Investing
24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell -- May 21, 2012 ( AVP, PBR, SWY, BA, BBY, CPB, HAST, KKD, LOW, TECD, TUDO, AZO, GES, RL, WSM, TTWO, FB, CBE, ETN, WPRT)
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The three major US stock indexes opened higher this morning as what seems to be a declaration of love for Greece at the G8 summit meeting pushed down fears that the Greeks would leave the euro and throw all of the monetary union into chaos (our coverage here). There is also some reason to believe that China will take its foot off the brake and step on the accelerator to get its economy on a growth path again. The US dollar index fell today, now down -0.19% at 81.138. The GSCI commodity index is down fractionally at 629.50, with commodities mostly mixed today. WTI crude oil closed up -1.2% at $92.57/barrel, and Brent crude trades up 1.58% at $108.83/barrel. Natural gas fell sharply today, down -4.4% today at $2.62/thousand cubic feet. Gold settled down -0.2% today, at $1,588.70/ounce.
The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 134 points to 12,503.87 (1.09%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 68 points (2.46%) to 2,847.21, and the S&P 500 rose 1.60% or nearly 21 points to 1,316.00.
There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) cut to ‘sell’ at UBS; Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) raised to ‘buy’ at SocGen; Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY) raised to ‘buy’ at Citigroup; Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) raised to ‘buy’ at Argus; and Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) cut to ‘hold’ at BB&T.
Earnings reports since markets closed on Friday have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) is down -2.1% at $32.71; Hastings Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: HAST) is up 15.2% at $2.05; Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. (NYSE: KKD) is up 12.3% at $6.75; Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) is down -10.1% at $25.60 (more coverage here); Tech Data Corp. (NASDAQ: TECD) is up 0.7% at $47.78; and Tudou Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ: TUDO) is up 11.3% at $33.37.
Tomorrow we are scheduled to get earnings reports from Autozone Inc. (NYSE: AZO), Best Buy, Guess? Inc. (NYSE: GES), Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL), Williams Sonoma Inc. (NYSE: WSM), and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).
Other standouts from today include the following stocks:
Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is down -11% at $34.03. Following Friday’s massively-hyped IPO and the CEO’s weekend wedding, a falling share price was probably inevitable. More coverage here.
Cooper Industries plc (NYSE: CBE) is up 25.2% at $69.96 after posting a new 52-week high this morning of $70.97. The company is being acquired by Eaton Corp. (NYSE: ETN) for $11.8 billion. More coverage here.
Westport Innovations Inc. (NASDAQ: WPRT) is up 12% at $26.57. The natural gas engine maker has a deal with Volvo for a new truck engine.
Stay tuned for Tuesday. Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart is giving a speech. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):
10:00 a.m. – Existing home sales
10:00 a.m. – Richmond Fed manufacturing index
11:30 a.m. – 4-week bill auction
1:00 p.m. – 2-year note auction
Paul Ausick
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