YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Equities
put together a fourth straight day of gains, with a strong +1.3% gain for the
S&P 500 in today's session. U.S. stocks started the day higher following a
bounce in overseas markets, which have been under pressure recently amid
concerns about the fiscal future of Greece. Greece's troubles are far from
resolved, but tonight's (5:00 ET) vote of confidence for the country's prime
minister is expected to turn out positively. A positive vote would symbolize
agreement that progress must be made toward austerity.
Today's strongest sectors include Materials (+2.6%), Energy (+2.0%) and
Consumer Discretionary (+2.0%) -- sectors that have performed poorly amid the
recent market pullback. The strength in energy comes even though oil prices
have surrendered early gains to trade in the red with a modest loss... The
dollar has been weak for virtually the entire session, and was recently quoted
with a 0.5% loss against a collection of competing currencies. Its weakness
comes as Greece looks to take the first steps toward solving its fiscal woes,
but precedes the latest FOMC policy statement, which will be posted tomorrow
afternoon.
Looking at individual items of interest, Walgreens (WAG 43.28 -1.90) finished
the day down 4% after reporting better than expected earnings and in-line
revenues, but noting that it is planning to move forward without Express
Scripts (ESRX 54.99 +0.20) pharmacy provider network in 2012. After losing more
than 6% in the pre-market, ESRX finished the day flat.
After the close, Jabil Circuit (JBL 18.85 +0.59) reported Q3 (May) earnings of
$0.58 per share, on revenues that rose 22.3% year/year to $4.23 billion. JBL
issued guidance for Q4 EPS of $0.52-0.60, and revs of $4.1-4.3 billion.
Additionally, JBL authorized a repurchase for up to $200 million worth of
shares. Adobe Systems (ADBE 32.01 +1.06) reported Q2 EPS of $0.55 and revs
$1.02 billion, and issued in-line Q3 guidance for EPS of $0.50-0.56 and
revenues of $1.00-1.05 billion.
Commodities markets continued
to eye events in Greece, ahead of tonight's no-confidence vote, and the pending
reaction in the euro and the dollar. August gold finished higher by 0.2% to
$1545.30 per ounce, while July silver gained 0.1% to end at $36.41 per ounce.
Both metals gains came in a flight to safety ahead of that vote.
August crude oil, the new
front month, finished by 0.5% to $94.14 per ounce. Crude gave back overnight
gains to trade into negative territory in mid-morning trade. It put in lows at
$92.88, but managed to bounce off those lows to finish just above the flat line
with modest gains. Events in Europe, coupled with commentary from the IMF on
Spain and crude oil's recent downward trend, all weighed on crude today. July
natural gas finished higher by 1.6% to $4.39 per MMBtu. It put in session highs
at $4.41 in afternoon trade, but pulled back from those highs heading into the
close.
Tomorrow before the open FedEx (FDX 89.13 +1.63) is scheduled to report Q4
results.DJ30 +109.63 NASDAQ +57.63 SP500 +17.16 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2096/1.7
bln/551 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2611/679 mln/452