US mid-afternoon: Stocks move off lows

Date: Thursday 12 Jul 2012

-Stocks off lows as investors react to employment data
-Fed not yet ready to move it would seem

Dow Jones Industrial: -0.06%
Nasdaq Comp.: -0.66%
S&P 500: -0.35%

Wall Street seems to have moved decisively off its lows of the session following the initial slump on the back of growing signs of economic growth faltering globally, while commentators fumble at trying to interpret yesterday´s Fed minutes.

Simply put, for now the US central bank is not yet ready to move. This should not come as a great surprise but the fact remains that analyst surveys show a majority as expecting another round of quantitative easing to materialize in the next few months; hence the possibility of a degree of disappointment amongst investors, although the equity market´s reaction last night seems to have been extremely muted.

Critically, at least some economists greeted today´s unemployment data positively, amongst them those at Barclays, who said that: “because these shutdowns [for auto-plant retooling] will likely continue to cause difficulties related to seasonal factors in the coming weeks, our view is that the four-week moving average will remain a more appropriate measure of labor market health in the next few weeks than the headline number.

That being said, the drop of almost 10,000 in the four-week moving average is certainly an encouraging sign, given that jobless claims stood higher during most of Q2 than they did at the end of Q1.”

On the company front, Marriott Hotels dropped for a second day after lowering its forecasts for the year.

Grocery chain Supervalu´s share price has cratered, down by 45% at the time of writing, after the firm announced that it will consider strategic options and slash its dividend payments.

Better than expected data

Import prices fell by 2.7% month-on-month in June, well below the 1.8% that was expected, dragged down by prices of oil imports. That is the largest drop since back in December 2008, bad days those.

Initial weekly unemployment claims retreated by 26,000 last week, to 350,000 (Consensus: 372,000), although unusual seasonal factors have played a role.

Treasuries rise

10 year US Treasuries rose by 12/32 dollars with yields at 1.48%.

Front month West Texas crude futures are now up by 0.06% to the $85.86/barrel mark in NYMEX trading.

S&P 500 - Risers
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $42.25 +6.13%
Lennar Corp. Class A (LEN) $31.27 +4.30%
Quest Diagnostics (DGX) $63.37 +4.26%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $42.95 +4.22%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $63.98 +4.20%
Constellation Brands Inc. Class A (STZ) $28.68 +3.84%
Teradata Corp. (TDC) $65.15 +3.66%
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $91.14 +3.54%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $84.52 +3.53%
AutoZone Inc. (AZO) $381.77 +3.48%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Supervalu Inc. (SVU) $2.65 -49.81%
Safeway Inc. (SWY) $15.84 -11.93%
Lexmark International Inc. (LXK) $24.40 -7.19%
Marriott International Inc. (MAR) $35.69 -6.15%
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (HOT) $48.55 -5.51%
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $53.51 -5.09%
Progressive Corp. (PGR) $19.57 -4.77%
Metropcs Communications Inc. (PCS) $6.24 -4.73%
MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) $2.18 -4.59%
Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN) $16.33 -4.28%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $42.95 +4.22%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $63.98 +4.20%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $91.85 +2.59%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $22.74 +1.79%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $47.52 +0.53%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $105.29 +0.42%
Boeing Co. (BA) $71.76 +0.34%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $80.00 +0.33%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $72.48 +0.30%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $51.74 +0.14%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Intel Corp. (INTC) $24.73 -2.62%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $16.05 -2.05%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $19.30 -2.01%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $28.76 -1.83%
3M Co. (MMM) $86.39 -1.66%
American Express Co. (AXP) $57.17 -1.57%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $7.53 -1.31%
AT&T Inc. (T) $34.86 -1.13%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $76.62 -1.08%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $8.27 -0.90%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $42.25 +6.13%
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $91.14 +3.54%
Hologic Inc. (HOLX) $18.72 +3.08%
Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $31.35 +2.72%
Life Technologies Corp. (LIFE) $42.45 +2.17%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $40.03 +1.57%
Warner Chilcott Plc (WCRX) $18.18 +1.51%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $52.81 +1.25%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $76.04 +1.14%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $67.47 +1.12%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Infosys Technologies Ltd. (INFY) $38.77 -11.12%
Nll Holdings Inc. (NIHD) $8.24 -7.10%
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $53.51 -5.09%
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $14.04 -4.16%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $96.98 -3.64%
Expedia Inc. (EXPE) $44.03 -3.46%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $24.73 -2.62%
Staples Inc. (SPLS) $12.41 -2.51%
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $13.39 -2.44%
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $55.28 -2.19%

AB

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