From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Broad-based buying in thin volume helped stocks score strong gains this session. The action precedes a pivotal vote by Greece's parliament tomorrow.
There weren't many headlines to act as cues for traders this morning. Participants even dismissed the day's only data, which featured news that personal income for May increased by 0.3%, but spending was flat. The consensus among economists polled by Briefing.com had called for a 0.4% increase in income and a 0.1% increase in spending. However, core personal consumption expenditures for the month increased by 0.3%, which is greater than the 0.2% increase that had been broadly anticipated.
After hovering near the neutral line for the first few minutes of trade, stocks began to stage a strong climb. Financials led the early effort with a quick sprint up to a gain of more than 1%. The sector spent the rest of the session sporting that gain.
Tech stocks eventually rallied to replace financials as the top performing sector. Tech, which is also the largest sector by market weight, settled with a 1.4% gain. Tech's strength helped give the Nasdaq an added lift.
Gains weren't limited to cyclical plays, though. Instead, all 10 major sectors ended the day in positive territory. Half of them had gains of nearly 1% or more.
The breadth and size of the move was partly made possible by the lack of share volume, which gave each trade greater relative weight than it would have had during a day of even average share volume. At just 835 million shares on the NYSE, total volume today was among the lightest of the year. Such paltry participation will likely persist ahead of the long, holiday weekend (U.S. markets will be closed next Monday for the observance of Independence Day).
Even though vacation plans are expected to pull many off of their trading in coming days, plenty of attention will be paid to Greece's progress in putting its fiscal house in order. Another step comes tomorrow, when the country's parliament votes on whether or not to accept the austerity plan that country officials agreed upon last week with the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
Advancing Sectors: Tech (+1.4%), Consumer Discretionary (+1.2%), Financials (+1.1%), Telecom (+1.1%), Industrials (+0.9%), Utilities (+0.8%), Energy (+0.7%), Health Care (+0.6%), Consumer Staples (+0.4%), Materials (+0.2%)
Declining Sectors: (None)DJ30 +137.48 NASDAQ +36.45 NQ100 +1.8% R2K +0.4% SP400 +0.6% SP500 +13.35 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1613/1.72 bln/973 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2089/835 mln/914
4:07PM SMSC beats by $0.18, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs above consensus (SMSC) 24.01 +0.58 : Reports Q1 (May) earnings of $0.47 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.18 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.29; revenues rose 6.5% year/year to $103.5 mln vs the $101.3 mln consensus. Co issues in-line EPS guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.36-0.38, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.38 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees upside Q2 revs of $112-114 mln vs. $108.17 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. "We do not expect any further material impact as a result of the Japanese crisis and expect further growth in our automotive and consumer revenue."
6:25AM LDK Solar approved a share buyback program that authorizes LDK Solar to repurchase up to US$110 million of its American Depository Shares (LDK) 6.81 :
09:26 am Molex downgraded to Sell at Ticonderoga; tgt $20: . Ticonderoga downgrades MOLX to Sell from Neutral and sets target price at $20, in light of slowing tech trends, high EMS inventories and a rich valuation relative to tech. Given the relative outperformance of the stock this year and healthy valuation versus tech, they believe now is the time to take profits. For FY12, they are reducing their pro forma EPS estimate to $2.00 from $2.05 (cons: $2.04), however, they believe more downside is possible.
Don, thanks for all your hard work. Your tables and analysis just keeps getting better and better! |
