YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Equities began today's session slightly lower
before climbing back to break-even. The morning gains coincided with advances
in European indices ahead of their close. After marking session highs near
1,404, the S&P 500 fell back to its unchanged level and stayed there for
the remainder of the day.
Telecommunications sector outperformed the broader market as Cincinnati Bell (CBB 3.94, +0.20) advanced 5.4% following
an earnings beat. The company also announced the IPO of its CyrusOne
unit which operates
Consumer staples were lifted by Dean Foods
(DF 17.46, +5.04) which announced the planned IPO of its organic food division,
The WhiteWave Foods. Shares of the company soared by
40.6%, and today's buying brought the stock near its
early July levels.
Bloomin' Brands (BLMN 12.41, +1.41), the parent company
of Outback Steakhouse, began trading publicly this morning. After opening at
$11.64 shares of the company surged by 12.8%.
Priceline.com (PCLN 562.32, -117.48)
plunged 17.3% after missing on revenues. The company issued lower third quarter
guidance, blaming the cloudy outlook on the persisting European debt crisis.
Today's selling pressure dropped the stock down to levels not seen since
mid-February.
Standard Chartered
(SCBFF 21.10, +2.15) gained 11.4% as the investigation into the bank's illicit
dealings with
McDonald's (MCD 87.53, -1.48) reported
flat same-store sales during the month of July. The report put a damper on
third quarter earnings expectations for the fast food giant which ended lower
by 1.7%.
Research in Motion
(RIMM 7.62, +0.31) jumped to $8.25 following rumors of a potential partnership
with Samsung. Samsung later denied having interest in a partnership, but shares
of Research in Motion held on to some of their gains and ended higher by 4.2%.
Crude oil popped to a session high of $94.72 per barrel following
larger-than-anticipated draw of 3.7 million barrels when a draw of 1.5 million
was expected. The move was short-lived, however, and the energy component
trended lower for the remainder of trade. Crude fell back into negative
territory and slid below the $93.00 level moments before it settled with a 0.3%
loss at $93.39.
Gold came off its session low of $1606.20 per ounce and broke into positive
territory in mid-morning action. It brushed a session high of $1619.50 and
spent the rest of the day chopping around just below that level. The yellow
metal closed 0.2% higher at $1615.90 despite a stronger dollar. Silver also
came off its session low of $27.70 per ounce that was set moments after trade
opened. However, the white metal fell back into the red after it brushed its
session high of $28.21 and settled 0.1% lower at $28.07.
Retailer Kohl's
(KSS 52.06, +0.23) and fast food chain Wendy's (WEN 4.54, -0.01) are scheduled to report
quarterly results before tomorrow's open.
Crude oil popped to a floor session high of $94.72 per barrel
following stronger-than-anticipated inventory data that showed a draw of 3.7
million barrels when a draw of 1.5 million was expected. The move was
short-lived, however, and the energy component trended lower for the remainder
of pit trade. It fell back into negative territory and slid below the $93.00
level moments before it settled with a 0.3% loss at $93.39.
Natural gas spent its entire pit session in the red, dipping as low as $2.90
per MMBtu in afternoon action. It attempted to
recover some losses as it headed into the close and finished the session 1.0%
lower at $2.93 per MMBtu.
Gold came off its pit session low of $1606.20 per ounce and broke into positive
territory in mid-morning action. It brushed a session high of $1619.50 and
spent the rest of the day chopping around just below that level. It closed 0.2%
higher at $1615.90 despite a stronger dollar. Silver also came off its session
low of $27.70 per ounce that was set moments after floor trade opened. However,
the metal fell back into the red after it brushed its session high of $28.21
and settled 0.1% lower at $28.07.
A few economic data points will be reported tomorrow. Initial and continuing
claims and the trade balance will be reported at 8:30 AM ET. In addition,
wholesale inventories will be released at 10 AM ET.DJ30 +7.04 NASDAQ -4.61
SP500 +0.87 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1089/1.82 bln/1388
NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1528/637.1 mln/1449