Stock Market Wrapup April 17th
It was a tale of two markets today as solid earnings reports from two of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, coupled with benign inflation data, helped push that market indicator to new heights intraday before it closed short of another record. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite, in contrast, hovered near the unchanged mark for much of the session before ultimately closing fractionally lower. The 10-year Treasury note again found buyers today while crude oil prices declined. The British pound also made news on the currency markets, pushing past the psychologically important $2 level for the first time since 1992, though the weak-dollar trend has been in place for some time.
U.S. consumer prices rose a sharp 0.6% in March, but much of that gain was attributable to the rising price of energy, which jumped 5.9% last month. It was the sharpest one-month increase in energy costs since Hurricane Katrina helped shut down a portion of the nation's refining capacity in the summer of 2005. Investors were encouraged, however, that so-called core inflation, which strips out energy as well as food costs, was only up a scant 0.1%.
In earnings news, strong sales outside of North America helped propel the soft-drink maker Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO - News), a Dow component, to a 14% earnings increase. Revenue increased 17%. Growth was propelled by a 9% gain in overseas unit-case volume, which offset a -3% decline in the same North American sales metric. Satisfied investors pushed the company's shares up 3%.
The Q1 bottom-line results for pharmaceutical maker Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ - News) declined -22% as the result of charges related to its acquisition of Conor Medsystems, but investors were encouraged by record sales of nearly $13 billion, a 16% increase over last year's Q1 results. Shares increased 2% in today's trading. J&J is another one of the 30 stocks that make up the blue chip Dow index, which was also helped by a late afternoon rally from McDonald's (NYSE: MCD - News)
TD Ameritrade (Nasdaq: AMTD - News), meanwhile, slumped -9% after the online broker posted results that missed expectations and lowered its outlook for the remainder of the year. The company said it earned $141 million, or 23 cents a share for its second fiscal quarter ended March 31, against $173 million, or 30 cents a share, last year when results were aided by one-time gains. Its rival Charles Schwab (Nasdaq: SCHW - News), meanwhile, reported a Q1 profit of $273 million, or 22 cents a share, compared with $243 million, or 19 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue from continuing operations increased 9% to $1.15 billion. The results were in line with Wall Street's expectations.
Earnings results continued to come in from the banking sector. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC - News), the nation's No. 4 bank, reported an 11% increase in Q1 profits, but also revealed an increase in bad loans. The bank, however, insisted its loan portfolio is largely isolated from difficulties in the subprime sector. Wells Fargo earned $2.24 billion, or 66 cents per share, compared with $2 billion, or 60 cents, a year ago. Revenue rose 10%. Regional bank SunTrust Banks (NYSE: STI - News) said its Q1 net income fell 3% to $514 million, while Regions Financial (NYSE: RF - News) reported a 13% profit increase to $333 million. After the bell, Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM - News) reported a decline in Q1 profit, hurt by a loss in its mortgage unit.
U.S. consumer prices rose a sharp 0.6% in March, but much of that gain was attributable to the rising price of energy, which jumped 5.9% last month. It was the sharpest one-month increase in energy costs since Hurricane Katrina helped shut down a portion of the nation's refining capacity in the summer of 2005. Investors were encouraged, however, that so-called core inflation, which strips out energy as well as food costs, was only up a scant 0.1%.
In earnings news, strong sales outside of North America helped propel the soft-drink maker Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO - News), a Dow component, to a 14% earnings increase. Revenue increased 17%. Growth was propelled by a 9% gain in overseas unit-case volume, which offset a -3% decline in the same North American sales metric. Satisfied investors pushed the company's shares up 3%.
The Q1 bottom-line results for pharmaceutical maker Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ - News) declined -22% as the result of charges related to its acquisition of Conor Medsystems, but investors were encouraged by record sales of nearly $13 billion, a 16% increase over last year's Q1 results. Shares increased 2% in today's trading. J&J is another one of the 30 stocks that make up the blue chip Dow index, which was also helped by a late afternoon rally from McDonald's (NYSE: MCD - News)
TD Ameritrade (Nasdaq: AMTD - News), meanwhile, slumped -9% after the online broker posted results that missed expectations and lowered its outlook for the remainder of the year. The company said it earned $141 million, or 23 cents a share for its second fiscal quarter ended March 31, against $173 million, or 30 cents a share, last year when results were aided by one-time gains. Its rival Charles Schwab (Nasdaq: SCHW - News), meanwhile, reported a Q1 profit of $273 million, or 22 cents a share, compared with $243 million, or 19 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue from continuing operations increased 9% to $1.15 billion. The results were in line with Wall Street's expectations.
Earnings results continued to come in from the banking sector. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC - News), the nation's No. 4 bank, reported an 11% increase in Q1 profits, but also revealed an increase in bad loans. The bank, however, insisted its loan portfolio is largely isolated from difficulties in the subprime sector. Wells Fargo earned $2.24 billion, or 66 cents per share, compared with $2 billion, or 60 cents, a year ago. Revenue rose 10%. Regional bank SunTrust Banks (NYSE: STI - News) said its Q1 net income fell 3% to $514 million, while Regions Financial (NYSE: RF - News) reported a 13% profit increase to $333 million. After the bell, Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM - News) reported a decline in Q1 profit, hurt by a loss in its mortgage unit.
posted by Stock Administrator @ 9:04 PM
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