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24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell -- June 4, 2012 (FB, YUM, TM, AMZN, BA, CVGW, CONN, NX, JASO, MFRM, UNFI, LAYN, CRED, FOR, ENPH, DAL)
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The three major US stock indexes opened very slightly higher this morning, but soon turned south on a disappointing report on US factory orders (our coverage here). In Europe, Germany once again proposed a fiscal union, and the move was initially viewed positively. But the rest of the eurozone has already rejected a similar plan. In China, the weak non-manufacturing PMI report was also a weight on US markets, which appear to be set to close at just about break-even today.
The US dollar index slipped today, now down -0.42% at 82.541. The GSCI commodity index is down about -2.5% at 580.99, with commodities prices mixed. WTI crude oil closed up 0.9%% at $83.98/barrel. Brent crude trades up 0.55% at $98.97/barrel. Natural gas rose 4.2% today to $2.42/thousand cubic feet. Gold settled down -0.5% today, at $1,613.90/ounce.
The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 17 points to 12,101.39 (-0.14%), the NASDAQ rose more than 12 points (0.46%) to 2,760.01, and the S&P 500 rose 0.01% or less than 1 point to 1,278,17.
There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) started as ‘underperform’ at Bernstein (for an even dimmer view, see our story here); Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) cut to ‘market perform’ at Raymond James; Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) cut to ‘neutral’ at Credit Suisse; Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) removed from the ‘Conviction Buy’ list at Evercore; and The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) raised to ‘buy’ at Stifel Nicolaus.
Earnings reports since markets closed last Friday have been scarce, but here are some price changes for reporting companies as of the last half hour of trading today: Calavo Growers Inc. (NASDAQ: CVGW) is down -10.2% at $24.40; Conn’s Inc. (NASDAQ: CONN) is down -6% at $16.65; and Quanex Building Products Corp. (NYSE: NX) is down -2% at $15.63.
On Tuesday, we are scheduled to get earnings reports from JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO), Mattress Firm Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: MFRM), United Natural Foods Inc. (NASDAQ: UNFI), and Layne Christensen Co. (NASDAQ: LAYN).
Other standouts from today include the following stocks:
Credo Petroleum Corp. (NASDAQ: CRED) is up 32% at $14.35 after posting a new 52-week high of $14.38 earlier today. The oil & gas exploration and production company iw being acquired by Forestar Group Inc. (NYSE: FOR) for $14.50/share, or a total of $146 million.
Enphase Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH) is down -16.6% at $4.96 after posting a new 52-week low of $4.92 earlier today. The microinverter maker (for installation with solar panel systems) has no news, but is taking a heavy hit from solar panel makers’ price drops today.
Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) is down -11.6% at $10.17. The airlines reported weaker-than-expected results for May. More coverage here.
Stay tuned for Tuesday. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher, and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans are giving speeches. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):
- 10:00 a.m. – ISM non-manufacturing index
- 11:30 a.m. – 4-week bill auction
Paul Ausick
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