YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The major averages ended the day with strong
gains as they got the second quarter started out on the right foot. Equities
opened with modest losses, but quickly reversed to gains following the ISM
Index beat, and have been trending higher throughout the session. A 0.9% surge
had the Nasdaq pacing the
advance while the S&P 500 climbed 0.7%, and the Dow lagged with a gain of
0.4%. Both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at
multi-year highs.
Groupon
(GRPN 15.27, -3.10) fell 16.9% after the company revised its fourth quarter and
fiscal year 2011 financial results. The revisions occurred because inadequate
refund reserves (and higher than expected customer returns) resulted in a
reduction to Q4 2011 revenue of $14.3 million, and to an increase of fourth
quarter operating expenses that reduced operating income by $30.0 million, net
income by $22.6 million, and earnings per share by $0.04.
DirecTV (DTV 49.94, +0.60) added
1.2% despite losing service to Tribune Co. television stations. The two parties
saw their agreement end on Sunday, and have yet to reach terms on a new deal.
The blackout will prevent Chicagoans with DirecTV from seeing Bulls,
Blackhawks, Cubs, and White Sox games scheduled on WGN.
French beauty company Coty announced that it has submitted a non-binding
proposal to acquire
Dunkin’ Brands (DNKN 30.63, +0.55) is
trading up 0.8% after announcing an exclusive multi-year product and marketing
agreement with Coca-Cola
(KO 74.14, +0.13). The deal will include more than 9,400 Dunkin’ Donuts and
Baskin-Robbins restaurants across the
Treasuries saw small gains as most of the earlier buying was erased. The 10-yr
yield fell 2 .3 bps on the session to finish at 2.193%. Little change along the
yield curve saw the 2-10-spread hold steady at 188 bps.
Energy components made noticeable gains today despite the lack of
any market-moving news. Crude oil climbed out of negative territory shortly
after floor trade opened, and continued to make gains as its session
progressed. It closed pit trade with a gain of 2.1% at $105.24 per barrel, just
below its session high of $105.49. Elsewhere, natural gas rallied into positive
territory, and chopped around the $2.15 per MMBtu
level for the remainder of pit trade where it eventually settled for
the session. After seven consecutive days of losses, natural gas closed
floor trade with a gain of 0.9%. Meanwhile, precious metals spent most of their
pit sessions in the black, seeing the biggest gains in early trade. Both gold
and silver lost some steam after hiting their
respective highs of $1685.30 and $33.25, but still closed near those
levels. Gold settled up 0.5% at $1680.20 per ounce, and silver booked a
gain of 2.1% as it closed at $33.13 per ounce.
Data picks up a bit on Tuesday as factory orders, the FOMC minutes, and
auto/truck sales are released.DJ30 +52.45 NASDAQ +28.13 SP500 +10.42 NASDAQ
Adv/Vol/Dec 1766/1.72 bln/764 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2279/751.9 mln/772