supplier’s witnessed an increase of 5.2% in its sales volume
quarter over quarter to touch $5.82 million. Shares of Abercrombie
& Fitch (NYSE:ANF) slid 8.66%, to $64.87 although the retail
chain reported a 64% boost in its second-quarter income, which
topped the Street expectations. Chico's FAS Inc., (NYSE:CHS) which
also reported its second-quarter earnings that beat Street's
expectations, saw its share prices falling 2.46 %, to close at
$12.30.
Computer manufacturers Dell’s (NASDAQ:DELL) share prices dropped
10.13% marking the steepest fall in the shares of the company since
October 2008. The PC maker said declining demand of its products
will significantly affect sales. The company lowered its revenue
growth outlook to 1.5% from 5.9%. Share prices of other tech
companies also witnessed a steep fall. Hewlett-Packard’s (NYSE:HPQ)
shares fell 3.74% after investors showed negative sentiments
towards the stock. NetApp Inc (NASDAQ:NTAP) and JDS Uniphase’s
(NASDAQ:JDSU) shares lost 14.5% and 3.2% after both the companies
posted weak earnings results.
On the economic front, the U.S.Bureau of Labor Statistics reported
that The Producer Price Index for finished goods rose 0.4% in July
after a 0.4% decrease in June, making it the biggest percentage
gain since January. Moving on to crude oil inventories, for the
week ending August 12, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories
(excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) increased by
4.2 million barrels from the previous week. At 354.0 million
barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are above the upper limit of
the average range for this time of year. Investors now await data
on the Consumer Price Index which is slated to increase 0.3% in
July.
Moving on to individual stocks, shares of Kinetic Concepts, Inc.
(NYSE:KCI) fell 1.22% after a report from Bloomberg said that Bain
Capital has called off talks with Alvista Capital Partners
involving a bid for Kinetic Concepts. Southern Union’s (NYSE:SUG)
shares rose 2.45% after Williams (NYSE:WMB) announced the oil and
gas company is still interested in purchasing Southern Union for
$44 per share. Online brokerage firm E*Trade Financial
(NASDAQ:ETFC) said it closed the month with 2.8 million brokerage
accounts which includes 24,110 gross new brokerage accounts and 916
net new brokerage accounts during the month. The energy sector also
gained after a government report said crude stocks gained last week
against expectations for a drop. Share prices of ExxonMobil
(NYSE:XOM) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX) rose 0.9% and 0.33%
respectively.
ABERCROMBIE (ANF): Free Stock Analysis Report
AMER EXPRESS CO (AXP): Free Stock Analysis Report
CHICOS FAS INC (CHS): Free Stock Analysis Report
E TRADE FINL CP (ETFC): Free Stock Analysis Report
HEWLETT PACKARD (HPQ): Free Stock Analysis Report
JDS UNIPHASE CP (JDSU): Free Stock Analysis Report
KINETIC CONCPTS (KCI): Free Stock Analysis Report
SPRINT NEXTEL (S): Free Stock Analysis Report
STAPLES INC (SPLS): Free Stock Analysis Report
SOUTHN UNION CO (SUG): Free Stock Analysis Report
TARGET CORP (TGT): Free Stock Analysis Report
WILLIAMS COS (WMB): Free Stock Analysis Report
EXXON MOBIL CRP (XOM): Free Stock Analysis Report
Zacks Investment Research
Abercrombie and Fitch (NYSE:ANF)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Abercrombie and Fitch (NYSE:ANF)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024