| Index | Last | Change | % Chg |
| DJ Industrials | 13888.96 | -3.58 | -0.03% |
| Nasdaq Comp | 2799.31 | 6.64 | 0.24% |
| S&P 500 | 1540.08 | -1.16 | -0.08% |
| DJ Wilshire 5K | 15567.27 | -10.16 | -0.07% |
| Russell 2K | 825.03 | 0.14 | 0.02% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 2187.52 | 8.38 | 0.38% |
| Issues | NYSE | Nasdaq | Amex |
| Advancing | 1,605 | 1,439 | 639 |
| Declining | 1,658 | 1,516 | 518 |
| Unchanged | 117 | 132 | 95 |
| Total | 3,380 | 3,087 | 1,252 |
| New 52 Wk High | 120 | 70 | 43 |
| New 52 Wk Low | 114 | 108 | 24 |
| Total Volume | 1,263,648,930 | 1,987,167,306 | 40,124,997 |
| Advancing | 589,886,680 | 1,177,780,233 | 16,279,997 |
| Declining | 661,677,460 | 758,223,085 | 13,323,100 |
| Unchanged | 12,084,790 | 51,163,988 | 10,521,900 |
| Futures | Last | Change |
| Crude Oil | 89.52 | 0.05 |
| Natural Gas, Jan | 8.39 | -0.034 |
| Gold, Dec. | 773.1 | 4.4 |
From Briefing.com:
| Moving the Market |  | Sector Watch |
| Bothersome financial sector news; Bank of America's third quarter profit plunges 32%. Crude oil prices | Strong: education services; steel; railroads; diversified metals & minerals; oil & gas drilling; fertilizer & agriculture chemicals; automobile manufacturers; human resources & employment services; construction & engineering; industrial gases Weak: healthcare tech; thrifts & mortgages; real estate management & development; construction materials; semiconductor equipment; department stores; trade companies & distributors; other diversified financial services; diversified banks; computers & elec |
The stock market had another interesting day of trading on Thursday. The indices spent most of the day in negative territory following troublesome headlines out of the financial sector, but then staged a late day, and choppy, recovery effort that was led by large-cap tech stocks. Meanwhile, oil prices closed at new all-time highs. The indices finished Thursday mixed, with the S&P and Dow slightly below the unchanged mark and the Nasdaq slightly above it. Dominating the headlines, Bank of America (BAC 48.85, -1.18) reported earnings of $0.82 per share, which fell $0.24 short of the consensus estimate. Third quarter profits plunged 32%. The company experienced a 93%, or $1.33 billion, decline in earnings in its Global Corporate and Investment Banking segment due to the credit market turmoil. Washington Mutual's (WM 30.52, -2.55) stock got clipped after it reported a 72% drop in third quarter net income to $210 million or $0.23 per diluted share. The company was downgraded to Sell at several brokerages, including Merrill Lynch and Punk Ziegel. E*Trade (ETFC 11.47, -1.00) missing earnings estimates by a wide margin and press reports that the SEC has launched an informal investigation into the stock sales of Countrywide's (CFC) CEO also weighed on the sector. Not all earnings news was negative today. eBay (EBAY 38.10, -2.50), Nokia (NOK 37.64, +1.11), Pfizer (PFE 25.54, -0.01) , McGraw-Hill (MHP 51.42, +0.50), UnitedHealth (UNH 48.10, -0.50), Textron (TXT 68.85, +2.72) and Parker-Hannifin (PH 75.76, +0.58) all beat their earnings estimates. In light of the drag from Bank of America's poor showing, the financial sector (-1.1%) was the main laggard on Thursday. That was the overwhelming factor that prevented a better showing by the broader market. The S&P 500 Retailing Index (-1.1%) was also a drag, as lingering concerns about the weakness in the housing market and the jump in oil prices sparked selling interest in the retailers. The Materials sector (+1.2%) provided leadership following a better than expected earnings report from steelmaker Nucor (NUE 60.23, +3.08). The energy (+0.4%) and industrial (+0.4%) sectors also provided support. Crude oil futures closed up $2.07 to a record high of $89.47. The weak dollar, along with continued fears of a Turkish invasion into Northern Iraq fueled the rally. In currency trading, the Euro hit an all-time high today against the dollar. The US Dollar Index, which compares the U.S. dollar against major world currencies, fell 0.68%. There were a few notable items on the economic front today, although they had a muted effect on the stock market. New claims for unemployment for the week ended October 13 rose to 337,000 from 309,000 the week before, but the overall trend still reflects a good labor market. The four-week average of 316,500 is still very low from an historical viewpoint. Leading indicators for September rose 0.3%, which was in-line with economists' expectations. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Fed Index for October, a regional manufacturing survey, came in at 6.8, which was slightly lower than the expected reading of 7.0. Tomorrow, Dow components 3M (MMM 94.73, +0.47), Caterpillar (CAT 77.66, +0.89), Honeywell (HON 60.69, -0.01) and McDonald's (MCD 56.79, -0.17) are set to report their earnings. |
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