From Briefing.com: The stock market cooled its jets on Thursday following the surge of buying excitement seen Wednesday in the wake of the Federal Open Market Committee's policy announcement.
Every sector closed lower with the exception of the health care sector (+0.5%), which was underpinned by yet another strong showing from the biotech stocks.
The strength in the biotech names helped both the Nasdaq Composite (+0.2%) and Russell 2000 (+0.2%) outperform the Dow (-0.7%) and S&P 500 (-0.5%). The U.S. Dollar Index (+0.7% at 99.25) rebounded from Wednesday's sharp sell-off, which weighed on many large-cap issues with international exposure.
The S&P 500 information technology sector (-0.2%) fared better than the S&P 500 without Apple's (AAPL 127.71, -0.76, -0.6%) support, yet it still ended lower for the day. Gains in Facebook (FB 82.76, +1.85, +2.3%), Cisco (CSCO 28.26, +0.11, +0.4%), SanDisk (SNDK 84.81, +1.91, +2.3%), Lam Research (LRCX 78.94, +1.46, +1.9%), and Yahoo (YHOO 45.01, +0.31, +0.8%) provided some offsetting support.
Notable news items from sector components included the following:
Apple (AAPL 127.71, -0.76, -0.6%): Company was added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average after the close of trading on Wednesday. In its first day of trading as a Dow component, Apple declined 0.6%.
F5 Networks (FFIV 114.54, +0.27, +0.2%): Introduced software solutions to expand its offerings and simplify service delivery across physical, virtual, and cloud infrastructures. These new, lightweight solutions extend the capabilities of the F5 Synthesis framework to allow all applications to receive services-from basic load balancing to more advanced security and optimization capabilities-regardless of where the applications are located.
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 32.84, -0.19, -0.6%): Increased quarterly dividend by 10% to $0.176/share from $0.16/share
Jabil Circuit (JBL 23.35, +0.70, +3.1%): Reported Q2 (Feb) earnings of $0.50 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which exceeded analysts' average expectation. Revenues rose 20.5% year/year to $4.31 bln, also ahead of estimates. For Q3, sees EPS of $0.43-0.55, excluding non-recurring items, and revenues of $4.35-4.55 bln, both of which are in-line with expectations. For FY15, sees EPS of $1.85-2.15, excluding non-recurring items, and revenues of $17.5-18.5 bln. Both guidance ranges are in-line with analysts' expectations.Microsoft (MSFT 42.28, -0.22, -0.5%): Company and Fuji Xerox announced a broad patent cross-licensing agreement. The agreement covers a broad range of products and services offered by Microsoft and Fuji Xerox, including digital imaging, document management and mobile consumer products. Microsoft and Fuji Xerox have a long history of working together to bring high-quality, cutting-edge products to consumers. Contents of the agreement will not be disclosed. Fuji Xerox is a 75-25 joint venture between FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation and Xerox Corporation (XRX 12.85, -0.15, -1.1%)
Yahoo (YHOO 45.01, +0.31, +0.8%): TechCrunch discussed that Yahoo is closing its office in BeijingElsewhere in the technology space:
Amazon.com (AMZN 373.19, -1.94, -0.5%): Announced that Prime Now has expanded to Baltimore and Miami. The 'ultra-fast' service, which initially launched as a benefit for Prime members in Manhattan, offers one-hour delivery on tens of thousands of daily essentials through a mobile app.
Red Hat (RHT 69.18, +2.11, +3.1%): Announced that LeShop.ch, the largest online supermarket in Switzerland, has selected OpenShift Enterprise, Red Hat's on-premise, private Platform-as-a-Service, to deploy and manage its new online shopping application.
SAP AG (SAP 70.31, -0.66, -0.9%): Recommends annual dividend of EUR1.10/share, up from EUR1.00/share
In industry news, Gartner says worldwide combined shipments of devices (PCs, tablets, ultramobiles and mobile phones) are estimated to reach 2.5 bln units in 2015, an increase of 2.8 % over 2014. In spending terms, the global computing devices market is on pace to reach $226 bln, a 7.2 % decline in current U.S. dollars. The mobile phone market, the largest and most profitable segment of the global device market, is expected to total 1.9 bln units and grow 3.5 % in 2015.
Analyst Action:
CA, Inc. (CA 32.36, -0.01, -0.02%): downgraded to Hold from Buy at Standpoint Research
eBay (EBAY 57.88, -0.54, -0.8%): downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray; target lowered to $49 from $55
Microsemi (MSCC 36.70, +2.02, +5.7%): target raised to $40 from $35 at Stifel; Buy
T-Mobile US (TMUS 33.20, +0.34, +1.2%): target raised to $38 from $37 at Jefferies; Buy
Vitesse Semi (VTSS 5.31, -0.03, -0.8%): downgraded to Hold from Buy at Topeka Capital Markets; target raised to $5.50... downgraded to Hold from Buy at Craig Hallum
4:10 pm : The stock market ended the Thursday session on a mixed note. The S&P 500 lost 0.5% after spending the entire session in negative territory while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq extended this week's gain to 2.5% while the S&P 500 will enter the Friday session up 1.7% for the week.
Yesterday's dovish FOMC policy statement pressured the greenback, but the Dollar Index (99.23, +0.67) wasted no time, stringing together a swift comeback. The index added 0.7% today and returned to Tuesday's low. Notably, the euro retraced the bulk of yesterday's move, returning below 1.0650 versus the dollar.
Likewise, the dollar strength weighed on crude oil, sending the energy component lower by 2.5% to $45.50/bbl. In turn, this kept the energy sector (-1.7%) near the bottom of the barrel while the other commodity-related sector-materials (-1.7%)-finished just behind energy. Steelmakers kept the sector pressured after Nucor (NUE 46.11, -3.16) cut its guidance well below analyst estimates. Shares of NUE tumbled 6.4% while Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX 31.07, -1.10) fell 3.4%.
Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, industrials (-0.7%) and financials (-1.0%) struggled while consumer discretionary (-0.2%) and technology (-0.2%) displayed relative strength.
The largest sector by weight-technology-spent the day near its flat line as heavyweights like Apple (AAPL 127.50, -0.97), Google (GOOGL 563.67, -2.49), and Facebook (FB 82.75, +1.84)traded in mixed fashion while chipmakers outperformed with the PHLX Semiconductor Index adding 0.2%.
Conversely, the relative strength gave a boost to the Nasdaq, but the index also received significant support from biotechnology. Biogen Idec (BIIB 433.65, +5.72) jumped 1.3% after Credit Suisse raised its price target for the stock to $500 from $400 while the broader iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 365.25, +7.11) spiked 2.0%, logging its sixth consecutive advance.
In addition to boosting the Nasdaq, biotechnology helped the health care sector (+0.5%) finish well ahead of other groups. The countercyclical sector extended its week-to-date gain to 3.7%, overtaking the utilities sector (-1.0%), which narrowed its weekly gain to 3.3%.
Treasuries retraced a portion of yesterday's advance with the 10-yr yield spiking five basis points to 1.97%.
Today's participation was a bit light with roughly 715 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.
Economic data included Initial Claims, Current Account Balance, Leading Indicators, and Philadelphia Fed Survey:
- The initial claims level increased to 291,000 from an upwardly revised 290,000 (from 289,000) while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 293,000
- There were no special factors impacting this week's claims reading
- The current account deficit for the fourth quarter totaled $113.50 billion while the Briefing.com consensus expected the deficit to hit $105.00 billion
- The third quarter deficit was revised to $98.90 billion from $100.30 billion
- The Philadelphia Fed's Business Outlook Survey dropped slightly to 5.0 in March from 5.2 in February while the Briefing.com consensus expected an increase to 6.9
- While the overall index was virtually unchanged from a month ago, the underlying details showed that a stark weakness developed over the past few weeks
- Shipments-or production-moved into a deep contraction in March as the related index dropped to -7.8 from +8.1 in February.
- New orders growth slowed as that index fell to 3.9 in March from 5.4 in February. Unfilled orders entered an even larger contraction, dropping from +7.3 in February to -13.8 in March.
- The Leading Indicators report for February was up 0.2%, which is what the Briefing.com consensus expected
There is no economic data on tomorrow's schedule.
- Nasdaq Composite +5.4% YTD
- Russell 2000 +4.1% YTD
- S&P 500 +1.5% YTD
- Dow Jones Industrial Average +0.8% YTD
DJ30 -117.16 NASDAQ +9.55 SP500 -10.39 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1490/1.55 bln/1349 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1079/723.4 mln/1987 3:40 pm :
- Natural gas slid lower today and remained weak after reporting bearish natural gas data from the EIA
- Ultimately, Apr nat gas closed $0.10 lower at $2.82/MMBtu
- WTI crude oil futures dropped following yesterday's Fed-fueled rally
- May crude ended today's session $1.17 lower at $45.50/barrel
- The dollar index remained strong today, but this didn't affect metals much
- Apr gold closed $18.20 higher at $1169.30/oz, while May silver finished $0.60 higher at $16.13/oz
- Copper was strong today... May contract gained $0.10 to $2.66/lb
1:08 pm Notable movers of interest (:SCANX) : The following are some of today's most notable movers of interest, categorized by market capitalization (large cap over $10 billion and mid cap between $2-10 billion) and ranked by % change (all stocks over 100K average daily volume).
Large Cap Gainers
MPEL (22.93 +4.82%): Initiated with a Buy at Brean Capital; tgt $31.
WYNN (128.24 +4.33%): Initiated with a Buy at Brean Capital; tgt $174.
CERN (73.94 +3.21%): Upgraded to Outperform at Robert W. Baird; tgt raised to $77.
Large Cap Losers
NUE (46.03 -6.58%): Issued Q1 guidance, sees Q1 GAAP EPS $0.10-0.15 vs $0.40 Capital IQ Consensus.
FCX (17.3 -5.1%): Reports this morning that output was halted at one of its Indonesia mine units amid strike.
POT (32.16 -4.57%): Confirmed that the Government of Saskatchewan made changes to Potash taxation and initiated a review; changes are expected to decrease 2015 pre-tax earnings by CDN $75-100 mln; Price target lowered at Miller Tabak.
Mid Cap Gainers
ESPR (117.55 +11.19%): Priced its ~1.75 mln share offering of common stock at $100/share.
MSCC (35.74 +3.06%): Price target raised to $40 at Stifel; Buy.
SLW (19.45 +2.32%): Reported Q4 EPS of $0.14 vs $0.14 Capital IQ consensus; revs declined 16% YoY to $140.4 mln vs $144.3 mln consensus.
Mid Cap Losers
RIG (14.33 -6.07%): Provided its monthly fleet summary; expects its first quarter 2015 results to include an estimated non-cash charge of $300 million to $325 million, net of taxes; has now announced plans to scrap a total of 16 floaters.
UPL (15.24 -6.5%): Oil & Gas names under heavy pressure with WTI crude futures down 3.3% & Nat Gas futures down 4.5% (WPX, PE also lower).
SWN (22.29 -5.79%): Downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee.
12:25 pm Microsoft and Fuji Xerox announce a broad patent cross-licensing agreement ( MSFT) : This agreement covers a broad range of products and services offered by Microsoft and Fuji Xerox, including digital imaging, document management and mobile consumer products. Microsoft and Fuji Xerox have a long history of working together to bring high-quality, cutting-edge products to consumers. Contents of the agreement will not be disclosed. Fuji Xerox is a 75-25 joint venture between FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation and Xerox Corporation (XRX)
12:15 pm iRobot announces that its Board has authorized a stock repurchase program under which it may purchase up to $50 mln of its common stock beginning May 1, 2015 and ending April 30, 2016 ( IRBT) : This plan will replace the current stock repurchase program when it ends on April 30, 2015.
11:51 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (233) outpacing new lows (47) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AB, ABM, ACIW, ACT, ADI, AET, AMAG, AMSG, ANTM, ANW, AOS, ARIA, ASPX, AVGO, AVX, AWH, AXL, BBC, BBP, BFR, BHV, BIB, BIIB, BIO, BKMU, BLUE, BMA, BMRN, BOOT, BTX, BURL, CACC, CAVM, CBPO, CENT, CENTA, CERN, CERU, CGI, CHKP, CI, CLNY, CNC, CNDO, CONE, COR, CORT, COWN, CPRX, CRESY, CRL, CSH, CTAS, CTB, CTLT, CTSO, CUK, CUTR, CVGW, DDS, DENN, DGRS, DHIL, DIS, DNBF, DOX, DRI, DTSI, DW, EBIX, ELLI, ELS, ESLT, ESPR, ESS, EVHC, EXLS, FB, FISV, FL, FLO, FLXN, FOLD, FUN, FWRD, G, GFF, GGAL, GIII, GILT, GM, GNMA, GOOD, GPN, GRX, GTT, HCHC, HDS, HELE, HLT, HNT, HPTX, HRTX, HTBK, HUM, HXL, HZNP, IBB, INAP, INCR, INCY, INFN, INSM, IPCC, IRCP, JAZZ, JBHT, JBL, JBLU, JCOM, JFC, JKHY, JOF, KMG, KNL, LAD, LBIO, LCI, LEG, LII, LOGM, LQ, LVNTA, MANH, MATX, MCO, MCS, MDVN, MGLN, MLR, MMS, MOH, MPWR, MRTX, MSCC, MTD, MTH, MTSI, NBIX, NCLH, NEWT, NHC, NICE, NLNK, NRZ, NVRO, NXPI, OLED, ONCE, OSIR, PARR, PAYC, PFPT, PGR, PKI, PLAY, PNK, PRFT, PRXL, PSCH, PSCT, PUK, QRVO, QURE, R, REGN, RGEN, RMD, ROG, ROL, RYL, SABR, SAGE, SBH, SBUX, SCHL, SCI, SCSS, SCVL, SEB, SERV, SFS, SKX, SMMT, SONC, SPR, SPTN, SRDX, STC, SUNE, SWKS, SYNT, TECH, TEVA, TLYS, TM, TMO, TREE, TRIL, TSRO, TWO, TWOU, UA, UFI, UHS, UNH, URBN, UWN, VAC, VG, VIPS, VRNT, VRTX, WBA, WCG, WERN, WM, WMS, WST, WWW, XL, ZAGG, ZFGN
Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: ASCMA, ASPS, ATLS, AXPW, BANX, BIS, CH, CHK, CRCM, CTHR, DNOW, DRYS, EGY, EJ, EPM, FORD, GLF, GLOW, GOMO, GULTU, HNR, IEC, IPI, IRG, KBR, MAT, MDSY, MGN, MIL, MILL, NDRO, PBT, PFIE, PFL, RELL, RENN, RST, RYAM, SEED, SFE, SGF, SJT, TDW, TICC, UPIP, VNCE, WHLR
ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: IBB, IHF, IYH, XBI, XLY, XRT
ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: GREK, SGG, VNM
6:31 am JinkoSolar Holding plans to build a solar cell and module manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia ( JKS) : Located in Penang, Malaysia, the manufacturing facility once completed, will provide JinkoSolar with additional production capacity of 500MW for solar PV cells and 450MW for modules.
The Company has signed a tenancy agreement with Nationgate Technology Sdn. Bhd. for the workshops in which the production line is going to be built. JinkoSolar will invest ~$100 mln to build the plant including equipment and working capital which is expected to begin operations in May 2015. |
