Fed, Oil, Google and Dell
Jan 31, 6:01 PM EST |
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| Google reported fourth quarter earnings of $3.29 per share, near triple a year ago on 67% rise in sales. |
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| Market closed with a sharp gain in averages on Fed decision to leave rates unchanged. Fed comments suggested that the economy is healthy and outlook on core inflation is improving. Fed suggested that housing market appears to be stabilizing. Google rose before the earnings news but fell close to 4% after the report. Jones Lang LaSalle rose 6% and Navteq, Expeditors Intl and CSX gained 4%. Dell returns at his company to repalce the current CEO. Starbucks earnings up 18%. Oil closed above $58. |
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Tech Shares Pressure Europe
Jan 31, 3:04 PM EST |
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| Corus Group rallied 6.8% after India's Tata Steel won a bidding war for the Anglo-Dutch company with a 6.2 billion pound bid. |
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| European stocks finished lower on Wednesday, reflecting cautiousness ahead of a U.S. interest rate decision, weakness in the technology sector and losses for car makers after a jump in oil prices. Chipmaker Infineon Technologies shed 1.8%, STMicroelectronics dipped 0.8%. Shares in Peugeot fell 2.4% and DaimlerChrysler AG slipped 1.7%. The U.K. FTSE 100 fell 0.6%, the French CAC 40 declined 0.7%, while the German DAX 30 ended flat at 6,789.11. |
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Altria to Spin off Kraft
Jan 31, 11:37 AM EST |
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| Altria Group Inc., food and tobacco company, released on Wednesday the long-awaited details for its planned spinoff of Kraft Foods Inc. |
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| Altria will distribute the 89% of the company it owns to its shareholders on March 30. Each Altria shareholder will get 0.7% of a share of Kraft for each share of Altria they own as of March 16, and they will receive cash in lieu of fractional shares for amounts of less than one Kraft share with an exact distribution ratio to be determined later. Kraft Foods slipped 1.7%. |
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Boeing Profit Doubles
Jan 31, 11:07 AM EST |
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| Levitt surged 29% after the homebuilder said that preliminary Q4 sales figures from its home building subsidiary added up to $143.6 million. |
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| The three major market averages were mixed in early trading hours, awaiting the Fed Reserve’s interest-rate decision. The Dow traded higher largely due to a significant advance by shares of Boeing. The aerospace giant rose 4.5% after reporting better-than-expected Q4 earnings. The company also raised its 2007 earnings guidance to between $4.55 and $4.75 per share. The tech-heavy Nasdaq moved to the downside due to weakness among technology stocks amid disappointing quarterly results. |
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SanDisk Falls 9%
Jan 31, 10:14 AM EST |
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| Light, sweet crude fell 46 cents to $56.51 per barrel. The dollar traded mixed against other major currencies. Gold prices declined. |
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| U.S. stocks opened mixed on Wednesday, with blue-chip stocks led higher by Boeing Co. The aerospace giant rose 4.5% after it said Q4 profit doubled on 26% revenue increase and boosted its outlook. SanDisk weighed on the Nasdaq with a decline of 9%, as it swung to a Q4 loss from a year ago, hurt by acquisition-related charges. The company reported a net loss of 17 cents a share, compared with net income of 68 cents last year. It said sales surged 55%, but released a soft sales forecast. |
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Robust GDP Helps Stock Futures
Jan 31, 9:08 AM EST |
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| Boeing rose 3% in pre-open after reporting Q4 earnings of $989 million, or $1.29 a share, up from $460 million, or 58 cents a share last year. |
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| U.S. stock futures moved to the downside, but data showing faster-than-expected drowth of U.S. economy in Q4 helped to limit losses. The Department of Commerce said that GDP grew at an annual rate of 3.5% in Q4 compared to the 2% rate of growth that was seen in Q3, faster than the 3% growth, anticipated by economists. Investors were also awaiting the Fed''s decision on interest rates and the statement on the interest rate outlook. Economists expect rates to stay at 5.25%. |
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Time Warner Tops Forecast
Jan 31, 7:59 AM EST |
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| Time Warner Inc. reported an increase in Q4 earnings and revenue and set financial targets for tracking 2007 profit growth. |
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| The media giant earned $1.75 billion, or 44 cents a share, up from $1.3 billion, or 28 cents, earned in the same period a year ago. Quarterly revenue rose to $12.47 billion from $11.52 billion last year, reflecting gains in its cable-television and networks divisions. Time Warner’s financial results exceeded the average estimates for earnings of 22 cents a share on revenue of $12.46 billion. Looking ahead, Time Warner said it expects 2007 earnings of $1 a share. |
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Shanghai Leads Asia Lower
Jan 31, 7:32 AM EST |
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| Asia closed lower on Wednesday with the benchmark index in China leading the broad decline, while profit-taking impacted the sentiment. |
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| Asian markets finished lower on Wednesday dragged lower by Chinese benchmark index, which declined 4.9. Pprofit-taking pushed markets lower across the region. In Japan, investors were worried about the prospects for a sustainable turnaround in the earnings of Sony. Shares closed lower in South Korea, pulled down by Korea Electric Power and Hynix, while profit-taking in China Mobile led HK lower. Profit-booking was also the reason of the decline in Australian market. |
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Europe Trades Flat
Jan 31, 6:47 AM EST |
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| Bid activity boosted the metal sector on Wednesday in Europe, but weak banking stocks weighed on the market. |
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| Tata Steel won the battle for Corus and that news buoyed the metal sector, but European markets remained flat on Wednesday as Commerzbank sank and weighed on the stocks. Banco diPopolare di Verona e Novara advanced on upgrade. Novo Nodisk, the Danish pharmaceutical company, bucked the downward trend in pharma stocks and advanced. By mid morning, the FTSE 100 in London lost 0.1%, Frankfurt Xetra Dax shed 0.3% to and the CAC 40 in Paris slid 0.4%. |
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Gold Edges Higher
Jan 31, 5:19 AM EST |
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| Gold gained slightly Tuesday, but trading was subdued, as investors waited for the decision of the Fed on interest rates. |
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| Gold edged higher on Tuesday, trading within a narrow range as investors remained on the sidelines as the Federal Reserve met to discuss interest rates. The FOMC is widely expected to hold the fed funds rate steady at 5.25%, as it has at each of its past four meetings since August. February gold rose as high as $646, but failed to hold that level as many traders held back ahead of the Fed decision. Copper prices advanced after gaining support from a decrease in copper stockpiles. |
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