United States News
See other United States News Articles
Title: U.S. Stocks Advance on Improving Earnings, Economic Data
Source:
Bloomberg
URL Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news? ... 0601087&sid=aKCVVMw6oVHQ&pos=1
Published: Feb 17, 2010
Author: Bloomberg
Post Date: 2010-02-17 12:19:34 by go65
Keywords: None
Views: 114
Comments: 4
Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks advanced, a day after the biggest rally since November for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as better-than-estimated earnings, industrial production and housing data bolstered confidence in the economy. Deere & Co., the largest maker of farm equipment, surged 5.2 percent after profit was boosted by lower raw-material costs. Whole Foods Market Inc., the biggest U.S. natural-goods grocer, jumped 11 percent after raising its earnings forecast. Equities pared gains as the dollar rallied, dragging down commodities, after a ratings downgrade of securities issued by Greek banks spurred concern credit losses will continue to weigh on financial markets. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 0.2 percent to 1,097.2 at 11:53 a.m. in New York after rising as much as 0.6 percent earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 26.75 points, or 0.3 percent, to 10,295.56. Stocks in Europe climbed after results from BNP Paribas SA and Deutsche Boerse AG beat analysts’ estimates. Asian shares also advanced. “We’ve seen reasonably good earnings numbers with some companies showing strong performance like John Deere today,” said Jason Cooper, who manages $2.5 billion at 1st Source Investment Advisors in South Bend, Indiana. “The economic data are showing improvement and we’re going in the right direction, but we’ve still got a long way to go.” U.S. stocks rallied yesterday as New York manufacturing grew at the fastest pace in four months. The S&P 500 has fallen 4.5 percent from a 15-month high on Jan. 19 as widening fiscal gaps in Greece, Portugal and Spain spurred concern Europe faces another recession. The index is still up more than 62 percent from a 12-year low in March. Housing, Industrial Production Housing starts in the U.S. topped the median economist estimate of 580,000, a sign that government support is helping to stabilize the real estate market. Industrial production rose 0.9 percent in January, more than the median forecast of 0.7 percent, indicating factories were leading the recovery entering the new year. Hovnanian Enterprises, New Jersey’s largest homebuilder, increased 3 percent to $4.08. Hovnanian was rated new “buy” at Bank of America Corp. ‘Good Shape’ “The market is in good shape and the economy is coming around,” said Neil Hennessy, who oversees $900 million as president of Hennessy Advisors Inc. in Novato, California. “Companies are pulling us out, business is leading the economy.” A record nine-quarter earnings slump is projected by analysts to have ended in the fourth quarter with an 80 percent increase in S&P 500 profits. Forty-five companies in the index are scheduled to release results this week, including Hewlett- Packard Co. today. More than 350 companies in the S&P 500 have reported fourth-quarter earnings since Jan. 11, and about 76 percent have beaten analysts’ estimates on a per-share basis, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Deere surged 5.2 percent to $56.57. The company raised its full-year net income forecast to about $1.3 billion, from $900 million. The company also reported first-quarter profit of 57 cents a share, nearly tripling the average estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Whole Foods climbed 11 percent to $33.78 in New York. Full- year earnings may total $1.20 to $1.25 a share, up from a previous forecast of $1.05 to $1.10. Analysts predicted $1.09, the average of 16 estimates in a Bloomberg survey. Separately, the shares were raised to “overweight” from “neutral” at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Home Depot Upgrade Home Depot gained 1.5 percent to $29.89. The world’s largest home-improvement retailer was raised to “outperform” from “market perform” at Oppenheimer. Walgreen Co. rose 0.4 percent to $34.20. The U.S. operator of more than 7,100 drugstores agreed to buy Duane Reade Holdings Inc. from affiliates of Oak Hill Capital Partners for $1.08 billion, including debt, to expand in metropolitan New York. SanDisk Corp. rose 5.9 percent to $28.96. The biggest maker of flash-memory cards for digital cameras and mobile phones was raised to “overweight” from “equal weight” at Morgan Stanley by equity analyst Atif Malik.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
#1. To: war (#0)
#3. To: go65 (#1)
(laughing)
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
Replies to Comment # 1.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]