Friday Closing Bell: Markets Buoyed by Good Earnings

October 25, 2013: U.S. markets opened higher Friday morning following good earnings reports Thursday night from some big names. The report on durable goods orders was disappointing and the consumer sentiment index also fell short of low expectations. The data is weak enough, in fact, virtually to ensure that the Fed won’t slow down its asset purchases next month. That pleases equities’ investors.

European, Asian, and Latin American markets all closed mixed today.

Monday’s calendar includes the following scheduled data releases and events (all times Eastern):

• 9:10 a.m. – Industrial production
• 10:00 a.m. – Pending home sales index
• 10:30 a.m. – Dallas Fed manufacturing survey
• 11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6-month bill auctions
• 1:00 p.m. – 2-year note auction

Here are the closing bell levels for Friday:

• S&P500 1759.77 (+7.70; +0.44%)
• DJIA 15570.28 (+61.07; +0.39%)
• NASDAQ 3943.36 (+14.40; +0.37%)
• 10YR TNOTE 2.506% (+0.15625)
• Gold $1,352.50 (+2.20; +0.2%), up 2.9% for the week
• WTI Crude oil $97.85 (+0.74; +0.8%), down 3.2% for the week
• Euro/Dollar: 1.3806 (+0.0005; +0.04%)

Big Earnings Movers: Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is up 9.5% at $363.67 after last night’s results. Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) is up 6% at $35.73 on good gains in consumer and device sales. Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) is up 5.5% at $3.73 on a smaller-than-expected loss. The Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) is down 0.8% at $79.98 following inline earnings that encouraged investors to take profits. United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) is up 1.2% at $95.62 after good earnings led to a new 52-week high of $97.00.

Stocks on the Move: Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ: CECO) is up 57.6% at $5.99 after selling its European properties for $305 million. NQ Mobile Inc. (NYSE: NQ) is down another 12.3% at $10.60 after yesterday’s 50% drop following a scathing report from analysts at Muddy Waters.

In all, 230 NYSE stocks put up new 52-week highs today, while 10 stocks posted new lows.