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US midday: Stocks move sideways

Date: Wednesday 15 Aug 2012

US midday: Stocks move sideways

US investors were receiving mixed signals on Wednesday morning, a situation reflected in equally mixed stock prices.

Manufacturing confusion

The Empire State manufacturing index fell to -5.9 this month, well down from 7.4 in July. Consensus forecasts were for a more modest fall to 7.0.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said that its monthly index was 49.8 in July, only slightly higher than the three-year low of 49.7 reached the month before. Any figure below 50 suggests contraction.

Industrial output increased by 0.6% in July, only slightly ahead of the 0.5% growth expected.

The US consumer price index was unchanged in July, showing no change for the third time in four months. The market had been expecting a 0.2% increase. The annual inflation rate eased to 1.4% (consensus forecast: 1.5%) from 1.7%.

Philip Morris phlegmatic after Aussie ruling

Although for the purposes of a snappy headline we'd like to say cigarette maker Philip Morris got its butt kicked after Australia became the first nation to implement a law requiring all cigarette packets to have plain packaging, the truth is that the stock has reacted phlegmatically to the development.

The ruling, hailed by the medical world as a massive victory for global health, is expected to encourage other governments to enforce plain-packaging laws after Australia threw out challenges by tobacco heavyweights across the world.

Social networking giant Facebook was being 'liked' early on after it was revealed that Soros Fund Management, managed by legendary investor George Soros, bought $10m-worth of shares in second quarter.

Elsewhere in the tech sector, Netflix, the entertainment media streaming company, has announced it is to start operating in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden by the end of the year.

Optical products provider JDS Uniphase rose strongly after it released better than expected results after the bell yesterday.

Teen fashion chain Abercrombie & Fitch shot up after its boss said that the retailer's sales decline has slowed in the current quarter, although the company still expects like-for-like sales to be lower in the second half of this year than they were in the corresponding period of 2011.

Office supplies provider Staples, on the other hand, was under the cosh after lowering full year revenue guidance following worse than expected second quarter figures.

Dick's Sporting Goods has written off its £20m investment in UK sportswear retailer JJB Sports. The US retailer said its decision to assign a value of zero to the investment, made just five months ago, was based on JJB's on-going under-performance.

Chief Executive Edward Stack said: "JJB's performance has materially deteriorated from its expectations, partly due to a worsening macro environment in Europe, adverse weather conditions in the first quarter and lacklustre sales associated with the recent Euro Championships.

"While we continue to believe in the underlying opportunity within the UK sporting goods market, in light of these developments and our own assessments, we have determined to fully impair the value of our investment. As we indicated at the outset, this is a high risk investment that was structured to provide us with meaningful upside and capped downside.


S&P 500 - Risers
JDS Uniphase Corp. (JDSU) $11.75 +10.02%
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF) $35.10 +8.57%
Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) $37.14 +4.80%
TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) $34.53 +4.13%
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $20.78 +3.72%
Constellation Brands Inc. Class A (STZ) $31.80 +3.65%
Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) $41.94 +3.48%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $73.75 +3.16%
Genworth Financial Inc. (GNW) $5.03 +2.97%
Coach Inc. (COH) $55.91 +2.91%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Staples Inc. (SPLS) $11.34 -15.73%
Deere & Co. (DE) $75.15 -6.21%
Alpha Natural Res (ANR) $6.51 -4.82%
Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) $21.86 -1.88%
Sherwin-Williams Co. (SHW) $138.74 -1.85%
Helmerich & Payne Inc. (HP) $47.11 -1.81%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $18.87 -1.77%
CenturyLink Inc. (CTL) $41.99 -1.75%
Duke Energy Corp. (DUK) $67.02 -1.73%
United States Steel Corp. (X) $22.26 -1.67%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $17.45 +1.63%
American Express Co. (AXP) $56.68 +1.08%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $8.75 +0.74%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $55.05 +0.62%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $112.39 -0.82%
Boeing Co. (BA) $73.24 -0.78%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $44.08 -0.74%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $87.40 -0.53%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR) $24.16 +5.73%
Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) $37.14 +4.80%
Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) $41.94 +3.48%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $73.75 +3.16%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $13.07 +2.87%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $47.66 +2.65%
Fossil Inc. (FOSL) $86.73 +2.57%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $54.68 +2.15%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $63.06 +2.10%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $32.76 +2.02%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Staples Inc. (SPLS) $11.34 -15.73%
Nuance Communications Inc. (NUAN) $23.05 -2.12%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $29.62 -1.17%
Apollo Group Inc. (APOL) $27.74 -1.11%

JH

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