YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks finished with modest gains despite
this morning's disappointing economic data and slew of earnings reports that
saw bottom line beats accompanied by top line misses. All of today's economic
data fell short of expectations with initial and continuing claims, existing
home sales, the Philadelphia Fed, and leading indicators all missing their
marks. Technology shares were strong as the Nasdaq paced today's advance with a 0.8% gain.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 tacked on 0.3% to finish at a two-month high.
International Business Machines
(IBM 195.34, +7.09) was a notable winner,
rallying 3.8% and regaining its 200-day moving average
as the stock was able to shake off a top line miss.
YUM! Brands (YUM 65.86, +0.31) was
another example of the low second quarter expectations as erased early selling
pressure and pushed back into positive territory. This
despite a $0.03 miss on the bottom line. The company did outpace revenue expectations which appears to be enough to offset
cost concerns at this point.
Morgan Stanley (MS 13.25, -0.74) was a
notable underperformer after the firm missed on both the top and bottom
lines.
Technology names eBay
(EBAY 43.95, +3.49), Qualcomm
(QCOM 58.44, +2.39), F5 Networks
(FFIV 102.75, +4.16), Mellanox Technologies (MLNX
93.90, +27.52) and Skyworks Solutions
(SWKS 29.17, +2.53) are ended higher after reporting
earnings following yesterday's closing bell.
New Oriental Education & Technology
(EDU 11.20, +1.70) jumped 17.9% after the company responded to accusations from
research firm Muddy Waters. The research firm suggested a significant number of
the firm’s 664 owned and operated schools and learning centers were instead
operated by franchisees and that the company represented these operations as
their own. A response from the company suggested, “The Muddy Waters report is
wrong....New Oriental has never included these cooperation facilities, which
never exceeded 21 facilities in total, in the counts of its own schools and
learning centers, nor has New Oriental included student enrollments from these
cooperation facilities as its own student enrollments.”
Shares of Walgreens
(WAG 34.62, +3.65) and Express Scripts
(ESRX 58.76, +1.07) rallied after the two companies announced a pharmacy
network agreement. Terms of the contract were not disclosed; however, the deal
will allow Walgreens to participate in the broadest Express Scripts retail
network available to new and existing clients. Today’s gains had shares of
Express Scripts testing all-time highs near the $60 level.
Homebuilders Toll Brothers
(TOL 29.42, -0.19) and Lennar Corp.
(LEN 30.32, -0.06) fell 0.6% and 0.2% respectively after this morning's
disappointing existing home sales data.
Treasuries finished near session lows as most maturities finished just below
their respective flat lines. The complex was unable to garner any meaningful
strength despite today’s lackluster economic data as the 10-yr yield ticked up
to 1.515%.
Crude oil steadily climbed higher during today’s pit session as the
dollar weakened. It came off its session low of $90.67 and peaked at $92.97 in
afternoon action. Although it pulled back slightly into the close, the energy
component booked a solid gain of 3.2% at $92.81 per barrel. Natural gas touched
a session high of $3.03 per MMBtu following
better-than-expected inventory data that showed a build of 28 bcf when a build of 30 bcf was
anticipated. It then spent the majority of pit trade chopping around just above
the unchanged line before settling up 1.0% at $3.00 per MMBtu.
Precious metals also saw a boost from the weaker dollar and disappointing
There is no data set for release tomorrow.DJ30 +34.66 NASDAQ +23.30 SP500 +3.73
NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1093/1.66 bln/1463 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1563/756.6 mln/1463