U.S. stocks fell, dragging benchmark indexes down from five-month highs, amid concern growth in Asia will cool and earnings at American companies will disappoint investors.
U.S. Steel Corp. fell 2.1 percent after South Korean rival Posco, the world’s third-largest steelmaker, reported its first decline in earnings in four quarters. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. retreated with metal prices. Verizon Communications Inc., Walt Disney Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. led losses in Dow Jones Industrial Average stocks.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index decreased 0.4 percent to 1,161.24 at 9:38 a.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 38.45 points, or 0.4 percent, to 10,971.89. Both measures closed at the highest levels since May yesterday amid optimism the Federal Reserve will pump more cash into the economy to safeguard the recovery.
“Investors will likely worry about two key reported items out of Posco,” said Steven Neimeth, a money manager at SunAmerica Asset Management in Jersey City, New Jersey, which oversees $41 billion. “It appears their outlook for revenues has slowed, suggesting economic growth out of Asia may be slowing. More importantly, inflation in their raw materials prices appears to be moving up at a fairly dramatic pace, crimping operating profits.”
U.S. stocks rose yesterday amid speculation that the Fed will buy more Treasuries to maintain low interest rates and stoke the economy. The S&P 500 last month climbed 8.8 percent, its best September since 1939, as the central bank said it’s willing to ease monetary policy further. Minutes of the Fed’s September meeting on interest rates are scheduled for release at 2 p.m. in Washington.
Fed Bets
The Fed will announce roughly $500 billion of Treasury purchases through to the middle of 2011 and indicate they are ready to buy more to help the U.S. avoid the “very bad” economic outcome of a renewed recession, Jan Hatzius, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s New York-based chief U.S. economist, said in an e-mailed note.
“The market is waiting on the minutes today in the hope that it will bring a satisfactory outcome to the speculation that the Fed is about to open its doors to accommodate a few billion more bonds for quantitative easing purposes,” said David Buik, a London-based market strategist at BGC Partners. “Failure to respond to expectation might see some reversals in equity prices.”
Companies reporting third-quarter results after the market closes today include Intel Corp., the world’s biggest maker of semiconductors, and CSX Corp., the third-largest U.S. railroad by revenue. JPMorgan Chase & Co. will post results tomorrow, the first major bank to do so.
Earnings Season
Eighteen companies in the S&P 500 are scheduled to release third-quarter results this week, the second week of the reporting period. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg predict 23 percent profit growth from a year earlier for companies in the index, the fourth straight quarterly increase after a record nine-quarter slump.
U.S. Steel, the country’s largest producer of the metal, slid 2.1 percent to $44.68 after Posco cut its full-year earnings forecast by 7 percent. Operating profit will probably be 5.2 trillion won ($4.6 billion) for the 12 months ending Dec. 31, Posco said today. That compares with its earlier forecast of 5.6 trillion won.
Freeport, the world’s largest publicly traded copper producer, declined 1.9 percent to $93.58. Alcoa Inc., the biggest U.S. aluminum producer, slipped 0.5 percent to $12.86.
Copper Drops
Copper declined as China, the world’s biggest consumer of the metal, moved to rein in bank lending to cool its economy. Gold also retreated, falling for the first time in three days as a stronger dollar curbed demand for the metal as an alternative asset.
Avon Products Inc. jumped 7.8 percent to $35.75 after the U.K.’s Daily Mail reported that L’Oreal SA is mulling a cash bid for the world’s largest door-to-door cosmetics seller in excess of $44 a share.
“We would not be surprised if L’Oreal scouted the acquisition trail,’ wrote UBS AG in a report to clients today. “The group has an embarrassment of riches, with net debt estimated at zero by the end of the year and the stake in Sanofi Aventis SA currently worth 5 billion euros.”
http://jodnet.blogspot.com
U.S. Steel Corp. fell 2.1 percent after South Korean rival Posco, the world’s third-largest steelmaker, reported its first decline in earnings in four quarters. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. retreated with metal prices. Verizon Communications Inc., Walt Disney Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. led losses in Dow Jones Industrial Average stocks.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index decreased 0.4 percent to 1,161.24 at 9:38 a.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 38.45 points, or 0.4 percent, to 10,971.89. Both measures closed at the highest levels since May yesterday amid optimism the Federal Reserve will pump more cash into the economy to safeguard the recovery.
“Investors will likely worry about two key reported items out of Posco,” said Steven Neimeth, a money manager at SunAmerica Asset Management in Jersey City, New Jersey, which oversees $41 billion. “It appears their outlook for revenues has slowed, suggesting economic growth out of Asia may be slowing. More importantly, inflation in their raw materials prices appears to be moving up at a fairly dramatic pace, crimping operating profits.”
U.S. stocks rose yesterday amid speculation that the Fed will buy more Treasuries to maintain low interest rates and stoke the economy. The S&P 500 last month climbed 8.8 percent, its best September since 1939, as the central bank said it’s willing to ease monetary policy further. Minutes of the Fed’s September meeting on interest rates are scheduled for release at 2 p.m. in Washington.
Fed Bets
The Fed will announce roughly $500 billion of Treasury purchases through to the middle of 2011 and indicate they are ready to buy more to help the U.S. avoid the “very bad” economic outcome of a renewed recession, Jan Hatzius, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s New York-based chief U.S. economist, said in an e-mailed note.
“The market is waiting on the minutes today in the hope that it will bring a satisfactory outcome to the speculation that the Fed is about to open its doors to accommodate a few billion more bonds for quantitative easing purposes,” said David Buik, a London-based market strategist at BGC Partners. “Failure to respond to expectation might see some reversals in equity prices.”
Companies reporting third-quarter results after the market closes today include Intel Corp., the world’s biggest maker of semiconductors, and CSX Corp., the third-largest U.S. railroad by revenue. JPMorgan Chase & Co. will post results tomorrow, the first major bank to do so.
Earnings Season
Eighteen companies in the S&P 500 are scheduled to release third-quarter results this week, the second week of the reporting period. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg predict 23 percent profit growth from a year earlier for companies in the index, the fourth straight quarterly increase after a record nine-quarter slump.
U.S. Steel, the country’s largest producer of the metal, slid 2.1 percent to $44.68 after Posco cut its full-year earnings forecast by 7 percent. Operating profit will probably be 5.2 trillion won ($4.6 billion) for the 12 months ending Dec. 31, Posco said today. That compares with its earlier forecast of 5.6 trillion won.
Freeport, the world’s largest publicly traded copper producer, declined 1.9 percent to $93.58. Alcoa Inc., the biggest U.S. aluminum producer, slipped 0.5 percent to $12.86.
Copper Drops
Copper declined as China, the world’s biggest consumer of the metal, moved to rein in bank lending to cool its economy. Gold also retreated, falling for the first time in three days as a stronger dollar curbed demand for the metal as an alternative asset.
Avon Products Inc. jumped 7.8 percent to $35.75 after the U.K.’s Daily Mail reported that L’Oreal SA is mulling a cash bid for the world’s largest door-to-door cosmetics seller in excess of $44 a share.
“We would not be surprised if L’Oreal scouted the acquisition trail,’ wrote UBS AG in a report to clients today. “The group has an embarrassment of riches, with net debt estimated at zero by the end of the year and the stake in Sanofi Aventis SA currently worth 5 billion euros.”
http://jodnet.blogspot.com
0 التعليقات
Post a Comment