Closing Update: Mixed Sentiment; Week Just Squeaks Through

4:10 PM, Aug 28, 2009 --

• NYSE down 13.4 (0.2%) to 6,708.87.
• DJIA down 36.4 (0.4%) to 9,544.
• S&P 500 down 2 (0.2%) to 1,029.
• Nasdaq up 1 (0.05%) to 2,029.

GLOBAL SENTIMENT

• Hang Seng down 0.71%
• Nikkei up 0.57%
• FTSE up 0.89%

UPSIDE MOVERS

(+) DELL earnings beat.

(+) INTC raises revenue forecast.

(+) MRVL gains on raised guidance.

(+) JCG continues evening upside after earnings beat.

(+) OVTI continues evening upside after earnings beat, raised guidance.

(+) TIF beats with results and raises guidance.

(+) STM gains on sales guidance, Merrill raises price target.

(+) CHU inks deal with Apple to sell 3rd generation iPhones.

(+) EURX gets FDA approval for ZENPEP.

(+) SVA wins bid to supply seasonal flu vaccine in Beijing.

(+) ETFC gains on debt plan.

DOWNSIDE MOVERS

(-) NOVL continues evening downside after meeting with earnings, missing with revenue.

(-) SAP loses patent suit against Versata Software.

(-) FUN gets downgrade.

(-) BMY gets downgrade.

MARKET DIRECTION

Stock averages closed narrowly mixed, in the middle of the day's range, after a weaker-than-expected report on consumer confidence sapped the early broad-market gains that followed mostly upbeat earnings news from the tech and retail space. The Dow's win streak stops at eight sessions.

Stocks do turn in a just positive performance for the week, however, the sixth weekly gain in seven. The S&P 500 is up 0.3%; the DJIA is up 0.4%; the Nasdaq is up 0.4% for the week.

Stocks gave up opening gains from upbeat company news after a weak report on consumer confidence put a damper on the bullish mood. Upbeat results and news from Dell (DELL), Intel (INTC) and Marvell (MRVL) helped the Nasdaq recover though it too crossed into red territory briefly earlier in the day.

The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said its final index of confidence for August fell to 65.7 from 66.0 in July. Although it was above economists' expectations for 64.5 and higher than this month's preliminary reading of 63.2, it was the lowest level since April.

The still weak consumer conifidence reignited some fears that the recovery will be very slow going. A recovery is largely dependent on consumers feeling optimistic enough to spend.

Also this morning, U.S. personal incomes came inn unchanged in July as consumer spending increased 0.2%. Economists had expected a 0.2% rise, according to Reuters. Inflation was tame during the month, with consumer prices flat. Excluding food and energy, consumer prices rose 0.1%.

The mixed bag of economic data sparked some profit-taking before the weekend after a week of strong gains. With Thursday's modestly higher close, the Dow had advanced over eight straight sessions, a streak last seen early in 2007.

Retail shares were helped by earnings beats from Tiffany (TIF) and J Crew (JCG). Williams-Sonoma (WSM) gained on an upgrade to buy from neutral at Goldman Sachs, and Pacific Sunwear (PSUN) jumps on an upgrade to buy from neutral at Pali Research.

Financial stocks were broad gainers on Friday as well.

Crude for October delivery gained 25 cents, or 0.3%, to $72.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude closes down 1.6% for the week. That decline comes on the heels of a 9.5% surge during the previous week, the biggest advance in three months.

Natural gas for October delivery, the new front-month contract, fell 15.1 cents, or 4.7%, to $3.054 per million British thermal units.

The EIA on Thursday reported that gas in storage rose by 54 billion cubic feet to stand at 3.258 trillion cubic feet during the week ended Aug. 21. Gas stockpiles were 516 billion cubic feet higher than last year at this time and 500 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, MarketWatch reported.

Comments

[RogueAccoun...:]

Time to short QQQ?

Aug 28 06:52 PM

[wendling_r:]

For my latest report on the DJIA go to bearfactsspecialistrep... and click on the free reports tab on the home page. Then click on the report about the DJIA. It costs you nothing except the amount of time it takes you to read the information.

Richard W. Wendling

Aug 28 10:02 PM