| Greece wants "more time" to implement policy changes, Telegraph says | | German Chancellor and Eurogroup president say no decisions will be made on Greece until October, after EU debt inspectors finish a review of the country's progress on existing targets. the Telegraph says. Reference Link : |
Stocks on Wall Street were lower at midday as a government analysis surmised that the impending "fiscal cliff" would improve the U.S. deficit outlook but also push the country into recession and send unemployment to 9%. Stock futures were slightly lower throughout the premarket trading session in a continuation of yesterday's moderate sell-off. The futures action led to a lower open for the broader market and even an early release of modestly positive existing home sales data could not encourage buyers.
The averages hovered near the flat line for the first hour of trading but the market eventually succumbed to its early weakness. The averages stood near session lows at the lunch hour but remain within close reach of their recent four year highs, seen earlier this week...
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., existing home sales rose 2.3% in July to a 4.47M annual rate, which was below consensus forecasts for 3.2% monthly growth. Also, the Congressional Budget Office forecast in its economic update that the deficit would shrink in fiscal year 2013 if the "fiscal cliff" takes effect, though such tightening would likely to lead to conditions that will "probably be considered a recession." Internationally, Japan's exports fell another 8.1% in July, with exports to the U.S. rising but shipments to both China and Europe down sharply...
COMPANY NEWS: Dell (DELL) fell almost 7% after its earnings beat expectations but the company provided downbeat guidance. Shares of peer and Dow component Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) were weighed on by Dell's cautious outlook and slipped 3% ahead of its own report, due out after the bell...
Among others reporting earnings, Williams-Sonoma (WSM), Chico's FAS (CHS) and Toll Brothers (TOL) advanced while Analog Devices (ADI) and Express (EXPR) declined... Mining major BHP Billiton (BHP) decided to delay its major Olympic Dam open-pit expansion project and said it expects no major projects to be approved by FY13 as the company suffered its its first drop in annual profit in three years... MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers were Sunrise Senior Living (SRZ), up 59%, after agreeing to be acquired by Health Care REIT (HCN) for $14.50 per share in cash, and Qihoo 360 (QIHU), up nearly 9%, following its earnings report and commentary about the potential of its newly launched search engine.
Among the noteworthy losers were Wet Seal (WTSLA), down 11%, after the company's revenue and guidance missed consensus but it also said its strategic oversight committee would evaluate "potential strategic initiatives", and Clearwire (CLWR), down about 8%, as RBC Capital downgraded the stock to Underperform...
INDICES: In early afternoon trading, the Dow was down 77.90, or 0.59%, to 13,125.68; the Nasdaq was down 8.90, or 0.29%, to 3,058.36; and the S&P 500 was down 5.79, or 0.41%, to 1,407.38. : |
