US midday: Apple reaches new high

Date: Monday 17 Sep 2012

If you had bought a tracker based on the S&P 500 in the middle of May 2009, you would currently be looking at a gain of 114%, more than doubling your money in little over 3 years.

That fact alone gives some sense of the huge rally in US equities since the financial crisis and subsequent sovereign debt crisis. Monday has bucked the trend.

Overseas worries

Investors are concerned that Spain has yet to ask its Eurozone partners and the European Central Bank for formal assistance, thereby prolonging the crisis that has crippled Europe since 2009.

News out of China further darkened the mood with Citigroup cuttings its growth forecast for the world’s second largest economy from 8% to 7.6%.

On the home front, figures from the Federal Reserve of New York appear to show economic activity in the state is slowing with the so called general economic index falling to minus 10.41 in September from minus 5.85 in August. Anything below 0 indicates contraction.

Banks surrender some recent gains

The banks were having a bad day around noon with Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase prominent among the fallers. Wells Fargo joined them in the dog-house after being downgraded by Stifel Nicolaus.

In other broker action, video streaming outfit Netflix has been added to Macquarie Capital USA's research universe, and starts life therein with an "underperform" rating.

JP Morgan turned neutral on steel firms AK Steel and US Steel, plus miner Cliffs Natural Resources, having previously had "outperform" ratings for all three.

Office supplies firm Office Depot rose sharply on news of an investment from Starboard Value.

Reports of the demise of Apple-mania appear to have been premature, as the purveyor of premium priced products to the mass market reported record sales of its iPhone 5 iteration, pushing the stock to a new all-time high.

US investment bank Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating for Tesla Motors to 'overweight' from 'underweight'. It also raised the price target for the electric car maker to $50 from $45.

Morgan Stanley analysts believe that the market has priced in the fear that the launch of Tesla's S model will be delayed. They point out that the stock has recently underperformed the market.

S&P 500 - Risers
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $64.87 +4.60%
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) $347.39 +3.25%
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) $4.00 +2.56%
Moody's Corp. (MCO) $44.69 +2.00%
Dean Foods Co. (DF) $16.41 +1.74%
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $105.41 +1.68%
Teradata Corp. (TDC) $76.47 +1.63%
Amerisource Bergen Corp. (ABC) $37.97 +1.62%
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) $5.85 +1.56%
AutoZone Inc. (AZO) $357.27 +1.50%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Vulcan Materials Co. (VMC) $45.72 -7.02%
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (CLF) $43.04 -5.51%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $57.52 -4.96%
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $23.55 -4.31%
Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) $53.40 -3.97%
LSI Corporation (LSI) $7.60 -3.68%
Valero Energy Corp. (VLO) $32.56 -3.54%
Alpha Natural Res (ANR) $8.28 -3.16%
Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) $18.00 -3.12%
Teradyne Inc. (TER) $15.92 -3.10%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $118.20 +0.81%
AT&T Inc. (T) $37.53 +0.71%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $23.97 +0.69%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $43.88 +0.60%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $19.08 -2.10%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $9.37 -1.88%
Boeing Co. (BA) $70.18 -1.54%
Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) $39.41 -1.31%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $92.25 -0.99%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $9.75 -0.91%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $64.87 +4.60%
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $105.41 +1.68%
Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) $509.04 +1.47%
Life Technologies Corp. (LIFE) $49.62 +1.39%
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $62.56 +1.38%
Priceline.Com Inc. (PCLN) $644.28 +1.07%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $698.31 +1.02%
Randgold Resources Ltd. Ads (GOLD) $121.54 +1.00%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $57.52 -4.96%
Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM) $7.33 -3.04%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $13.51 -2.42%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $19.08 -2.10%
Apollo Group Inc. (APOL) $28.87 -1.87%
Liberty Interactive Corp (LINTA) $18.90 -1.87%
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $69.70 -1.83%
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (MXIM) $27.66 -1.81%
Infosys Technologies Ltd. (INFY) $47.28 -1.81%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $14.24 -1.79%

BS

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