Stocks hold gains amid European debt concerns
Finance ministers gather in Poland to address the eurozone's debt crisis. A reading on US consumer sentiment tops expectations. Global markets rise. Oil prices fall.
By Chao Deng, TheStreet
Updated at 12:47 p.m. ET
Stocks wavered but clung to gains Thursday as a strong reading on U.S. consumer sentiment gave investors a reason to feel optimistic amid ongoing concerns about Europe's debt crisis.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) was rising 87.3 points, or 0.7%, at 11,520. The S&P 500 ($INX) was gaining 7 points, or 0.5%, at 1,216, and the Nasdaq ($COMPX) was adding 15.2 points, or 0.5%, at 2,622.
The University of Michigan said that U.S. consumer sentiment for September edged up to reading of 57.8, an improvement over the August reading of 55.7, which had been the lowest level since November 2008 after the collapse of Lehman Bros. The latest report was better than economists' expectations for 56.3 according to Briefing.com.
Investors were also focused on a meeting of finance ministers in Poland as they sought clear signs of European policymakers coming together to address the region's persistent debt crisis. So far, eurozone countries have agreed that they will decide in October whether Greece will receive the next bailout payment, worth about $11 billion. Finance ministers are also expected to discuss whether the European Union should create a euro bond, although whether Germany would agree to such a plan remains in doubt.
The FTSE in London closed 0.5% higher, and the DAX in Frankfurt was gained 1.1%. Asian markets followed strong gains in U.S. stocks with Hong Kong's Hang Seng closing up 1.4%, and Japan's Nikkei soaring 2.3%.
On Thursday, U.S. stocks gained after the European Central Bank, along with four other central banks, decided to pump dollars into Europe's financial system to increase liquidity in the eurozone. The Dow has gained 4% in the last four sessions, although the index is still down 1.6% for the month.
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Earlier in the week, investors were heartened by comments from eurozone leaders that indicated that Greece would stay in the European Union and avoid a catastrophic collapse. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, also attending Friday's meeting in Europe, has expressed strong doubts that the debt crisis would turn into a Lehman-like situation.
Gold for December delivery was rebounding, up $38.10 at $1819.50 an ounce.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury was inching up 2/32, diluting the yield to 2.072%.
The October crude oil contract was slipping by $1.25 to trade at $88.15 a barrel.
The dollar was rising against a basket of currencies, with the dollar index up 0.412%. The euro was higher against the greenback by 0.65% at $1.3791.
Market breadth was split largely down the middle, with 46% of the 1.5 billion shares trading on the New York Stock Exchange rising while 50% were declining. There were 816 million stocks changing hands on the Nasdaq.
Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Caterpillar (CAT) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) were the only Dow components trading in negative territory while Home Depot (HD) and Boeing (BA) were topping the Dow.
In corporate news, Research In Motion (RIMM) got crushed after the Blackberry maker missed badly on both the top and bottom lines yesterday. Shares were down 18.1% to $24.18.
Diamond Foods (DMND) said it now sees earnings of $3.05 to $3.15 a share for 2012, up from a prior outlook of $3 to $3.10 a share. The company bested expectations for the fourth quarter, posting a non-GAAP profit of $11.9 million, or 52 cents a share with revenue coming in at $232.8 million. The average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters was for earnings of 44 cents a share in the quarter on revenue of $216.3 million. Shares were spiking 13.9% to $89.15.
Shares of Netflix (NFLX), which tanked nearly 19% Thursday after the company lowered expectations for third-quarter U.S. subscriber numbers, continued to fall today. The company now expects a quarter-end total of 36 million subscribers, down from its July 25 guidance of 37 million, with the DVD-only service taking the biggest hit. Shares were falling 5% to $160.63 on Friday.
BRIAN.....You're probably at work, so I hope you get to read?.Good man,keep paying that SS.
I'll leave you with some good long term ideas...Take a look at Tobacco: Big "MO",PM and RAI.
Altria,Phillip Morris(For) and Reynolds, they pay sweet divs and are not bad at stability.
Pick a couple and accumulate or DCAverage over time and "dips" you and family will do well.
One other of my favorites now FTR(telcom) Frontier Comm. is doing mighty things and took over most of Verizons rural and smaller operations, when they get many built outs up and running they should do very well in 27 States. Verizon still owns stock in them and their are many "handshake"
deals...If you accumulate for 10 years you will be a "wealthy investor" oh and I forgot to mention they are about 10% divvie...Cheap at about $7 p/s..Put your money in their bank at 10%, because that div might start going down in the future?? But what the hell you will probably have appreciation by then.
Disclaimer: we own positions in all equities mentioned.
MFC- "Finance ministers meeting in Poland? It must be those Polish Sausages and Sour Kraut at Ye Olde Polish Cafe and Cigar Lounge!"
Says the guy / who in one of his very recent prior posts / said that almost all other posts here were spam. I'm a big fan of irony / would somebody be talking out of both sides of his mouth today? 
Mr Fat Cat:
But sometimes there's some really entertaining (funny, ironic, etc.) comments on here that have nothing to do with the same old stuff you mentioned. I really think die BOA is funny, I've never done business with BOA, so it just seems out of nowhere LOL! And there's someone or maybe a few repeat posters that always say that LOL! Some days, its exactly as you say in almost the exact order LOL!
My personal reasons to read these posts: ENTERTAINMENT. And its nice to see other peoples' views. I slightly disregard repeat posters and sometimes that's all there are LOL!
The real spam messages are: "I'm a hot bimbo 28 something..." and mentions a website, then a pasted portion of some financial article copied from somewhere on the web to make it look likes its not spam. Other than that, let people post. The more opinions the better. As long as it has something to do with the economy. And most of the posts do. Even if you disagree with them. What I don't understand is how some find the time to post so frequently. But then I find it hard to figure out how people find the time to make their YouTube sites so decked out and pretty and stuff LOL!
PS
I really really REALLY hate that handle name (mr fat cat). My first impression of the name is some very over fed fat man in a white dress shirt and a food stained black tie with food all over his face. Constantly eating and reading things and screaming with food clogging his face and mouth. You know, kind of like "Rush Limburger".
Curious why you chose it?
About all any of you post is spam. The same old crap over and over again. Printing money, Ben's a bad guy, El Salami is doomed, ECB is nuts, the US is close to collapse, Europe is close to collapse, die BOA, and on and on with worthless nonsense. It obvious to me that you are a bunch of doddering old fools that have nothing better to do than peek through holes in a construction fence or maybe public toilets.
The more money that's made to 'patch up' these problems, the less it's worth in the long term. Attach interest to that magical money that can never be paid back, give it to the already filthy rich banks, and sit back to watch the problem get worse!
Solution: Give the people (homeowner/families) the bailout! People will pay off their debt and consuming spending will go up drastically. That money inevitably comes back to the banks anyway. Will it happen.... nope... rich get richer and the middle to lower class get poorer.
Simply print money and loan it to the banks at zero percent interest and let them jack up the price of food,gold,copper and gasoline until they make double what they borrowed then they can pay us back ....
Agree, all governments should simply print 40% more currency and let inflation of assets pick the winners and losers. Savers and renters will lose, investors and owners will win. Nothing new, what's taking them so long to figure it out.i'm forgetting my initital quote and conditions. i used to pay about $150 a month on electric. electric itself has a history of going up 4% a year. my after solar electric bill is now $25 a month average. i looked at it a few ways and considered that $150 at 4% a year increase as primary to my payback. and i also felt it was about time for the 4% history rate to actually climb a bit steeper from then forward.
it quickly becomes a mish-mash because having a system on the house also increases the value of the house along with peace of mind when the AC gets turned on like it was a week ago. "payback" comes from several sources in my head. but it IS possitive
Math seems fuzzy here most people use 1500 kilowatts a month that would mean you pay $45 and your neighbors pay $555 a month. Difference is $510 a month so pay back on $9 K solar system would be a mere 2 years not 9 years.
VOLCKER, he picked the right handle and now it's time for him to take his meds.
Oh and my wife just, had me edit this; Yes we remember the jungle in '68.
It was God d** rough in Chicago that year !!
And don't jump on me, FG it's a true joke
Yeah, I was quailfied on 6 different weapons,badges for all.
In 66-67 we were still dealing with Leopards,Tigers and fukin' Cobras, plus many other bitey things. Ran(IC) a nest for about 3-4 months,had 7 60's in it. 3 were back-up w/ about 10K in belts and rounds. And we all carried 45's and 16's about 80 rounds in clips, each.
So let's just quit talkin', About NAM. It's not very fitting here. You may be the only one,that understands what I just wrote, kapeesh.
House Speaker Boehner proposes getting rid of regulations on businesses and reducing their taxes in order to get them to hire more people.
What a crock of crap. Businesses aren't hiring because they have plenty of capacity, read productivity through automation, to satisfy the low demand because people are saving more than they have in the past and over 10% of the workers are unemployed. This isn't going to change due to globalization and deleveraging (housing market collapse) for a long, long time regardless of what either party does. Republicans got us here, get the rest of them out.RELATED ARTICLES
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[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 ended this week with a bang, roaring to a new all-time high on the back of stronger-than-expected economic data, influential leadership, and an ongoing appreciation for the Fed's monetary policy support.
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