U.S. stocks rose Friday, brushing off a weak report on the housing market on better-than-expected corporate earnings results and as the ECB said that banks are set to pay back more debt next year than expected.
If the S&P 500 ends higher Friday, which it likely will, the index would claim its longest win streak since early November 2004. According to data from Thomson Reuters, of the 174 companies, or 29% of the S&P 500 that had reported earnings for the fourth quarter as of Thursday’s close, 68% reported earnings that beat consensus estimates, almost 14% were in line, and more than 18% missed.
Late Friday afternoon, the Dow was up 51 points to 13,876, the Nasdaq gained 21 points to 3,151, and the S&P 500 rose 7 points to 1,502, surpassing the key 1,500 level.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock weighed on markets again Friday after losing $59.9 billion in market value during Thursday's session alone. Its shares were further down by almost 1% after Goldman Sachs slashed its price target for the consumer tech company to $660 from $760 a share. Earlier today, its market cap took a back seat to Exxon Mobil for the most valuable company in the world.
The iPhone maker issued a disappointing revenue forecast late Wednesday, and said it sold just under 48 million units of the smartphone - still a record, but at the low end of Wall Street estimates.
It closed down by more than 12% on Thursday at $450.5 - well off its all-time high of more than $700 when it launched the iPhone 5 in September.
Earnings continued to roll out Friday, with P&G reporting its second quarter profit more than doubled, with core earnings of $1.22 a share topping analyst estimates. Revenue rose 2% to $22.18 billion, also ahead of market views. The company raised its fiscal 2013 adjusted profit forecast to $3.97 to $4.07 a share, up from its earlier view of $3.80 to $4 a share. Analysts estimated 2013 earnings of $3.97 a share. Shares rose over 3.6% on Friday.
Halliburton's (NYSE:HAL) fourth quarter results topped Wall Street views, with shares rising more than 5% as the oilfield services company reported profits dropped 26 percent on lower activity in its North American market.
Honeywell (NYSE:HON) shares rose Friday as the company reported it swung to a fourth quarter profit on higher sales and lower pension costs.
Last night, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) reported a slight fall in its second quarter earnings, but revenue rose, helped by sales from its Windows operating system and the launch of Windows 8. Shares climbed higher, by over 1% this afternoon.
Meanwhile, Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) shares rose over 4.3% a day after posting a 13% rise in first quarter profit, driven by growth in Asia. The coffee chain giant rose 11% in after market trade in the prior session.
AT&T (NYSE:T) also reported late Thursday a net loss for its fourth quarter, but adjusted results were basically in line with Wall Street estimates.
Shares of Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) booked further gains, jumping another 17% following an over 40% gain in the prior session on strong fourth quarter results due to U.S. video-streaming subscriber growth.
In other corporate news, Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) said Friday it expects to report fourth-quarter revenue that will not meet expectations, with shares falling over 3%. It anticipates reporting sales of about $1.28 billion, including a negative $8 million impact from foreign exchange, compared to $1.33 billion in the year-ago period. Wall Street analysts had expected revenue of $1.4 billion, according to a survey by FactSet.
On the economic front in the U.S., the Commerce Department said new home sales for December fell 7.3% to an annual rate of 369,000 due to a huge upward revision to November, making for an unexpected and very outsized comparison with December.
Sales were expected to have risen to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 385,000 in December. November was revised 22,000 higher for a 9.3 percent monthly surge to 398,000 which is by far the highest rate since the housing stimulus of April 2010.
But stocks were supported by news from Europe on Friday, where the Ifo Institute's January German business climate index jumped unexpectedly, lifting the euro against the dollar as the European Central Bank also said Europe's banks will next week start to repay 137.2 billion euros of the more than 1 trillion in loans provided by the central bank
*Commodities *
February gold fell $13.30, or 0.8%, to settle at $1,656.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Meanwhile, March crude finished down slightly by 0.1% for the day, or 7 cents, to end at $95.88 a barrel. It lost 0.2% on the week.
*Europe*
European markets finished broadly higher today with shares in Germany leading the region. The DAX was up 1.42% while France's CAC 40 rose 0.69% and Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.31%. Reported by Proactive Investors 6 hours ago.
If the S&P 500 ends higher Friday, which it likely will, the index would claim its longest win streak since early November 2004. According to data from Thomson Reuters, of the 174 companies, or 29% of the S&P 500 that had reported earnings for the fourth quarter as of Thursday’s close, 68% reported earnings that beat consensus estimates, almost 14% were in line, and more than 18% missed.
Late Friday afternoon, the Dow was up 51 points to 13,876, the Nasdaq gained 21 points to 3,151, and the S&P 500 rose 7 points to 1,502, surpassing the key 1,500 level.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock weighed on markets again Friday after losing $59.9 billion in market value during Thursday's session alone. Its shares were further down by almost 1% after Goldman Sachs slashed its price target for the consumer tech company to $660 from $760 a share. Earlier today, its market cap took a back seat to Exxon Mobil for the most valuable company in the world.
The iPhone maker issued a disappointing revenue forecast late Wednesday, and said it sold just under 48 million units of the smartphone - still a record, but at the low end of Wall Street estimates.
It closed down by more than 12% on Thursday at $450.5 - well off its all-time high of more than $700 when it launched the iPhone 5 in September.
Earnings continued to roll out Friday, with P&G reporting its second quarter profit more than doubled, with core earnings of $1.22 a share topping analyst estimates. Revenue rose 2% to $22.18 billion, also ahead of market views. The company raised its fiscal 2013 adjusted profit forecast to $3.97 to $4.07 a share, up from its earlier view of $3.80 to $4 a share. Analysts estimated 2013 earnings of $3.97 a share. Shares rose over 3.6% on Friday.
Halliburton's (NYSE:HAL) fourth quarter results topped Wall Street views, with shares rising more than 5% as the oilfield services company reported profits dropped 26 percent on lower activity in its North American market.
Honeywell (NYSE:HON) shares rose Friday as the company reported it swung to a fourth quarter profit on higher sales and lower pension costs.
Last night, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) reported a slight fall in its second quarter earnings, but revenue rose, helped by sales from its Windows operating system and the launch of Windows 8. Shares climbed higher, by over 1% this afternoon.
Meanwhile, Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) shares rose over 4.3% a day after posting a 13% rise in first quarter profit, driven by growth in Asia. The coffee chain giant rose 11% in after market trade in the prior session.
AT&T (NYSE:T) also reported late Thursday a net loss for its fourth quarter, but adjusted results were basically in line with Wall Street estimates.
Shares of Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) booked further gains, jumping another 17% following an over 40% gain in the prior session on strong fourth quarter results due to U.S. video-streaming subscriber growth.
In other corporate news, Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) said Friday it expects to report fourth-quarter revenue that will not meet expectations, with shares falling over 3%. It anticipates reporting sales of about $1.28 billion, including a negative $8 million impact from foreign exchange, compared to $1.33 billion in the year-ago period. Wall Street analysts had expected revenue of $1.4 billion, according to a survey by FactSet.
On the economic front in the U.S., the Commerce Department said new home sales for December fell 7.3% to an annual rate of 369,000 due to a huge upward revision to November, making for an unexpected and very outsized comparison with December.
Sales were expected to have risen to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 385,000 in December. November was revised 22,000 higher for a 9.3 percent monthly surge to 398,000 which is by far the highest rate since the housing stimulus of April 2010.
But stocks were supported by news from Europe on Friday, where the Ifo Institute's January German business climate index jumped unexpectedly, lifting the euro against the dollar as the European Central Bank also said Europe's banks will next week start to repay 137.2 billion euros of the more than 1 trillion in loans provided by the central bank
*Commodities *
February gold fell $13.30, or 0.8%, to settle at $1,656.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Meanwhile, March crude finished down slightly by 0.1% for the day, or 7 cents, to end at $95.88 a barrel. It lost 0.2% on the week.
*Europe*
European markets finished broadly higher today with shares in Germany leading the region. The DAX was up 1.42% while France's CAC 40 rose 0.69% and Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.31%. Reported by Proactive Investors 6 hours ago.