YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The Dow avoided its seventh consecutive day
of losses after withstanding some late-day selling to finish with a gain
of 20 points. The S&P 500 closed up 0.3% to lead the way while the Nasdaq finished fractionally in
the red. News flow out of
European financials recorded strong gains as National Bank of
Cisco Systems (CSCO 16.81, -1.97) plunged
10.5% following yesterday's earnings. The company announced earnings per share
of $0.48 which was $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate while
posting in-line revenues of $11.59 billion. The company now expects to see
earnings per share of $0.44 to $0.46 per share on expectations of $0.49 and
revenue growth of 2% to 5% versus consensus expectations of a 7.1% increase.
Macro headwinds were given as reasons for the downbeat outlook.
Shares of Priceline
(PCLN 681.11, -37.84) tumbled 5.3% following yesterday's better than expected
earnings as guidance was disappointing. The company announced earnings of $4.28
per share which was $0.30 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, and
in-line revenues of $1.04 billion. Guidance weighed as the company said it
expects revenues to increase 18 to 23% year over year, compared with analyst
expectations of a 26% increase.
Kohl's (KSS 48.66, -2.20) fell
4.3% after the company reported earnings of $0.63 per share which was $0.02
better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. The company's revenues were
in-line with estimates, climbing 1.9% year over year to $4.24 billion.
Management also reaffirmed its fiscal year 2013 earnings per share guidance of
$4.75 which is $0.01 below the consensus estimate of $4.76. However, the
stock weakened as the company's gross margins disappointed.
Treasuries trimmed their losses following this afternoon's solid $16 billion
30-yr bind reopening. The auction drew 3.090% and saw a 2.73x bid/cover as
indirect bidders took down a larger than average 33.8% of the offering. Dollar
demand was the strongest since August 2010, coming in at $43.6 billion. The
10-yr yield finished the day up 4.9 basis points at 1.884% after hitting a
session high of 1.921%.
Crude oil dipped into negative territory in morning early trade,
but found enough support to push above the unchanged line ahead of the close.
The energy component settled pit trade with a 0.3% gain at $97.11 per barrel,
marking the first positive close in seven sessions. Natural gas popped on
inventory data that came out in-line with expectations. However, it
quickly dropped into the red to a session low $2.41 per MMBtu.
Despite some volatility, natural gas recovered its losses and finished pit
trade with a 1.2% gain at $2.49 per MMBtu. This marks
a 24.5% gain from its recent low set on April 19.
Gold and silver came off their morning pit lows in response to a weaker dollar,
climbing to their respective session highs of $1602.20 per ounce and $29.45 per
ounce. However, the precious metals retreated towards their breakeven
lines where they chopped around for the remainder of pit trade. Gold finished
in positive territory for the first time this week, posting a modest
gain of 0.1% at $1595.50 per ounce. Meanwhile, silver finished at $29.20
per ounce, or 0.2% lower.
This morning, the USDA released its May WASDE report, which was the first
monthly report for the new 2012/13 crop year. Inventory data was bearish
as the expected ending stocks (inventory levels) of 1.881 billion bushels
for the fiscal 2012/13 crop season combined with the increased 2011/12
expected corn inventory levels of 851 million bushels (from 801 million)
weighed on corn prices. Corn futures under the continuous contract closed
pit trade down 3.0% at $5.88 per bushel
Volume on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange was weak as just 784 million
shares changed hands.DJ30 +19.98 NASDAQ -1.07 SP500 +3.41 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1437/1.93 bln/1128 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec
1893/784.1 mln/1128