From Briefing.com: Weekly Recap - Week ending 18-Feb-11The major indices logged another weekly gain, with the S&P 500 climbing 1.0% after posting modest gains in four of the five sessions. The S&P 500 and Dow hit fresh two year highs, while the Nasdaq hit a three-year high and is 30 points away from its 2007 high. Overall it was a relatively slow week, with energy stocks acting as the primary driver of this week's gains.
Eight of the 10 sectors advanced. Energy (+3.7%) led the way as oil gained 0.7% and a dividend hike from ConocoPhillips (COP +7.0%).
ConocoPhilips rallied 7% after raising its quarterly dividend 20% to $0.66 per share, adding $10 bln to its share repurchase program and approving $13.5 bln in capex in 2011.
FedEx (FDX +3.0%) issued an earnings warning. But the stock managed to gain as the company cited rough weather.
Dell (DELL +10.5%) rallied on better-than-expected earnings results and guidance.
In economic news, retail sales increased 0.3% in January (Briefing.com consensus +0.5%). Excluding autos, they also rose 0.3% (Briefing.com consensus +0.6%). The January figures followed on the heels of downward revisions for December, which showed total retail sales up 0.5% (prior +0.6%) and retail sales excluding autos up 0.3% (prior +0.5%).
Retail sales have now risen seven months in a row.
The Producer Price Index increased 0.8% in January (Briefing.com consensus +0.7%) on top of a downwardly revised 0.9% increase in December. Core prices, though, were up a stronger than expected 0.5% (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%), which was the largest rise since October 2008.
Core prices exclude food and energy. The jump in January was attributed primarily to the index for pharmaceutical preparations, which was up 1.4%, and higher prices for plastic products.
The January figures left total PPI up 3.6% year-over-year and core PPI up 1.6%.
The Consumer Price Index for January validated the last point. Overall prices rose 0.4% while core prices, which exclude food and energy, increased 0.2%. The Briefing.com consensus estimates called for increases of 0.3% and 0.1% respectively.
Increases in the food and energy indexes accounted for over two thirds of the all items increase, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
On a year-over-year basis, total CPI is up 1.6% and core CPI is up 1.0% versus 1.5% and 0.8%, respectively, in December. This is an encouraging uptick that supports a disconnect from a trend of disinflation.
Separately, initial claims for the week ending February 12 jumped 25,000 to 410,000. That was close to the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 408,000 and left the 4-week moving average fairly steady at 417,750.
In commodities, silver climbed to a thirty year high and the CRB Index climbed 1.2%.
The U.S. stock and bond market is closed Monday in observance of President's Day.
Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD %
DJIA 12273.26 12391.25 117.99 1.0 7.0
Nasdaq 2809.44 2833.95 24.51 0.9 6.8
S&P 500 1329.15 1343.01 13.86 1.0 6.8
Russell 2000 822.11 834.82 12.71 1.5 6.5
3:26PM Intel to invest more than $5 billion to build new factory in Arizona (INTC) 22.11 +0.14 : Co announces plan to invest more than $5 billion to build a new chip manufacturing facility at its site in Chandler, Ariz. The new Arizona factory, designated Fab 42, will be the "most advanced, high-volume semiconductor manufacturing facility in the world."
2:41PM Amkor confirms that it received a license termination notice from Tessera (AMKR) 7.68 +0.03 : Co announces that it received a notice from Tessera, Inc. purporting to terminate Amkor's Patent License Agreement with them. "This latest letter is just another part of Amkor's ongoing dispute with Tessera regarding the License Agreement and does not affect our business."
1:23PM LDK Solar prices RMB 1.2 Billion US$-settled senior notes due 2014 (LDK) 14.71 +0.35 : Co announces the pricing of US$-settled 10.00% senior notes due 2014 in the aggregate principal amount of RMB 1.2 billion being offered and sold outside the United States. The Notes will bear interest at the rate of 10.00% per annum, from February 28, 2011, payable semi-annually in arrears on February 28 and August 28 of each year, beginning on August 28, 2011. The Notes will mature on February 28, 2014 and will be guaranteed by certain of LDK Solar's offshore subsidiaries.
12:27PM Intel extends breakout, hovering near lower end of resistance zone (INTC) 22.19 +0.22 : Yesterday highlighted the test of its Jan peak (21.94) with the breakout and follow through today bringing the stock up to a resistance zone between 22.23 and 22.36 (session high 22.21). This marks its July peak, May gap and a retracement of the April to Aug decline.
Cray (CRAY) announced that the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre in Manno, Switzerland has awarded a contract to Cray to acquire a next-generation Cray XMT supercomputer.
Tessera Technologies (TSRA) announced that on February 17, 2011, it sent Amkor Technology (AMKR) an official notice of termination of their license agreement with Tessera. The two companies are currently in arbitration regarding multiple issues, including several past breaches by Amkor of the license agreement.
09:46 am SPWRA Guides FY11 Above Consensus (SPWRA)
Sunpower (SPWRA $18.80 +1.37) reported fourth quarter earnings of $1.36 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.31 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.05.
Revenues rose 71.0% year-over-year to $937.1 million versus the $931.4 million consensus.
For the first quarter, the company guided earnings in the range of $0.15 to $0.21, excluding non-recurring items, versus $0.16 Thomson Reuters consensus. For the first quarter, the company sees revenues in the range of $475 million to $525 million versus $488.61 million Thomson Reuters consensus.
For fiscal year 2011, the company guided earnings at $2.00 to $2.20, excluding non-recurring items, versus $1.87 Thomson Reuters consensus. Revenues are expected to be $2.8 billion to $2.95 billion versus $2.78 billion Thomson Reuters consensus. |
