U.S. AVERAGES
Lower-than-expected durable orders for the factories and 3% jump in oil during the day put chill on the market in the last thirty minutes of trading. Weekly petroleum report from the Energy Department this morning showed a decline in gasoline inventories. The new home sales report this morning showed that home sales are on the rise and there is no sign of slow down in the market.
Needless to say housing and energy sector stocks showed strength in an otherwise a declining market across the board. The housing sector was up 2.4% and oil service sector was up 1.4%.
The gold sector is down 1.4% to its lowest level in more than 2 weeks. The airline sector recovered from its intra-day lows and closed off about 1%.
Google shares (
GOOG: chart) added 1% as the Internet search engine confirmed the launch of Google Talk, a downloadable Windows instant-messaging service early Wednesday. The company said the service would require a """"Gmail"""" e-mail account.
Autodesk (
ADSK: chart) hit a new 52-week high, while
Edison International (
EIX: chart) has extended its gains after Lehman Brothers lifted its rating.
Blyth (
BTH: chart) plummeted to a new 52-week low on worse-than-expected earnings and disappointing guidance, while
Rambus (
RMBS: chart) continued its downward movement from the recent months to record a new low.
Baidu.com fell about 5% Wednesday despite saying it sees sales to rising to $10 million in 3Q.
Applebee's International shares lost 6.3% after the nationwide restaurant chain lowered its earnings forecast for 3Q and 2005 as same-store sales growth slowed in August.
The cable company
Charter Communications soared 27% after announcing it plans to exchange up to $8.4 billion in debt.
Data-management software provider
Versant sank 5.2% after tumbling almost 50% in pre-market trading. The company's shareholders approved a 1-for-10 reverse stock split, effective Wednesday. Following the reverse split, there will be about 3.56 million shares outstanding.
SeaChange International lost 17% after slashing its revenue outlook and posting a 2Q loss as revenue fell 39%.
ECONOMIC NEWS
U.S. durable goods orders plummeted 4.9% in July, the first decline in four months, according to the Commerce Department report Wednesday morning. Economists had forecasted orders to decline 1.5% in July. Durable orders in June were downwardly revised to a 1.9% rise from a 2.8% increase previously expected.
Sales of new U.S. homes rose 6.5% in July to a record seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.41 million, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Economists had been looking for sales to decline slightly to a 1.33 million pace in July.
Crude oil inventories climbed 1.8 million barrels vs. the previous week, beating forecasts for a decline of 100,000 barrels last week. At 322.9 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are above the upper end of the average range for this time of year.
Total motor
gasoline inventories declined by 3.2 million barrels last week, the bottom end of the average range. Analysts expected gasoline inventories to drop 1.1 million barrels, for the eighth week in a row on demand.
INTERNATIONAL MARKET NEWS
Asian markets ended higher as oil prices retreated from recent high levels. Tokyo's Nikkei-225 Index was up by 0.22% to 10,985.33, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Stock Index gained 1.73% to 12,646.49. Korea's Kospi Index added 0.60% to 792.34, while Australia's All Ordinaries Index finished up 0.13% to 3539.70.
Tokyo closed higher Wednesday, reaching to a new four-year high for the third-straight session due to growing confidence in the country's economic recovery. The Nikkei 225 index added 0.24% percent, to 12,502.26 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The broader TOPIX gained 0.28% to 1,275.61.
European shares closed lower dragged down by weaker mining and metals stocks following results from BHP Billiton. At the close, the German DAX 30 shed 0.04% to 4915.95, while the French CAC-40 lost 0.3% at 4424.43. The U.K.'s FTSE-100 Index dropped 0.4% to 5279.6.
