YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Today's session started on a down note. After
a brief rise into positive territory, the S&P 500 turned negative at
midday. The S&P 500 then recovered, but the index closed unchanged on the
day.
Energy was one of today's top performers as coal stocks paced the advance.
Alpha Natural Resources
(ANR 7.25, +0.95) surged 15.1% after yesterday's 9.0% drop following the
company's disappointing earnings report. James River Coal (JRCC 2.52, +0.29) missed revenue
forecasts by $2 million and reported a loss which was narrower than analysts
had expected. Despite the mixed report, the stock soared 13.0%. Arch Coal (ACI 7.42, +0.49) advanced 7.1% as it
benefited from the significant gains of other coal-related names.
The consumer discretionary sector was generally weaker, but post-earnings
buying lifted some restaurant stocks within the space.
Red Robin Gourmet
(RRGB 32.24, +3.56) jumped 12.4% after beating earnings expectations. The
company also reported in-line revenues and expects comparable net restaurant
sales for the remainder of the year. Competitor Brinker International (EAT 34.43, +1.87) climbed 5.7% after
reporting in-line revenues and issuing upside guidance for fiscal year 2013.
Shares of the company are at a 52-week high, and are approaching record highs
near $35.50.
Consumer staples were today's main laggard. Monster Beverage (MNST 61.20, -6.57) plunged 9.7% after
missing earnings expectations by $0.02 and missing revenue forecasts by $3
million. Monster peers Dr Pepper Snapple
(DPS 45.01, -0.47) and Coca-Cola
(KO 79.24, -0.32) shed 1.0% and 0.4% respectively.
The Dow Jones Transportation Average, which often serves as the bellwether for
overall economic health, underperformed the broader market. Airlines weighed on
the index with Delta Airlines
(DAL 9.07, -0.32) down 3.4%, United Continental
Holdings (UAL 17.89, -0.43) lower by 2.4% and JetBlue (JBLU 5.02, -0.11) off 2.1%.
In M&A news, Robbins & Myers
(RBN 59.63, +12.83) announced it will be acquired by National Oilwell Varco
(NOV 76.98, +0.64) for $60.00 per share in cash, representing a 28% premium to
yesterday's closing price for RBN. Shares of Robbins & Myers soared 27.4%
on the news.
Crude oil spent most of its session trading in choppy fashion. It stayed mostly
in positive territory despite a stronger dollar. Crude set a session high of $94.21
per barrel in late morning action, but gave up its gains as it headed into the
close. The energy component slid to a session low of $93.08 and recovered in
time to settle just above the unchanged line at $93.42.
As the second quarter earnings season nears its end, few notable companies have
yet to report. Educational services provider DeVry (DV 19.87, +0.19), fashion retailer Nordstrom (JWN 55.08, -0.37), and chipmaker NVidia
(NVDA 14.71, +0.48) will report after today's close. In addition, department
store operator J.C. Penney
(JCP 22.10, +0.70) will report its quarterly results before Friday's open.
Today's volume was well below average as just over 575 million shares changed
hands.
The latest weekly initial jobless claims count totaled 361,000, which was lower
than the expected 375,000. The tally was also down from the prior week count of
365,000. As for continuing claims, they rose to about 3.332 million from 3.272
million.
The trade deficit narrowed to $42.9 billion during June after an upwardly
revised prior month deficit of $48.0 billion. Economists polled by Briefing.com
had expected that the June deficit would come in at $47.5 billion.
Wholesale inventories were down 0.2% in June which is lower than the increase
of 0.3% that had been broadly forecasted.
Crude oil spent most of its pit session trading in choppy fashion. It mostly
stayed in positive territory despite a stronger dollar. Crude set a session
high of $94.21 per barrel in late morning action but gave up its gains as it
headed into the close. It slid to a session low of $93.08 per barrel and
recovered just in time to settle just above the unchanged line at $93.42 per
barrel.
Natural gas popped to a session high of $3.12 per MMBtu
following bullish inventory data that showed a build of 24 bcf
when a build of 30 bcf was anticipated. However, it
sold-off moments before pit trade closed and gave up most of the day's gains,
settling just 0.3% higher at $2.94 per MMBtu. The
plunge took prices down ~ 6% in just a matter of minutes.
Gold oscillated between positive and negative territory in today's pit trade.
Moves came in response to weak Chinese data, better-than-expected
Silver climbed out of the red in late morning action but lost momentum after it
peaked at $28.15 per ounce. It spent the afternoon pit session near the
unchanged line and settled 0.1% higher at $28.11 per ounce
Tomorrow's economic data releases are limited to export prices
ex-agriculture and import prices ex-oil. These will be reported at 8:30 AM ET.
In addition the Treasury budget will be announced at 2 PM ET.DJ30 -10.45 NASDAQ
+7.39 SP500 +0.58 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1368/1.63
bln/1097 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1649/575.8 mln/1354