US midday: Corporations may soon get relief on pensions front

Date: Thursday 05 Jul 2012

-ISM services index slightly below expectations
-US corporations may soon find relief on pensions front

Dow Jones Industrial: -0.15%
Nasdaq Comp.: 0.11%
S&P 500: -0.31%

The main US equity indices are now trading mixed, despite the easing moves undertaken in parallel by monetary authorities in England, China and the Eurozone earlier today.

Nonetheless, markets may have been put off by the remarks out of the President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, to the effect that no further non-standard measures had been either discussed nor is anyone even thinking of them.

Unfortunately, as well, that has coincided with data out from the Bank of Spain today showing a large rise in that country´s banks´ recourse to the European Central Bank (ECB).

On the company front, investors are now busy digesting the latest monthly comparable sales forecasts from the country´s main retail chains, with those from Target and Walgreen´s having come in below expectations.

Interestingly, the Financial Times writes today that US corporations may soon get some relief on their contributions to their pension plans. Thus, looming legislation making its way through Capitol Hill will allow companies to use a more favorable discount rate when setting the necessary amount of company contributions to their defined benefit pension plans.

From a sector stand-point the best performing industrial groups now are: apparel (3.17%), coal (1.96%) and clothing (1.89%).

Initial weekly unemployment claims fell by 14,000 to 374,000 last week (Consensus: 385,000).

The ISM services sector purchasing managers´ index for the month of June has come in at 52.1 after 53.7 in May (Consensus: 53.0), led by drops in the subindices for production and new export orders.

The ADP employment report shows that a 176,000 jobs were created in June (Consensus: 100,000).

Thus, economic data Stateside today has come in mixed or slightly better than expected, although investors are keen to see tomorrow´s monthly employment report. Ironically, some had been banking on weak data to strengthen the case for further quantitative easing from the Fed.

10 year US Treasuries are rising by 12/32 dollars, with yields at 1.57%.

Front month West Texas crude futures are now higher by 0,149 dollars to the 87.22 dollar per barrel level in NYMEX trading.

S&P 500 - Risers
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $81.27 +12.81%
Kohls Corp. (KSS) $47.38 +7.05%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $66.94 +6.63%
Limited Brands Inc. (LTD) $46.95 +6.37%
Avon Products Inc. (AVP) $16.57 +3.89%
TJX Companies Inc. (TJX) $44.12 +3.81%
Alpha Natural Res (ANR) $9.65 +3.49%
AK Steel Holding Corp. (AKS) $6.26 +3.46%
Macy's Inc. (M) $34.46 +3.30%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $19.96 +3.10%

S&P 500 - Fallers
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $34.48 -3.89%
Metropcs Communications Inc. (PCS) $6.33 -3.65%
Leucadia National Corp. (LUK) $21.50 -3.50%
Life Technologies Corp. (LIFE) $43.07 -3.10%
First Horizon National Corp. (FHN) $8.47 -3.09%
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) $66.93 -3.07%
Sprint Nxtel Corp. (S) $3.37 -3.03%
Citigroup Inc. (C) $26.84 -2.93%
MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) $2.51 -2.71%
Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN) $17.94 -2.71%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $9.02 +1.35%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $89.68 +1.24%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $87.07 +0.71%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $51.87 +0.43%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $71.00 +0.36%
Boeing Co. (BA) $74.42 +0.20%
American Express Co. (AXP) $59.47 +0.09%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $49.62 +0.06%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $34.48 -3.89%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $7.87 -2.36%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $16.95 -1.17%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $78.28 -1.11%
AT&T Inc. (T) $35.60 -1.11%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $26.58 -1.04%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $85.56 -0.83%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $106.57 -0.75%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $22.70 -0.72%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $48.27 -0.66%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $66.94 +6.63%
Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM) $7.65 +4.07%
Warner Chilcott Plc (WCRX) $18.72 +2.58%
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $86.18 +2.16%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $612.22 +2.14%
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $61.50 +2.11%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $116.91 +1.91%
Google Inc. (GOOG) $596.04 +1.40%
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (JBHT) $59.77 +1.31%
VeriSign Inc. (VRSN) $44.86 +1.28%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Nll Holdings Inc. (NIHD) $10.00 -5.21%
Logitech International S.A. (LOGI) $10.46 -3.68%
Life Technologies Corp. (LIFE) $43.07 -3.10%
Infosys Technologies Ltd. (INFY) $44.85 -2.61%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $12.15 -2.49%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $37.00 -2.17%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $83.97 -1.93%
Garmin Ltd. (GRMN) $37.94 -1.81%
Altera Corp. (ALTR) $33.66 -1.61%
DIRECTV (DTV) $49.50 -1.57%

AB

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