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Stocks loitering
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- U.S. stocks loitered in marginally negative waters Friday as the heady pace of earnings releases slowed. At 11:57 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 35.41 points, or 0.3 percent, to 11,148.06. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.4 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 0.1 percent. The Russell 2000 Index of small-capitalization stocks sank 0.3 percent. The session marked the monthly expiration of certain options on indexes and stocks known as double-witching.
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Earnings Surprises
Industrial output up 0.2% . . .
WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- Production of autos, computers and semiconductors boosted U.S. industrial production by 0.2 percent in June, the Federal Reserve said Friday. The capacity utilization rate fell a tenth to 80.3 percent, the lowest since February. In the second quarter, output rose at a 3.9 percent annual rate, three times the 1.3 percent pace in the first quarter. Output is 2.7 percent higher than a year earlier. A panel of economists surveyed by CBS.MarketWatch.com expected production to rise 0.2 percent and for utilization to remain at 80.4 percent.
Full story
Microsoft hits high on tracking stock report . . .
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Microsoft shares climbed to a new all-time high Friday morning on news the software titan may be moving closer to creating a stock to track its Microsoft Network and other Web-related properties in an attempt to capitalize on the market mania for pure-play Internet businesses. The Wall Street Journal reported that Bill Gates' company (MSFT: news, msgs) has been mulling the idea of a tracking stock for several months as a way to fund Internet-related acquisitions and attract talented executives seeking the high valuations of ".com" companies. According to The Journal, the company may make an announcement as early as next week, when Microsoft holds its annual conference for Wall Street analysts.
Software Report
Chips down on Seagate, Altera woes . . .
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Shares of PC and chip stocks fell Friday, after Seagate and Altera got smacked with downgrades just ahead of IBM and Novellus earnings Monday. The Goldman Sachs Computer Hardware Index dipped 0.9 percent. Seagate (SEG: news, msgs) shares tripped 9.6 percent, to 27 1/8, after being downgraded by Hambrecht & Quist analysts Todd Bakar and William Lewis. They lowered their outlook to a "market perform" from a "buy" rating.
Hardware Report
Paradyne Networks debuts sky high . . .
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Paradyne Neworks matched the sky-high debuts of other Internet infrastructure specialists Friday, with its first trade crossing the tape at 49 -- $32 above its upwardly revised offering price. Volume quickly rocketed to more than 4.7 million shares. Paradyne Networks (PDYN: news, msgs) on Thursday had priced its 6 million shares at $17 per share, above its upwardly revised range of $14 to $16. The Largo, Fla., maker of broadband and narrowband access products upped the range of its $97 million IPO from $12 to $14 on Thursday.
IPO Report
Caterpillar posts lower profits and warns of worse . . .
PEORIA, Ill (CBS.MW) -- Caterpillar posted a 37 percent drop in second-quarter earnings Friday and warned that second-half results will be weaker than expected because of a shaky world economic outlook. The manufacturer said that adverse economic conditions in key overseas markets continued to hamper demand. Caterpillar also experienced weakness in sales to customers in the oil, gas and mining businesses.
Full story
Scwhab plunges on profit margin concerns . . .
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Shares of Charles Schwab plunged more than 5 percent Friday after the firm warned that increased investment in technology, personnel and advertising could impact future profit margins. Such concerns overshadowed the firm's second-quarter earnings results, which exceeded Wall Street expectations. Schwab (SCH: news, msgs) said Friday it earned $151.0 million or 18 cents per share vs. $76.3 million or 9 cents per share in the year-ago period.
Full story
European bourses get rate jitters . . .
LONDON (CBS.MW) -- European stock markets slipped Friday as caution over the future direction of eurozone interest rates set in. Markets were also concerned by heavy falls on Asian bourses overnight. Late Thursday the European Central Bank president, Wim Duisenberg, said the central bank is gradually leaning toward a bias toward higher interest rates. The eurozone base rate currently stands at 2.5 percent. See full story. Stock markets across Asia fell Friday as investors worried that the Taiwan-China diplomatic row and the Japanese rally in technology shares have both gotten too hot. Taiwan's Weighted Index plummeted 506.46 points, or 6.4 percent, to 7,411.58. The index's sharpest single-day fall in nine years came on fears that the row between China and Taiwan would escalate into military conflict. Beijing said Thursday that China possesses neutron bomb technology.
Full story
Bonds pile on gains . . .
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Bond prices rose, benefiting from a round of flight-to-quality buying on Friday. Escalating tension between China and Taiwan spawned safe haven flows into Treasurys just four days after the market staged a furious rally on the heels of troubles in Argentina. The 30-year bond added 12/32 to yield 5.893 percent. The 10-year, meanwhile, put on 5/32 to yield 5.687 percent. The 5-year increased 9/32 to yield 5.577 percent.
Bond Report
Around the Web . . .
Three rules from Kiplinger.com: (1) Don't bet against the U.S. economy; (2) don't bet against technology, "the wonder drug driving (the) economy"; and (3) expect most stock-market gains, as long as low inflation remains the rule, to come from growth stocks. For the past decade, Kiplinger.com notes, the top-performing stratum of mutual funds has been disproportionately populated by technology funds. The Kiplinger site, after a nod to the extraordinary recent performance of Internet funds, such as the eponymous Internet Fund (WWWFX), argues that the market may be tech-dominated, but its strength is broadening. So a "barbell" might be in order. That style of investing counterbalances its tech weighting with shares of more-traditional companies at the other end of the barbell. One practitioner is Robert Loest of the IPS Millennium Fund (IPSMX).
Full story package
Inflation lion still sleeps . . .
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- This month's batch of inflation figures, combined with several longer-term trends, should put to rest any concerns that the inflation lion has woken up from his long sleep. First it was prices of imported goods. Contrary to Wall Street's expectations of a 0.2 percent increase, tags on goods made overseas actually fell 0.2 percent. Then came producer prices. Again defying the consensus, prices at the wholesale level declined 0.1 percent in June, rather than rising as the so-called experts expected. Excluding food and energy, the core, or underlying rate of inflation declined a surprising 0.2 percent. But the best news of all was at the consumer level. For the first time in many years, prices at retail, which include not just goods, but services as well, were unchanged for the second straight month.
Irwin Kellner
Death of a pioneer . . .
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- It's a touchy subject, the death of a company pioneer. In the case of theater holding company AMC Entertainment, the death of founder, co-chairman and CEO Stanley H. Durwood comes after a well-thought-out transition. Durwood, who was 78 years old, was considered the inventor of the so-called multiplex, the multiple-screen movie theater. See earlier column.
Thom Calandra's StockWatch
Life insurance has role in estate planning . . .
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- It's a sad scene that estate planning attorneys like Mike Palermo have seen all too often-- family businesses liquidated by surviving children, all to pay the taxes owed upon the death of the owner. Even if you do plan ahead to minimize the tax on your estate (see related story), your heirs may not be able to avoid forking over some dough to the IRS. If your assets are not liquid -- for example, if they're tied up in real estate or a business -- your family may be left in the painful bind of having to sell them off just to pay the taxes. A well-crafted insurance policy, on the other hand, can make cash available to your family to pay estate taxes upon your death.
Personal
Personal Finance Section
Leisure stocks take no breaks . . .
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (CBS.MW) -- Whether it's the racetrack or the open sea, the more money people spend on vacation and recreation, the more leisure stocks take anything but a siesta. Although some of the companies have hit choppy water recently, leisure analyst Scott Barry of Raymond James Financial remains bullish on the sector. He talked with Kristen Gerencher of CBS MarketWatch about how population shifts, increased disposable income, and work trends are driving the great American getaway frenzy.
Analyst Corner
Personal Finance Section
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