Today's inflation report was the main reason for the rally as it looks like prices nominally are not getting much worse. But as I noted, that's true if you don't go to the gas station or grocery store. Home foreclosures rose yet again, and that may be something to get used to. Oil prices were down down $1.86 to $123.94 per barrel in after-hours trading. Here are the unofficial closing index levels:
China Architectural Engineering, Inc. (AMEX: RCH) saw another massive rise today based upon the Chinese earthquake. Shares were up 40% at $8.38 at the end of the day. Architecture, engineering, China, earthquake... what more did traders need to hear?
Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) saw a sharp drop in shares after reporting earnings, and it pulled down other ag-stocks. The company said it was being impacted by tight part supplies and rising materials costs, and that sent shares tumbling 10% to $81.10 in the final minutes today.
Crude surpassed $126.00 before retreating down by $1.85 to $124.11 late in the day. Many are citing that the interest in owning the dollar is also partly to thank for today's gains. Below are the unofficial closing bell prices for major index levels:
AnnTaylor Stores Corp. (NYSE: ANN) rose today after it forecast that first quarter profit will exceed projections. Additionally, the women's apparel store reported its plans to drop its older women fall line but push the opening of its Loft outlets. Shares were up 16% at $28.50 in the final minutes of trading.
Going into this afternoon's report, analysts were expecting to see the company show earnings of 10 cents a share, but the company failed to miss that estimate, by posting 9 cents a share for its most recent quarter. Despite missing by a penny, the stock has been moving up strongly in after-hours trading, with investors so far pushing shares up a bit over 14%?
Doesn't sound right, does it? The recent market has been punishing stocks that have missed estimates, so why is CROX shooting to the upside?
As you saw in a Market tankola note earlier, today can be blamed on oil or many other things. But the charts are likely the real culprit as old resistance levels didn't hold as the new support levels. The bears may have gotten an upper hand for a while if today's sentiment holds.
To top it off, worker productivity data came out strong enough today that it might even allow companies to make more layoffs. Below are the unofficial closing bell prices today:
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) beat Street estimates for earnings Tuesday with $1.77 billion in net income, or $0.29 EPS, a 5.4% drop from first quarter 2007. Sales of $9.79 billion beat estimates of $9.75 million. Cisco gave 2008 guidance that met expectations as demand for Cisco's costly networking systems may still be slow during the economic slowdown. Shares fell 2% to $25.78 despite being positive earlier this morning.
It wasn't that long ago that Wall Street was in love with Crocs, Inc (NASDAQ: CROX), the maker of the trendy slippers that took the world by storm last year. After going on a tear for most of 2007, the stock started to break down last November, and has been in a tail spin for the past 5 months.
The company is going to be reporting its first quarter numbers tomorrow after the market close, and all signs are pointing to yet another troublesome quarter for the company. Earnings.com is showing Wall Street estimates of 10 cents a share, but that number does not really hold too much water after the company announced a much weaker forecast last month in its preliminary release.
Last month, CROX shocked Wall Street when it said that it expected to see a 5 cent per share loss in the quarter, and revenues falling somewhere between $195 and $200 million. After that news came out, the already troubled stock took a serious nose dive, and gave up around 40% of its value.
If you thought the news going to be the actual FOMC cut was the key today, it wasn't. The bias and tone for more rate cuts was the most important, and the tone was not hawkish enough. Traders wanted to see a signal of the end of rate cuts, at least for now, so that oil and gold would tank and that the dollar would recover.
GDP came out and showed a +0.6% gain, meaning the official recession isn't technically here yet. Warren Buffett said it is, and he might be good enough of a judge over anyone. Regardless, this is the first positive month for the S&P after it just missed a positive month in March.
Below are the unofficial closing levels for key US index levels:
Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD) was upgraded by KeyBanc Capital Markets to Buy and by Cowen & Co. to Outperform. Yesterday, Buffalo Wild Wings reported strong quarter results with a 22% revenue boost and earnings meeting street expectations. Shares were up 18% to $30.74 in the final minutes of the day.
Live Bloggin' Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) earnings report Begins @ 4:00pm EST Host: Andrew Horowitz, money manager and author The Disciplined Investor
Beat/Miss:BEAT
16:01 GOOG prelim $4.84 vs $4.52 First Call consensus; revs $3.7 bln, ex TAC revs vs $3.61 bln First Call consensus.
Google reported revenues of $5.19 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2008, an increase of 42% compared to the first quarter of 2007 and an increase of 7% compared to the fourth quarter of 2007. Google reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting traffic acquisition costs, or TAC. In the first quarter of 2008, TAC totaled $1.49 billion, or 29% of advertising revenues.
16:10 Stock is in major rally mode, the earnings beat on revenue was a major sigh of relief as there was significant concern about the Doubleclick integration (GOOG up $40 on evening, so far). Currently trading @ $503.
16:15 Stock at $497, leveling off ahead of call. Numbers in and tabled. Overall, there is a cheer and a good amount of relief.
Stocks started out in slightly positive territory on what appeared to be more good news out of a major institution. Then oil inventories showed an unexpected decline, sending oil up up over $2.00 per barrel to $110.56 and later even above $112. Throw in a couple of weak earnings reports and the fears that earnings season is going to be tough, and the bears got to rule today.
Below are today's unofficial closing levels for major US index levels:
Dow: 12,328.49, down 0.38%; Nasdaq 2,322.12, down 1.13%; S&P 1354.56, down 0.8%
Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) saw a sharp drop today, and that was before the earnings news was out after the close. A Piper Jaffray downgrade led to the sharp drop today.
Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) proved to be a typical example of what is becoming redundant. The company lined up a sale of $12 billion of dollars worth of leveraged loans for some 90 cents on the dollar.
The day every investor waits for/dreads has finally arrived. Earnings season has just been kicked off as the first of the Dow Industrials, Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA), has just reported first-quarter results. This quarter, the results have been anticipated/feared more than usual. With many economists saying the U.S. has likely entered a recession in the first quarter, corporate profits may be next to be hit.
Well, Alcoa alleviated some fears and confirmed others. The aluminum giant posted a first-quarter profit of $303 million, or 37 cents a share, down from $632 million, or 75 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Alcoa's income from continuing operations was $361 million, or 44 cents a share, 4 cents short of analyst estimates. Alcoa, however, beat on the top line, with revenue of $7.4 billion, better than the $7.2 billion analysts had expected.
The usual suspects were all present. For example, when accounting for the currency impact, Alcoa said profit came to 52 cents a share. In addition, industrial demand was lower while energy costs surged, causing margins to squeeze and profits to be halved. Still, the company pointed out that aluminum prices are at historic highs and demand in Asia is still strong.
No one much liked Mr. Bernanke's comments, which were read as saying the U.S. is on its way into a recession. Results from Best Buy NYSE: BBY) were better than expected, but the Fed news overshadowed it.
The Dow dropped 50.41 points to 12,603.95. The Nasdq sold off 1.35 to 2,361.40. The S&P gave back 2.78 to 1,367.4.
Notable today:
VeriFone Holdings Inc. (NYSE: PAY) was hit after overstated profits led to the resignation of CFO, Barry Zwarenstein, and removed CEO, Douglas Bergeron, from his place as Chairman today. The income was overstated by $36.9 million, much higher than the estimated $29.6 million in overstated income.
Constant Contact, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTCT) soared today after Intuit Marketing Tools Center chose Constant's email marketing service as one of its tools. Intuit's center provides marketing tools to small growing business.
Just yesterday we were all scratching our heads and wondering where the bears had gone. It seems maybe they were just out on a binge session. Today was the playbook day of what we had seen so regularly before last week with financials and tech lower, and gold, oil and commodities higher. Oil rose a sharp $4.73 to $105.95 on lower than expected inventory numbers, and gold was up $11.00 at $949.50 in late day trading on the weak U.S.-Peso.
February's Durable Goods brought on more pessimism from the start of the session after posting a 1.7% drop, although this has always been one of the more volatile economic numbers in good times and in bad. The report out of the Commerce Department showed new home sales fell another 1.8% in a fourth consecutive decline, although that was slightly better than many were looking for. Below are the unofficial closing prices for U.S. index levels:
Shares of Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) are trading slightly lower today as traders prepare for the company's third quarter earnings release. The company is scheduled to report its recent quarterly numbers today after the market closes.
When the company announces its earnings, analysts are expecting to see earnings excluding items of 30 cents on sales of $5.4 billion, up from 25 cents a share and $4.41 billion in revenue reported in the same period a year ago.
Despite the weak market conditions and economic slowdown, Oracle has so far been able to beat or at least match analysts' expectations when it has reported earnings. For the current quarter, the company also expects strong earnings results. This might be due to the company's recent acquisitions whose maintenance revenue help offset weak earnings coming from its customersaffected by the tumbling economy.
There are many that fear the bear hasn't died. Maybe he's hibernating. But if the bear isn't gone, he's at least lost some teeth. In the last hour of trading today, the DJIA was up more than 900 points from its intraday lows seen just last Monday. Despite weaker home prices trends not seen for 20 years and despite an absolutely dismal ugly Consumer Confidence report, the market managed to do well today despite mixed index averages at the closing bell. There was not a single earnings report that can be used for "the focus" that turned the whole market. It looks like there was actually real buying interest coupled by short covering. Here are the unofficial closing bell index averages for today:
DJIA 12,532.60 (-16.04; -0.13%)
S&P500 1,352.99 (+3.11; +0.23%)
NASDAQ 2,341.05 (+14.30; +0.61%)
10YR-TBond 3.492% (-0.03)
Monsanto (NYSE: MON) rose almost 10% to $114.54 after the agriculture giant raised guidance for both Q2 and for fiscal 2008 based on strong seed sales and all other markets firing on all cylinders.
At each century mark I like to post something special to note the occasion. This is my 600th post since lead editor Amey Stone asked me to join her original blogging team. That was a little over two years ago and I must say, it has been a fascinating experience from atop AOL's giant soap box.
Although investors have had to withstand a tremendous amount of turmoil in the market place, and not just the stock market, there is much to report that is very positive on this Good Friday. So, in no particular order I give you the following to consider.
The stock market closed up yesterday, and for the week, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average settling in at 12,361.32,up 261.66. The NASDAQ closed at 2,258.11, up 48.15 and the S&P 500 Index finished at 1,329.51 up 31.09.
The stock market being up at all after so much bad news and given the longer weekend is a miracle. I would have thought traders would have wanted to be out of the market for the stretch. The Dow is above 12,000 and all things considered that is good.
News from Iraq shows signs of improvement and while Osama bin Laden may still be issuing hateful video tapes, he is not doing so from a five-star hotel and is likely to perish in the rubble of his hiding place.
Crude oil reached an all-time high price this week, but by Thursday had retreated more than 10% dropping below $100 per barrel. The reason for the retreat was fear about a recession, but I think I will take the lower prices as a positive regardless of the reason.
We have a vibrant presidential campaign that has stimulated interest among young and old alike with three candidates each offering something new.
In sports, March Madness is upon us and the NBA play-offs are just around the corner. The boys of summer have started to loosen their limbs for the long stretch to October and the steroid noise has settled down to a whisper, at least for now.
The majority of economists now seem to believe we are in a recession. That is a good thing because we need capitulation before we can improve. I do not think we will hear the president capitulate, but maybe he has and just can't bring himself to use the word.
Spring is here and the days are brighter longer.
Even though many industries have seen a downturn in business, many are still booming.
The devalued dollar has had the predictable effect of improving our trade imbalances.
Unemployment is still relatively low.
AOL finally got it's much improved stock section out of beta test mode this week, now up and running.
Interest rate cuts (which I have my doubts about) are serving to stabilize financial markets. I think that there will be bad news from the financial markets for the rest of the year, but very little will shock us any more. If the shock effect is gone -- implied by the up market yesterday and to my great surprise last Monday, than we may have turmoil and bad news but after a few more gyrations the stock market will move up.
Among the many good things to report, there is value in the market among many sectors. There are many stocks on my shopping list worth buying. These I will leave for post 601...
Have a GOOD FRIDAY!
Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the design and research principal for an architecture and planning firm. He writes Chasing Value and Serious Money columns.
The Federal Reserve's overnight rate that was reduced to 2.25% just yesterday, and sent the Dow flying 420 points into posititve territory, gave a good chunk back today. The DJIA falling 293 points to 12,099.66 means that Bernanke's magic bullets were a very short-term fix to what ails us.
Not even some positive earnings reports and falling oil prices could sustain the markets run-up. The following stories were posted by my colleagues:
This has to be very discouraging to the folks in Washington DC, and on Wall Street. There is no telling what tomorrow will bring but you can only cut so far before there is nothing left to cut, and you also have a dollar that won't buy much.
But one day is meaningless in the grand scheme of things, and reduced interest rates and increased stability in the financial sector has historically given way to a stronger stock market six months out. After all, that's when the presidential elections will take place and those are the high stakes games to keep your eyes on. For that reason, I expect still another rate reduction before too long so that there is time for it to take effect.
Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the design and research principal for an architecture and planning firm. He writes Chasing Value and Serious Money columns.
This afternoon 
It wasn't that long ago that Wall Street was in love with 
Just yesterday we were all scratching our heads and wondering where the bears had gone. It seems maybe they were just out on a binge session. Today was the playbook day of what we had seen so regularly before last week with financials and tech lower, and gold, oil and commodities higher. 
Shares of 
The Federal Reserve's overnight rate that was reduced to 2.25% just yesterday, and sent the Dow flying 420 points into posititve territory, gave a good chunk back today. The DJIA falling 293 points to 12,099.66 means that Bernanke's magic bullets were a very short-term fix to what ails us.
Comfort Zone Investing: One thriving area of real estate: Apartments
Just how high will U.S. gasoline prices rise?
Nordstrom and Kohl's post smaller-than-expected Q1 profit declines
