U.S. stock markets were closed again today as New York City recovered from the damage brought on by Hurricane Sandy. In New York, both Nasdaq and the NYSE announced that the markets would be open tomorrow, which is good news for traders who want or need to close positions at month’s end (more coverage here). Bond trading will also resume a normal schedule tomorrow. In Asia, the Bank of Japan’s ninth easing operation lifted markets (more coverage here). European markets also traded higher today, following a not-as-bad-as-expected GDP report from Spain (more coverage here).
The U.S. dollar index fell today, now down 0.37% at 79.938. The GSCI commodity index is down less than 0.1% at 636.39, with commodities prices mixed today. WTI crude oil is up about 0.2% in electronic trading today, at $85.68 a barrel. Brent crude trades down 0.46% at $108.94 a barrel. Natural gas is down 2.8% today at about $3.70 per thousand cubic feet. Gold closed at $1,710.30 an ounce, up about 0.1% for the day.
There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) cut to ‘sell’ at CRT Capital; Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: MPC) maintained as ‘outperform’ and named ‘Bull of the Day’ at Zacks; Lithia Motors Inc. (NYSE: LAD) named ‘Value Stock of the Day’ at Zacks; Integrated Device Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: IDTI) maintained as ‘buy’ and target price cut to $6.50 at Canaccord Genuity; and Buckeye Partners L.P. (NYSE: BPL) cut to ‘neutral’ and named ‘Bear of the Day’ at Zacks.
There were several earnings reports today although, of course, there was no impact on share prices: Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN), Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM), Avis Budget Group Inc. (NYSE: CAR), Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP), Johnson Controls Inc. (NYSE: JCI), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) (more coverage here), JDS Uniphase Corp. (NASDAQ: JDSU), Seagate Technology plc (NASDAQ: STX), and Yandex NV (NASDAQ: YNDX).
Before markets open tomorrow we are scheduled to hear from Anheuser-Busch InBev SA (NYSE: BUD), ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT), Cameron International Corp. (NYSE: CAM), CNH Global NV (NYSE: CNH), Corinthian Colleges Inc. (NASDAQ: COCO), Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI), Eaton Corp. (NYSE: ETN), Hyatt Hotels Corp. (NYSE: H), MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA), Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX), The Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX), and Waste Management Inc. (NYSE: WM).
Major stories from today include:
BP plc (NYSE: BP) rose more than 4% in London trading today. The oil & gas giant increased its dividend today after reporting better-than-expected results. More coverage here.
Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) reported earnings that beat expectations, but revenues fell a bit short. More coverage here.
UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) officially announced a layoff of 10,000 workers today, primarily in its fixed income business. More coverage here.
Stay tuned for Wednesday. San Francisco Fed President John Williams is scheduled to give a speech in New York tomorrow. We have noted the following event on the schedule (all times Eastern):
Paul Ausick
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