From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Stocks finished the week on a strong note after a disappointing monthly retail sales report had initially dampened hope for an extension to the prior session's surge.
The S&P 500 rallied 3% on Thursday, but action in the early going suggested that participants were interested in pocketing some of that gain. The worst Advance Retail Sales Report in months provided the excuse. Many had expected a modest increase in May retail sales, but they got a 1.2% drop instead. Sales less autos had also been expected to make a slight increase, but they fell 1.1% in their worst drop in over one year.
Stocks got some relief from the preliminary Consumer Confidence Survey for from University of Michigan. The survey exceeded expectations for a reading of 74.5 by improving to a two-year high of 75.5.
Business inventory data for April had little impact on trade. As had generally been expected, inventories increased 0.4% for the month.
Given the lack of corporate news flow, market participants were left to take their cues from the economic data. However, the conflicting nature of those reports left stocks to trade in a relatively tight range in lackluster fashion for most of the session.
The major averages were pushed higher in the final few minutes to settle at session highs, though. The move was likely helped by the light volume, which often makes for more exaggerated swings among stocks.
Nonetheless, the Nasdaq netted a gain of more than 1%. That helped it secure weekly gain of just over 1%. For comparison, the S&P 500 tacked on a 2.5% weekly gain and the Dow added a 2.8% weekly gain, even though their gains were moderate this session.
Underlying gains were varied. Microsoft (MSFT 25.66, +0.66) was a steady source of strength for the Nasdaq, while better-than-expected earnings and upbeat guidance made National Semiconductor (NSM 14.21, +0.68) a leader in the broader S&P 500. Strength in MSFT and NSM helped drive the overall tech sector to a 1.1% gain, which was second only to the materials sector's 1.2% advance.
Health care stocks also saw strong support. They advanced 0.8% as pharmaceutical plays found favor following Citigroup's upgrade of Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY 25.08, +0.44). The stock was also named a top pick among pharmaceutical plays by Barclays.
Airline stocks saw some of the best gains. As such, the Amex Airline Index ascended to a 2.5% gain. The index is now up more than 16% year-to-date, while the S&P 500 is down more than 2% since the start of 2010.
Consumer staples stocks lagged for the entire session. They closed with a 0.8% loss. Tobacco stocks (-1.3%), household products (-1.1%), and soft drinks (-0.9%) were among the sector's worst performing plays.
Advancing Sectors: Materials (+1.2%), Tech (+1.1%), Health Care (+0.8%), Industrials (+0.5%), Energy (+0.4%), Financials (+0.4%), Telecom (+0.2%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.2%)
Declining Sectors: Consumer Staples (-0.8%)
Unchanged: Utilities DJ30 +38.54 NASDAQ +24.89 NQ100 +0.9% R2K +1.4% SP400 +1.1% SP500 +4.76 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1888/1.81 bln/752 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2212/1.04 bln/805
8:00AM Motorola and Research In Motion (RIMM) announce settlement and license agreement (MOT) 6.84 : The cos entered into a Settlement and License Agreement which ends all outstanding worldwide litigation. Under the Agreement, Motorola and RIM will benefit from a long-term, intellectual property cross-licensing arrangement involving the parties receiving cross-licenses of various patent rights, including patent rights relating to certain industry standards and certain technologies, such as 2G, 3G, 4G, 802.11 and wireless email . In addition, the parties will transfer certain patents to each other. The financial terms of the Agreement include an up-front payment and ongoing royalties to Motorola. Further terms and conditions of the Agreement are confidential.
Maxim Integrated Products (MXIM) announces that it has priced a public offering of senior notes due 2013 in an aggregate principal amount of $300.0 mln with a coupon interest rate of 3.45%... |
