Stocks jump, but questions linger
The Dow surges 173 points, but General Motors closes below its opening price. Worries ease about Europe and there's better news about the US economy. Dell's results impress.
Updated
: 6:50 p.m. ET
Stocks had a big day, no question about it. The Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) closed up 173 points, or 1.6%, to 11,181. The other major indexes soared as well.
And General Motors (GM) finished its first day as a newly minted public company up 3.6% to $34.19.
But the close might have left some investors with something of a sour taste in their mouths.
The Dow had a nice gain, but it was off nearly 20 points from its high during the day. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) was up 18 points, or 1.5% to 1,197, but it was unable to close above 1,200, a very important psychological level.
The Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX) jumped 39 points, or 1.6%, to 2,514.
The common wisdom was that a good day was an 8% to 10% gain.
GM sold 478 million shares of common stock at $33 late Wednesday. In addition, the company sold 87 million shares of preferred stock with a 4.75% dividend at $50 each. In all, GM sold $20.1 billion in what is the largest U.S. IPO.
The total could top $23 billion if underwriters exercise options for an additional 71.7 million common shares and 13 million preferred shares.
Investors like Dell results
There was good news after the close from personal-computer maker Dell (DELL). Shares were up 8.8% to $14.53 after hours.
The company said fiscal-third-quarter earnings doubled from a year ago to $875 million or 45 cents a share after one-time charges. Wall Street was looking for 32 cents.
Revenue jumped 19% to $15.39 billion. Investors didn't seem to mind that the Street estimate had been $15.74 billion.
The results were driven by strong corporate, public and small- and medium-business sales. Consumer sales were up only 4% to $3 billion.
The company reported 32 cents a share in earnings per share, up 10% from a year ago. Revenue was up 30% to $429 million. The company also boosted guidance for the fourth quarter and for fiscal 2012.
Futures trading suggests a modestly higher open on Friday.
| Energy prices -- New York close | ||||||||||||
| Thur. | Wed. | Month chg. | YTD chg. | |||||||||
| Crude oil | $81.85 | $80.44 | 0.52% | 3.14% | ||||||||
| (per barrel) | ||||||||||||
| Heating oil | $2.2951 | $2.2519 | 2.57% | 8.48% | ||||||||
| (per gallon) | ||||||||||||
| Natural gas | $4.0070 | $4.0300 | -0.77% | -28.09% | ||||||||
| (per mil. BTU) | ||||||||||||
| Unleaded gasoline | $2.2283 | $2.1579 | 8.20% | 8.54% | ||||||||
| (per gallon) | ||||||||||||
| Retail gasoline | $2.8880 | $2.8920 | 2.81% | 9.44% | ||||||||
| (per gallon; AAA) | ||||||||||||
The rally starts in Asia, moves around the globe
The market opened higher and surged after GM shares opened above their $33 initial public offering price and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia offered a surprisingly robust view of manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region.
Worries eased substantially about financial problems in Europe.
The market rally began in Japan and China and spread to Europe. The big catalyst to start was the ease in worries about European financial woes.
The European Union, the United Kingdom and others were trying to build a rescue package for Ireland's troubled banks. The aim is to stabilize the situation and prevent the problems from affecting other countries, especially Portugal and Spain.
The hopes allowed the euro to rise against the dollar. That pushed the U.S. Dollar Index lower and set off rallies in gold, copper, silver and oil. The dollar index measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies. The euro represents 57% of the value of that basket.
Gold settled up $16.10 an ounce to $1,353. Copper was up 10.2 cents a pound to $3.831, and silver added $1.32 an ounce to $26.83.
Crude oil, meanwhile, settled up $1.41 a barrel to $88.85 in New York and was at $81.96 in electronic trading after hours.
The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 2.902% from 2.862% on Wednesday.
A broad rally with some losers
Not surprisingly, companies that benefit from a lower dollar saw their shares gain.
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX) is the poster child for this performance. Shares were up 3.1% to $99.85.
Dow component Alcoa (AA) was up 3.4% to $13.38. CEO Klaus Kleinfeld told the Financial Times that his company expects global demand for the metal to grow 6.5% a year, doubling total consumption by 2020.
Caterpillar (CAT) was up 2.4% to $83.11; Boeing (BA) up 3.4% to $64.61.
Transportation stocks were higher as well, in part because Union Pacific (UNP) boosted its dividend 15% to 38 cents a share. UP closed up 2% to $91.69. The stock is up 43.5% this year.
The Dow Jones Transportation Average ($DJT) was up 1.7% to 4,840. The index is up 18.1% for the year, compared with 7.2% for the Dow and 7.3% for the S&P 500.
Twenty-nine of the 30 stocks were higher, with Alcoa the leader and Intel (INTC) the one loser, down 0.3% to $21.01.
Eightly-seven Nasdaq-100 ($NDX.X) stocks were higher. The index was up 39 points, 1.8%, to 2,139. Apple (AAPL), up 2.6% to $308.43, contributed nearly 12 points to the gain. The company announced a European launch of its iAd mobile advertising network next month.
Stocks that were seeing big moves included:
- NetApp (NTAP), up 7.9% to $53.12, tops among Nasdaq-100 stocks. The third-biggest seller of external computer-storage systems told analysts in a conference call Wednesday that it expects to gain market share and is considering share buybacks. The stock was also raised to a "buy" from a "hold" at Canaccord Genuity.
- Limited Brands (LTD), up 4.4% to $33.26. The clothing retailer lifted its 2011 earnings-per-share estimate to a range of $1.82 to $1.97. Analysts had expected earnings of $1.94. The company also declared a $3-a-share special dividend and authorized a $200 million share repurchase program.
- DryShips (DRYS), up 7.7% to $5.594. The Greek owner of deep-water drilling rigs and vessels that haul iron ore and coal reported that third-quarter profit rose 57% as revenue from drilling rigs gained.
- Sears Holdings (SHLD), down 3.8% to $63.70, the biggest loser among S&P 500 stocks. The largest U.S. department-store chain said its third-quarter loss widened as consumers remained cautious given high jobless rates. Excluding one-time items, the loss was $1.71 a share, wider than the Street estimate of $1.11 a share.
- Williams-Sonoma (WSM), down 10.4% to $32.09. The gourmet-cookware retailer forecast fourth-quarter revenue may rise as little as 3%. Analysts had estimated a 5% increase.
The really bullish economic news was the Philadelphia Fed's manufacturing report. The index surged in November, hitting 22.5 after October's level of 1. According to Briefing.com, economists had expected a reading of 5.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the number of new people seeking unemployment benefits rose by 2,000 to 439,000 during the week ended Nov. 13, fewer than the 7,000 additional claims economists had expected.
The Conference Board said its gauge of October leading indicators rose 0.5% after similar growth in September. The increase was below the 0.6% increase economists had forecast.
| Short hits from the markets -- New York close | ||||||||||||
| Thur. | Wed. | Month chg. | YTD chg. | |||||||||
| Treasury yields | ||||||||||||
| 13-week Treasury bill | 0.130% | 0.140% | 8.33% | 160.00% | ||||||||
| 5-year Treasury note | 1.488% | 1.457% | 26.21% | -44.60% | ||||||||
| 10-year Treasury note | 2.902% | 2.862% | 11.10% | -24.49% | ||||||||
| 30-year Treasury bond | 4.284% | 4.276% | 7.10% | -7.69% | ||||||||
| Currencies | ||||||||||||
| U.S. Dollar Index | 78.729 | 79.210 | 1.64% | 0.65% | ||||||||
| British pound | $1.6051 | $1.5916 | -0.02% | -0.77% | ||||||||
| (in U.S. $) | ||||||||||||
| U.S. $ in pounds | £0.6230 | £0.6283 | 0.02% | 0.78% | ||||||||
| Euro in dollars | $1.3650 | $1.3535 | -2.24% | -4.76% | ||||||||
| (in U.S. $) | ||||||||||||
| U.S. $ in euros | € 0.7326 | € 0.7388 | 2.29% | 5.00% | ||||||||
| U.S. $ in yen | 83.68 | 83.15 | 3.43% | -10.02% | ||||||||
| U.S. $ in Chinese | 6.66 | 6.64 | -0.51% | -2.43% | ||||||||
| yuan | ||||||||||||
| Canada dollar | $0.980 | $0.977 | -0.25% | 3.09% | ||||||||
| (in U.S. $) | ||||||||||||
| U.S. dollar | $1.021 | $1.023 | 0.24% | -3.00% | ||||||||
| (in Canadian $) | ||||||||||||
| Commodities | ||||||||||||
| Gold | $1,353.00 | $1,336.90 | -0.34% | 23.43% | ||||||||
| (per troy ounce) | ||||||||||||
| Copper | $3.8310 | $3.7295 | 2.61% | 14.48% | ||||||||
| (per pound) | ||||||||||||
| Silver | $26.8340 | $25.5110 | 9.24% | 59.30% | ||||||||
| (per troy ounce) | ||||||||||||
| Wheat | $6.4525 | $6.3250 | -10.04% | 19.16% | ||||||||
| (per bushel) | ||||||||||||
| Corn | $5.4175 | $5.2575 | -6.92% | 30.70% | ||||||||
| (per bushel) | ||||||||||||
| Crude oil | $81.85 | $80.44 | 0.52% | 3.14% | ||||||||
| (per barrel) | ||||||||||||
It's how it was sold. Bohama say it would result in cost reductions and savings. I understand Doc' cannot drive a Chevy.
You need to look into how the gov is manipulating the money and the market
And "how much power does the gov have?' I say too much !!! especially when they molest 3 year old girls.
Maybe it will go up as much has my companies Health Insurance rates , that I just got. So much for any raises this year, just have to figure out how to tell them they did get one, its all in your insurance.
Guess that National Health Care cost reduction is working as well as the markets. Its all ***** up
Even though I am an independent, I have to defend the Dems here. In light of the wars he started in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bush should have either raised taxes or at least kept them the same. The deficits created as a result of these policies left us with no ammunition to fight the economic meltdown of 2008.
As far as job creation is concerned, more jobs were created under the Clinton administration than were created under Reagan, Bush and Bush combined.
Tax cuts are nice, but they are only effective if they lead to economic growth to offset the cost. When they go to people who don't spend them, they do very little to help grow the economy. The Reagan tax cuts were a special case. Prior to the tax reform bill of 1987, which receive strong bi-partisan support, the top tax rate was 70%. Congress simplified the tax code and reduced marginal rates, resulting in a broader, flatter tax curve. I hope the current Congress can do the same.
I missed the start of the recovery because I didn't buy in until it was 6800. Darn the luck.
Concerning the Plunger police: The fed, JPMC, China and anyone one else of significant monetary weight are always trying to manipulate the markets in their favor. But for every action there is an opposite action to counter balance these moves to maintain status quo. although I must admit fear is hard to counter act because of the negative nature of reporting. "If it bleeds it leads"
The Dems posting here don't seem to get it.. Reagan got it right when thhe cut taxes. The old guy was smart and he brought back the sleeping giant. Spending has never brought back an economy. Even FDR admitted that all the spending they did during the depression was a complete waste. Too bad.. We had an example of what works (cut taxes) and the Dems ignored history just for ideological purposes. Now, we have an extra trillion to pay off and we are still in great pain at 9.6% unemployment.
The stock market is no longer a reliable gauge of our economy. They're are so many other indicators that point to a slow economy that whatever the stock market does is only significant to those playing the market, otherwise, its a bust.
How can you trust a system that has computers manipulating the outcome each day?! After the economic bust who would allow those proven untrustworthy to handle our money? No way!
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