US midday: Stocks only off slightly by midday

Date: Monday 06 Feb 2012

-Bullard says would back QE if economy weakens further.

Dow Jones Industrial: -0.15%
Nasdaq Comp.: -0.11%
S&P 500: -0.13%

The main US equity benchmarks are now registering just slight losses and are off their worst levels of the day after news of slow and somewhat arduous negotiations between the main Greek political parties and the ´troika´ of public sector creditors.

Also weighing on stocks, health-care company Humana is moving lower after providing a weaker than expected outlook for 2012. Boeing is also expected to trade on its back foot after ordering inspections of its 787 Dreamliners after finding signs of fuselage delamination.

Shares of supermarket chain Kroger on the other hand may benefit from positive coverage in Bloomberg.

At first glance quarterly results out from HCA Holdings, Sysco and CNA Financial look to have beat analysts´ forecasts.

Of interest, the Financial Times is today calling attention to the fact that US banks are again trading above their book value.

From a sector stand-point, the worst performers now are: airlines (-2.09%), health-care (-1.67%) and food (-1.33%).

MACROECONOMY

Economists at UBS have raised their first quarter 2012 GDP estimate for the United States to 2.3% from 1.5% before.

OTHER MARKETS

Front month West Texas crude futures are now falling 0.66% to the $97.19/barrel in NYMEX trading.

10 year US Treasuries are moving down by 2/32 dollars, with yields at 1.93%.

S&P 500 - Risers
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF) $42.77 +5.58%
Sprint Nxtel Corp. (S) $2.40 +3.66%
Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) $71.11 +3.57%
Sunoco Inc. (SUN) $39.70 +3.12%
MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) $5.34 +2.99%
R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. (RRD) $12.26 +2.94%
Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) $24.48 +2.60%
Carmax Inc. (KMX) $30.39 +2.32%
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $46.19 +2.28%
Cablevision Systems Corp. (CVC) $14.85 +2.27%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Sysco Corp. (SYY) $29.31 -5.16%
Humana Inc. (HUM) $85.73 -4.87%
DeVry Inc. (DV) $37.74 -3.53%
Monsanto Co. (MON) $79.41 -3.34%
Weyerhaeuser Co. (WY) $20.65 -3.05%
Lennar Corp. Class A (LEN) $22.63 -3.04%
Genworth Financial Inc. (GNW) $8.92 -2.70%
CSX Corp. (CSX) $22.58 -2.55%
Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) $48.18 -2.27%
D. R. Horton Inc. (DHI) $14.33 -2.24%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $40.58 +1.45%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $63.25 +0.76%
General Electric Co. (GE) $19.12 +0.53%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $37.98 +0.37%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $85.21 +0.34%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $105.82 +0.30%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $7.86 +0.26%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $45.24 +0.16%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
American Express Co. (AXP) $51.45 -1.53%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $59.32 -1.33%
Boeing Co. (BA) $75.34 -1.31%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $80.30 -0.93%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $30.00 -0.79%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $26.54 -0.75%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $21.07 -0.64%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $28.89 -0.62%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $10.69 -0.60%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $38.09 -0.50%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $38.01 +3.34%
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $46.19 +2.28%
Google Inc. (GOOG) $609.55 +2.22%
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $55.79 +2.00%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $32.26 +1.29%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $28.18 +1.11%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $464.71 +1.09%
Warner Chilcott Plc (WCRX) $16.70 +0.97%
Staples Inc. (SPLS) $14.90 +0.91%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $69.39 +0.89%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $43.18 -2.29%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $131.75 -2.07%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $183.93 -2.00%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $51.02 -1.85%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $36.24 -1.84%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $112.88 -1.83%
Expeditors International Of Washington Inc. (EXPD) $43.78 -1.75%
Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) $37.09 -1.55%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $12.60 -1.49%
Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM) $16.63 -1.48%

AB

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