The US dollar index rose today, now up 0.23% at 82.672. The GSCI commodity index rose 0.3% to 655.53, with most commodities prices mixed today. WTI crude oil finished up 1% today, closing at $94.33/barrel, as the EIA report showed a larger inventory drop than expected. Brent crude trades up 1.93% at $116.23/barrel. Natural gas is down -2.8% today to $2.754/thousand cubic feet. Gold settled at $1,606.60/ounce, up 0.3%.
The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 7 points to 13,164.78 (-0.06%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 14 points (0.46%) to 3,030.93, and the S&P 500 rose 0.11% or nearly 2 points to 1,405.53.
There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Entergy Corp. (NYSE: ETR) cut to ‘underperform’ at BofA; Great Basin Gold Ltd. (NYSEMKT: GBG) cut to ‘sell’ at Stifel Nicolaus; OCZ Technology Group Inc. (NASDAQ: OCZ) cut to ‘neutral’ at Sterne Agee; Sturm Ruger & Co. Inc. (NYSE: RGR) cut to ‘underweight’ with a $40 price target at KeyBank (more coverage here); and Jive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: JIVE) raised to ‘outperform’ with a $21 target price at RW Baird.
Earnings reports since markets closed last last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: JDS Uniphase Corp. (NASDAQ: JDSU) is up 8.3% at $11.57 (more coverage here); Pacific Ethanol Inc. (NASDAQ: PEIX) is down -4.5% at $0.32; Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS) is down -0.2% at $15.35; Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) is up 9.4% at $35.36 (more coverage here); Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) is down -10.9% at $2.71; Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) is down -6.2% at $75.17 (more coverage here); and Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) is up 1.8% at $64.49 after posting a new 52-week high of $64.99 earlier today (more coverage here).
Earnings releases are slowing down, but reports scheduled before tomorrow’s open include Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A), Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT), Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Limited Brands Inc. (NYSE: LTD), NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP), PetSmart Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM), Sina Corp. (NASDAQ: SINA), Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR), E-commerce China Dangdang Inc. (NASDAQ: DANG), GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME), Ross Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: ROST), Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD), and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT).
Some standouts from today include the following stocks:
Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) is up 8% at $5.39, after posting a new 52-week high of $5.49 earlier today. No particular news today, but investors love this stock right now.
Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) is down -15.1% at $11.43 after posting a new 52-week low of $10.99. The office supplies store badly missed expectations and lowered its outlook. More coverage here.
Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) is down -11.2% at $2.70. The solar PV maker missed estimates for the second quarter, but maintained shipment guidance. Selling more for less is not a winning strategy.
Stay tuned for Thursday. Minneapolis Fed president Narayana Kocherlakota is giving a speech. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):
- 8:30 a.m. – Housing starts
- 8:30 a.m. – New claims for unemployment benefits
- 10:00 a.m. – Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey
- 10:00 a.m. – E-commerce retail sales
- 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
- 4:30 p.m. – Fed balance sheet and money supply
Paul Ausick
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