| On The Fly: Closing Wrap | Stocks on Wall Street were higher following a volatile session that saw the Nasdaq down as much as 1.8% near midday. An aggressive late-session rally, though, saw the averages close near their highs. The averages somewhat followed yesterday's pattern of rallying into the close, though today the market recovered more ground, over a longer time, than was seen during yesterday's session.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the consumer-price index advanced a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in March from the prior month, which was slightly more than the 0.1% gain economists had forecast. The Empire State producer sentiment survey for April dropped to 1.29 from 5.61 in the prior month, missing expectation for it to have risen to 8.0. The NAHB homebuilder sentiment index edged up to 47 in April from the downwardly-revised 46 reading for March, though analysts had forecast it would rise to 49.
COMPANY NEWS: Dow members Coca-Cola (KO) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) both rose after reporting first quarter results this morning that beat expectations. Coke reported in-line profit on sales that beat estimates. The soft drink giant, which added that its growth momentum is improving in-line with its expectations, saw its shares gain $1.45, or 3.74%, to $40.18. Pharma major Johnson & Johnson reported profits and sales that beat estimates and raised its fiscal 2014 earnings outlook, buoyed by pharmaceutical sales that grew 10.8% year-over-year. Shares of J&J advanced $2.06, or 2.12%, to $99.20...
Ag giants Mosaic (MOS) and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) announced a deal for Mosaic to acquire ADM's fertilizer distribution business in Brazil and Paraguay for $350M. ADM also announced plans to pursue a sale of its chocolate business and take 100% control of its already majority-owned Alfred C. Toepfer European venture. Mosaic gained 93c, or 1.96%, to $48.37, while shares of ADM fell 42c, or 0.94%, to $44.27.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was Twitter (TWTR), which rose $4.65, or 11.38%, to $45.52 in a major reversal for the stock that has been notably weak in recent trade. The company announced plans to acquire social data company Gnip and hired Daniel Graf, formerly of Google's (GOOG) Maps unit, to join its product team.
Also higher was Charles Schwab (SCHW), up 81c, or 3.2%, to $26.11 after its earnings and revenue beat expectations, though the company said net new retail broker accounts for the quarter were down 5,000 from a year ago. Among the noteworthy losers was Zebra Technologies (ZBRA), down $6.89, or 10.09%, to $61.39 after announcing a deal to acquire Motorola's (MSI) enterprise unit for $3.45B. Shares of Motorola were fractionally lower following the news. Also lower following disappointing earnings was car maintenance retailer Pep Boys (PBY), which fell $1.76, or 14.7%, to $10.21 after reporting a surprising quarterly loss and saying that tire prices will weigh on revenues through the second quarter. INDEXES: The Dow was up 89.32, or 0.55%, to 16,262.56, the Nasdaq was up 11.47, or 0.29%, to 4,034.16, and the S&P 500 was up 12.37, or 0.68%, to 1,842.98 |
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