News That Moved Thursday's Market

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News That Moved the Market

Mixed Earnings Leads to Flat Session. Stocks ended the day flat, but should open higher tomorrow after a better than expected quarterly report from Google (see below). Early in the day, Merrill Lynch (MER, +4.1%) announced it lost $2.20/share and would have to writedown about $6.5 billion of debt. The company lost more than expected, but shares traded higher as investors would relieved that the writedown was not worse. The bank also announced it will cut 3,000 more jobs. CEO John Thain said he was "optimistic" about the rest of the year, but felt there were "more difficult" months ahead. Pfizer (PFE, -3.3%) reported this morning as well, missing estimates by a nickel.

Economic News. The Philadelphia regional manufacturing index came in at -24.9, worse than the -15.0 expected. Leading indicators matched expectations, notching a 0.1% increase. Jobless claims for the week were slightly lower than expected. In general, most of the news was ignored, as earnings took the main stage in trading.

Google Shares Soar. Google (GOOG, -1.2% day: +17.5% A.H) skyrocketed after the bell. The search giant's profits jumped 30%, beating EPS estimates by $0.30/share. International revenues remained healthy and the company's shares jumped passed $500/share in after hours trading.

Quick Tics: Citigroup (C, +2.4%), which reports tomorrow, will sell its North American commercial lending unit to GE (GE, -0.6%) for an undisclosed amount….Harley-Davidson (HOG, -1.9%) reported an increase in revenues, but lower profits, citing "growing weakness in the economy."

Tomorrow

Notable Earnings (Full List Here):
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) Before Open
Citigroup Inc. (C) Before Open
Honeywell (HON) Before Open
Schlumberger (SLB) Before Open
Xerox Corporation (XRX) Time Not Supplied

Economic Events:
None