The U.S. dollar index rose today, now up 0.28% at 79.235. The GSCI commodity index is up fractionally at 664.94, with commodities prices mixed today. WTI crude oil closed flat today, at $92.10 a barrel. Brent crude trades down 0.35% at $112.82 a barrel. Natural gas is up 3.1% today at about $3.58 per thousand cubic feet, after the weekly storage report showed another inventory gain (more coverage here). Gold closed at $1,744.70 an ounce, down 0.5% for the day.
The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 7 points to 13,549.48 (-0.06%), the NASDAQ fell more than 31 points (-1.01%) to 3,072.87, and the S&P 500 fell -0.24% or more than 3 points to 1,457.36.
There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) maintained as ‘outperform’ but target price lowered to $730 at BMO Capital Markets; Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) raised to ‘buy’ at Citigroup; ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) raised to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs; Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) cut to ‘sector perform’ at RBC; and Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG) raised to ‘buy’ with a target price of $54 at Goldman Sachs.
Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in some price moves today, including these as of the last half hour of trading: American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) is down 3% at $57.60; eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) is up 5.3% at $50.76 after posting a new 52-week high of $50.90 earlier today; Noble Corp. (NYSE: NE) is up 4.8% at $39.49; Select Comfort Corp. (NASDAQ: SCSS) is down 6.8% at $30.41; Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) is up 2.9% at $12.98; Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) is down 3.8% at $5.41; Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE: DO) is up 2.3% at $71.34; KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) is up 4.7% at $8.81; Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is down 3.8% at $17.79; NVR Inc. (NYSE: NVR) is up 3% at $902.46 after posting a new 52-week high of $915.00; Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) is down 4.1% at $88.09; Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) is up 0.8% at $9.03 (more coverage here); SUPERVALU Inc. (NYSE: SVU) is up 4.4% at $2.13; Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP) is up 1.6% at $125.65; and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) is up 2.6% at $45.87 (more coverage here).
Before markets open tomorrow we are scheduled to hear from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD), Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF), Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), Riverbed Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD), Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI), Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON), Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU), and Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB).
Some standouts from today include the following stocks:
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is down 8.2% at $693.65. The Internet search giant reported early today and the news was not pretty. More coverage here.
Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR) is down 9.1% at $2.06. The wireless carrier is now majority owned by Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) and a full buyout looks increasingly unlikely for now. More coverage here.
Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) is down 2.7% at $2.86. The mobile handset maker reported better-than-expected EPS, but the company’s forecast points at more losses. More coverage here.
Stay tuned for Friday. We have noted the following event on the schedule (all times Eastern):
- 10:00 a.m. – Existing home sales
Paul Ausick
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