US mid-afternoon: Stocks turn mixed towards the end

Date: Thursday 25 Oct 2012

-Ford expects European losses to exceed $1.5bn this year
-Greeks fail to agree on bail-out terms –FT
-IMF warns on effects of Portuguese austerity –WSJ
-LCH Clearnet reduces offsets on French, Spanish and Italian bonds
-Apple to publish tonight

Dow Jones Industrial: -0.07%
Nasdaq Comp.: 0.04%
S&P 500: 0.08%

The main US equity benchmarks are now trading in a mixed fashion. That despite the release of somewhat positive economic indicators out on Thursday, although the news flow on the corporate front was mixed (at best), although apparently better than when compared with that of the last few days.

Some of the latest news coming out of the Eurozone this evening was also rather poor.

Fifty-four companies in the S&P 500 made earnings announcements today. Profits at about 71% of the index’s companies have beat analysts’ estimates, while third-quarter sales missed forecasts at 61% of firms, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Quarterly earnings from Procter&Gamble and Aetna both came in ahead of expectations.

Akamai Technologies rocketed higher after reporting sales and earnings which beat estimates.

Analysts at Oppenheimer & Co. have raised their recommendation on the company’s shares to outperform from market perform, with a target price of $50 per share.

Slightly mixed economic data

Initial US weekly unemployment claims have fallen by 23,000 to 369,000 (Consensus: 370,000), while the previous week's data has been revised slightly higher.

Durable goods orders for the month of September have come in at a 9.9% month-on-month rate of increase (Consensus: 7.5%). Excluding the transportation sector orders increased at a 2% month-on-month rate (Consensus: 0.9%).

Core capital goods orders (excluding revisions) have also come in ahead of forecasts.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s national activity index for the month of September has come in at 0.00 (Consensus: -0.20).

US pending home sales increased by 0.3% month-on-month in September (Consensus: 2.5%). Versus the previous year they increased by 8.5%, instead of the 17.4% foreseen by economists.

This was Barclays's take on that last report: "Pending home sales have not had as strong a relationship with existing home sales in recent years given tightened credit standards and the higher rate of cancellations prior to close, but the broad trend in pending home sales mirrors that of the broader housing market and is, yet again, another indicator suggesting that the recovery in housing has broadened and has sustained momentum."

Treasury yields rise

Front month West Texas crude futures are now bouncing by 0.45% to the 86.12 dollar per barrel level on the NYMEX.

10 year US Treasuries are now down by 11/32 dollars with yields at 1.83%.

S&P 500 - Risers
Teradyne Inc. (TER) $14.69 +7.86%
LSI Corporation (LSI) $6.74 +7.15%
PACCAR Inc. (PCAR) $42.32 +6.95%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $119.83 +6.71%
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $18.51 +6.50%
Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) $38.39 +6.31%
Stericycle Inc. (SRCL) $94.09 +5.65%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $5.45 +5.32%
EQT Corp. (EQT) $60.32 +4.04%
McKesson Corp. (MCK) $93.08 +3.99%

S&P 500 - Fallers
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $83.33 -10.71%
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (CLF) $38.29 -10.31%
Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) $15.27 -9.78%
Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. (MJN) $62.94 -9.45%
Sherwin-Williams Co. (SHW) $140.90 -7.16%
AutoNation Inc. (AN) $45.23 -5.85%
Gannett Co. Inc. (GCI) $16.92 -4.73%
Masco Corp. (MAS) $14.94 -3.80%
St Jude Medical Inc. (STJ) $38.26 -3.65%
National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) $74.03 -3.57%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $69.93 +2.72%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $14.18 +1.00%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $25.55 +0.95%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $21.65 +0.89%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $83.29 +0.68%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $46.19 +0.68%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $110.40 +0.63%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $71.07 +0.47%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $75.12 +0.40%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $37.00 +0.33%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Boeing Co. (BA) $71.10 -2.21%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $71.90 -1.75%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $60.39 -1.45%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $9.20 -1.18%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $50.16 -0.97%
AT&T Inc. (T) $34.38 -0.95%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $17.22 -0.92%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $77.21 -0.89%
3M Co. (MMM) $87.77 -0.70%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $41.53 -0.43%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
PACCAR Inc. (PCAR) $42.32 +6.95%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $119.83 +6.71%
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $18.51 +6.50%
Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) $38.39 +6.31%
Stericycle Inc. (SRCL) $94.09 +5.65%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $5.45 +5.32%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $24.86 +3.84%
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $84.48 +3.40%
Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM) $7.74 +2.93%
CH Robinson Worldwide Inc (CHRW) $59.21 +2.88%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $83.33 -10.71%
Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) $31.45 -2.55%
Expedia Inc. (EXPE) $51.12 -2.20%
Apollo Group Inc. (APOL) $19.46 -2.03%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $47.03 -1.96%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $12.18 -1.93%
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $42.94 -1.77%
Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) $42.36 -1.74%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $63.16 -1.44%
News Corp. Class A (NWSA) $24.09 -1.39%

AB

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