Stock Market Wrapup Sept. 14th
Stocks opened the session sharply lower, but quickly rallied as upbeat economic data sent bears to the sidelines. At the close, all major indexes closed with small gains. Oil prices finally sold off, as crude eased -99 cents to finish the week at $79.10 a barrel.
On the economic front, the Commerce Department reported that retail sales rose less than forecast for the month of August. Sales rose 0.3% in August, following a revised 0.5% increase in July. Purchases excluding autos unexpectedly fell -0.4%. Industrial output, meanwhile, rose 0.2%, with factory output declining for the first time since February. Elsewhere, a report from the University of Michigan said that consumer confidence increased.
The subprime mess is being felt overseas, as Europe's 3rd largest mortgage lender Northern Rock sought emergency funding from the European Central Bank (ECB). The bailout is the nation's biggest in more than 30 years. Rising credit costs left the lender unable to make new loans. News sent customers scrambling to its branches to get their money out. Northern Rock currently has 1.4 million depositors and approximately 800,000 mortgage customers.
In Wall Street news, Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER - News) told investors that credit market conditions have continued to remain challenging. The company said it made "fair value adjustments" for potential losses to date on holdings and finance commitments as it prepares to conclude its current quarter. Shares declined -0.7% on the day.
Next week officially kicks off the earnings parade for investment banks, including Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS - News), Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH - News), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS - News) and Bear Sterns (NYSE: BSC - News). Subscribers can read our thoughts on the upcoming investment bank earnings reports in today's issue. Meanwhile, Merrill downgraded shares of American Express (NYSE: AXP - News) to "neutral" from "buy" citing consumer spending concerns and disruptions in the financial markets.
In the technology arena, Internet giant Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO - News) saw shares rise by 4.3% after a Bernstein analyst said the stock could fetch $45 if the company were to outsource search advertising, cut jobs, and restructure its display advertising business. Yahoo also noted that it purchased news aggregation site BuzzTracker. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Intel (Nasdaq: INTC - News) shares fell -1.7% after a Merrill Lynch analyst downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "buy," citing valuation concerns. Also seeing analyst action was mobile handset maker Palm (Nasdaq: PALM - News) as Morgan Keegan upgraded the stock to "outperform" from "market perform" noting that Palm's strategic focus is improving and that new product launches should offset recent weaknesses in other areas. Shares advanced 4%.
On the economic front, the Commerce Department reported that retail sales rose less than forecast for the month of August. Sales rose 0.3% in August, following a revised 0.5% increase in July. Purchases excluding autos unexpectedly fell -0.4%. Industrial output, meanwhile, rose 0.2%, with factory output declining for the first time since February. Elsewhere, a report from the University of Michigan said that consumer confidence increased.
The subprime mess is being felt overseas, as Europe's 3rd largest mortgage lender Northern Rock sought emergency funding from the European Central Bank (ECB). The bailout is the nation's biggest in more than 30 years. Rising credit costs left the lender unable to make new loans. News sent customers scrambling to its branches to get their money out. Northern Rock currently has 1.4 million depositors and approximately 800,000 mortgage customers.
In Wall Street news, Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER - News) told investors that credit market conditions have continued to remain challenging. The company said it made "fair value adjustments" for potential losses to date on holdings and finance commitments as it prepares to conclude its current quarter. Shares declined -0.7% on the day.
Next week officially kicks off the earnings parade for investment banks, including Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS - News), Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH - News), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS - News) and Bear Sterns (NYSE: BSC - News). Subscribers can read our thoughts on the upcoming investment bank earnings reports in today's issue. Meanwhile, Merrill downgraded shares of American Express (NYSE: AXP - News) to "neutral" from "buy" citing consumer spending concerns and disruptions in the financial markets.
In the technology arena, Internet giant Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO - News) saw shares rise by 4.3% after a Bernstein analyst said the stock could fetch $45 if the company were to outsource search advertising, cut jobs, and restructure its display advertising business. Yahoo also noted that it purchased news aggregation site BuzzTracker. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Intel (Nasdaq: INTC - News) shares fell -1.7% after a Merrill Lynch analyst downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "buy," citing valuation concerns. Also seeing analyst action was mobile handset maker Palm (Nasdaq: PALM - News) as Morgan Keegan upgraded the stock to "outperform" from "market perform" noting that Palm's strategic focus is improving and that new product launches should offset recent weaknesses in other areas. Shares advanced 4%.
posted by Stock Administrator @ 5:55 PM
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