|
(BN) S&P 500 Advances to Five-Year High on Better-Than-Forecast Data
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
S&P 500 Advances to Five-Year High on Better-Than-Forecast Data
2013-01-17 22:38:09.690 GMT
By Rita Nazareth and Sarah Pringle
Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks advanced, sending the
Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a five-year high, amid better-
than-forecast initial jobless claims and housing data.
A measure of homebuilders in S&P indexes jumped 3 percent
to the highest level since 2007. EBay Inc., operator of the
largest online marketplace, increased 2.4 percent after revenue
topped some estimates. Intel Corp. fell 4.9 percent in after-
hours trading after reporting a second quarter of declining
sales. BlackRock Inc., the biggest money manager, added 4.4
percent after earnings increased 24 percent and the firm boosted
its dividend and its buyback program.
The S&P 500 rose 0.6 percent to 1,480.94 at 4 p.m. New York
time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 84.79 points, or
0.6 percent, to 13,596.02. It briefly topped the highest closing
level since 2007. About 6.5 billion shares changed hands on U.S.
exchanges, 5.2 percent above the three-month average.
“The economy is entering the year maybe not with a running
start, but certainly a head start,” said Jack Ablin, who helps
oversee about $66 billion as chief investment officer of BMO
Private Bank in Chicago. He spoke in a telephone interview. “It
helps build a nice story for 2013.”
Equities rose as builders broke ground on more houses than
forecast in December, capping the best year for the industry
since 2008, another sign residential real estate is boosting the
U.S. economic expansion. The number of Americans filing first-
time claims for unemployment insurance payments fell more than
forecast last week to the lowest level in five years, pointing
to further improvement in the labor market.
Spending Cuts
A separate report showed that manufacturing in the
Philadelphia region unexpectedly contracted in January, an
indication companies are becoming more concerned about across-
the-board U.S. government spending cuts that could slow growth.
The S&P 500 is 5.4 percent below its all-time high of
1,565.15 set in October 2007. The Dow is more than 4 percent
away from hitting its record of 14,164.53. About 70 percent of
the 56 S&P 500 companies which have reported quarterly results
beat analysts forecasts. Fourth-quarter profits grew 2.5
percent, according to analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
That would be the second-slowest quarterly growth since 2009,
the data show.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, which
measures the cost of using options as insurance against declines
in the S&P 500, rose 1.1 percent to 13.57. The gauge fell today
to the lowest level since 2007 before erasing losses.
All 11 companies in a measure of homebuilders in S&P
indexes gained. PulteGroup Inc., the largest U.S. homebuilder by
revenue, rose 5.3 percent to $20.37. Toll Brothers Inc., the
biggest U.S. luxury-home builder, advanced 3.6 percent to
$36.16.
More Revenue
EBay rose 2.4 percent to $54.17. The results suggest Chief
Executive Officer John Donahoe is sustaining a turnaround effort
that began in March 2008, when he succeeded Meg Whitman. The
company has been pushing to generate more revenue from consumers
shopping on tablets and smartphones, and from retailers that use
EBay to sell their merchandise.
Intel, which released its earnings report just before the
close, slid 4.9 percent to $22.68 in after-hours trading at 5:21
p.m. in New York. Fourth-quarter revenue dropped 3 percent to
$13.5 billion, the company said. The shares increased 2.6
percent in regular trading.
Technology Earnings
The results kick off two weeks of earnings reports from the
largest U.S. technology companies. Because its chips power the
majority of the world’s PCs, investors watch Intel’s earnings
for a broad indication of demand for desktop, server and laptop
computers.
BlackRock added 4.4 percent to $232. Net income climbed to
$690 million, or $3.93 a share, from $555 million, or $3.05, a
year earlier, the New York-based company said today in a
statement. Profit beat the $3.71 a share average estimate of six
analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. BlackRock increased its
quarterly dividend 12 percent to $1.68 a share and expanded its
share buyback program.
CBS Corp. surged 7.9 percent to $40.95. The owner of the
most-watched U.S. television network said it will convert its
outdoor advertising division into a real estate investment trust
and seek a buyer for the European and Asian parts of that
business.
$15 Billion
Dell Inc. advanced 1.7 percent to $12.82. Silver Lake
Management LLC and partners are close to lining up about $15
billion in funds for a buyout of the third-biggest maker of
personal computers, said people familiar with the matter.
Lenders including Credit Suisse Group AG, Royal Bank of
Canada, Barclays Plc and Bank of America Corp. may informally
disclose terms to a small group of possible buyers of the bridge
loan as soon as today, said one of the people, who asked not to
be named as the process is private.
The S&P 500 Regional Banks Index gained 2.4 percent. Fifth
Third Bancorp., Ohio’s largest lender, said fourth-quarter
profit rose 27 percent as the firm booked a gain on a stake in
Vantiv Inc. Earnings at PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and
BB&T Corp. beat analysts’ estimates. Fifth Third rose 4.8
percent to $16.29. BB&T climbed 1.9 percent to $30.89 and PNC
added 3.7 percent to $62.01.
Financial Shares
Financial shares had the only decline in the S&P 500 among
10 industries, falling 0.1 percent. The measure of banks,
brokerages and insurers, which posted the biggest gain in the
U.S. equity benchmark last year, has risen 4.4 percent.
Bank of America slumped 4.2 percent, the most in the Dow,
to $11.28 after saying profit dropped 63 percent, hurt by
shrinking revenue and more costs from cleaning up bad mortgages.
Citigroup Inc. retreated 2.9 percent to $41.24. The third-
biggest U.S. bank by assets reported a profit increase that was
less than analysts estimated as litigation costs rose and
benefits from releasing loan-loss reserves declined.
“I think people who haven’t been discriminating among
banks will probably be more discriminating now,” Jeffrey Davis,
who oversees $5 billion as chief investment officer at Lee
Munder Capital Group in Boston, said in a telephone interview.
“The banks were a very important macro play last year with
attractive valuations. Now, you’re at a higher level with them
where you’re starting to pay more attention to the
differences.”
Sallie Mae
SLM Corp. declined 2.8 percent to $16.82. The student
lender known as Sallie Mae reported a drop in fourth-quarter
profit as charge-offs increased, offsetting a climb in
originations.
Laszlo Birinyi, among the first to advise buying U.S.
stocks before the bull market began in 2009, said he purchased
options to bet the S&P 500 will rally more than 8 percent by the
end of the year.
Birinyi said he bought an unspecified amount of $160 calls
on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust that expire in December on
speculation more investors will be attracted to the rally that’s
more than doubled the benchmark gauge of U.S. equities since
March 2009.
“This is where the fireworks begin,” Birinyi, the
president of Birinyi Associates Inc. in Westport, Connecticut,
said today during the Bloomberg Global Markets Summit in New
York. “The last phase of the bull market is very strong.”
Investors are returning to the stock market and poured a
record $3.1 billion into U.S. equity mutual funds in the first
week of January, according to data compiled by research firm
EPFR Global. They had withdrawn almost $250 billion the last
four years, even as the S&P 500 rallied 118 percent and
strategists from Birinyi to Citigroup Inc.’s Tobias Levkovich
forecast higher prices as earnings climbed.
For Related News and Information:
Developed Markets View: DMMV <GO>
World stock indexes: WEI <GO>
Most-active U.S. stocks: MOST US <GO>
U.S. stock market map: IMAP US <GO>
Top stories on stocks: TOP STK <GO>
Stories on U.S. stocks: NI USS <GO>
Feature stories: TNI USS FEA <GO>
Equity screening: EQS <GO>
Graphing: GRAPH <GO>
Equity derivatives: EDRV <GO>
Stories on U.S. stock options: NI USO <GO> |
Main Menu >
Stocks, FX, Cryptocurrencies & Commodities Forum >
MARKET WATCH 18 Jan 2013
[ 346 Chatters Online
]
1
) 
Find all Topics Started by stand up n wake up
Find all Posts by stand up n wake up
Follow / Unfollow
PM stand up n wake up
18-Jan 2013 Friday
10:50 AM (4118 days ago)
0 Likes
Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 8:56 AM
Like
