Stock Market Wrapup April 20th
Strong earnings reports from bellwether companies like Google (Nasdaq: GOOG - News) helped propel a broad advance to close out the week, with the Blue Chip Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassing the 12,900 point mark for the first time in its history. Advancing stocks led decliners by roughly a 3-to-1 margin on the NYSE and 2-to-1 on Nasdaq on above-average volume. Crude oil futures also jumped to close above $63 a barrel, while the 10-year Treasury note eased fractionally.
The Dow's gain was fueled by American Express (NYSE: AXP - News), up 3.5% on the day after posting a 21% increase in Q1 profit to a record $1.06 billion. Subscribers can read a detailed analysis of Amex's results in today's issue. Also contributing strongly was Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT - News), which closed 4.7% higher. The heavy equipment maker said its Q1 profit fell to $816 million from $840 million a year earlier, though net income rose on a per-share basis to $1.23 compared with $1.20 per share as a result of share repurchases. The housing slump in North America continues to hamper Caterpillar's results, but expectations for continued strong growth outside of the U.S. encouraged the company to raise its full-year forecast to between $5.30 and $5.80 a share, from between $5.20 and $5.70 a share in its previous forecast.
Other Dow components reporting results today included McDonald's (NYSE: MCD - News) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE - News). McDonald's said its Q1 earnings rose 22% to $762 million, or 62 cents a share, while Pfizer reported a -17% drop in earnings due to the impact of restructuring charges. Pfizer also cut its full-year forecast to reflect the loss of exclusivity of its blood-pressure medication Norvasc last month. The company had originally thought it would retain market exclusivity through September, but it lost a court challenge on the matter. Subscribers can read a detailed analysis of the results from McDonald's and Pfizer in today's issue.
Google once again blew by its own forecast, and its shares added 2.3% after it announced results last night. The Internet company's ubiquitous search engine continues to be its engine for growth as net income jumped a healthy 69% to $1 billion, or $3.18 a share, from $592 million or $1.95 a share a year earlier. Another top technology name, Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD - News), slipped -0.8% after reporting that it had swung to a wider-than-expected loss in the most-recent quarter. Elsewhere, oilfield services provider Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB - News) added 1.2% after the company reported a 63% jump in profits as a result of strong oil and natural gas activity by firms worldwide. The company's net income rose to $1.2 billion, or 96 cents a share, from $722.5 million, or 59 cents a share, a year ago.
In other company news, Circuit City (NYSE: CC - News) and Napster (Nasdaq: NAPS - News) announced that they had teamed up to launch their own music download service. Subscribers will be able to download songs to their computers or music players for either a monthly fee of $14.95 or for 99-cents a song. Circuit City's shares rose 2.9%, but Napster traded essentially unchanged. Shares of H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) closed up 3.3% after the company succeeded in finding a buyer for its troubled subprime lending unit, Option One Mortgage. A newly formed subsidiary of the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management will buy the mortgage firm for the value of its net assets minus $300 million. The final price will be determined when the deal closes later this year.
By the BullMarket.com Staff
The Dow's gain was fueled by American Express (NYSE: AXP - News), up 3.5% on the day after posting a 21% increase in Q1 profit to a record $1.06 billion. Subscribers can read a detailed analysis of Amex's results in today's issue. Also contributing strongly was Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT - News), which closed 4.7% higher. The heavy equipment maker said its Q1 profit fell to $816 million from $840 million a year earlier, though net income rose on a per-share basis to $1.23 compared with $1.20 per share as a result of share repurchases. The housing slump in North America continues to hamper Caterpillar's results, but expectations for continued strong growth outside of the U.S. encouraged the company to raise its full-year forecast to between $5.30 and $5.80 a share, from between $5.20 and $5.70 a share in its previous forecast.
Other Dow components reporting results today included McDonald's (NYSE: MCD - News) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE - News). McDonald's said its Q1 earnings rose 22% to $762 million, or 62 cents a share, while Pfizer reported a -17% drop in earnings due to the impact of restructuring charges. Pfizer also cut its full-year forecast to reflect the loss of exclusivity of its blood-pressure medication Norvasc last month. The company had originally thought it would retain market exclusivity through September, but it lost a court challenge on the matter. Subscribers can read a detailed analysis of the results from McDonald's and Pfizer in today's issue.
Google once again blew by its own forecast, and its shares added 2.3% after it announced results last night. The Internet company's ubiquitous search engine continues to be its engine for growth as net income jumped a healthy 69% to $1 billion, or $3.18 a share, from $592 million or $1.95 a share a year earlier. Another top technology name, Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD - News), slipped -0.8% after reporting that it had swung to a wider-than-expected loss in the most-recent quarter. Elsewhere, oilfield services provider Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB - News) added 1.2% after the company reported a 63% jump in profits as a result of strong oil and natural gas activity by firms worldwide. The company's net income rose to $1.2 billion, or 96 cents a share, from $722.5 million, or 59 cents a share, a year ago.
In other company news, Circuit City (NYSE: CC - News) and Napster (Nasdaq: NAPS - News) announced that they had teamed up to launch their own music download service. Subscribers will be able to download songs to their computers or music players for either a monthly fee of $14.95 or for 99-cents a song. Circuit City's shares rose 2.9%, but Napster traded essentially unchanged. Shares of H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) closed up 3.3% after the company succeeded in finding a buyer for its troubled subprime lending unit, Option One Mortgage. A newly formed subsidiary of the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management will buy the mortgage firm for the value of its net assets minus $300 million. The final price will be determined when the deal closes later this year.
By the BullMarket.com Staff
posted by Stock Administrator @ 10:27 PM
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