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Doherty at the Close 7.27.2012

In corporate news, Merck (MRK) gained 4.07% after the pharamaceutical company reported better than expected second quarter earnings and revenue. Starbucks slid -9.42% after the coffee chain’s fiscal third-quarter earnings missed forecasts, and it issued outlooks for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2013 that were below current projections.

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Halftime Report 7.27.2012

S&P 500 futures gained 15.75 points to 1370.50 this morning and has been trading near the highs all morning. NASDAQ futures rallied 42 points to 2614.50 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 108 points to 12933.00.

Crude and gold futures took it relatively easy compared to the beginning of the week with gold only up $2.70 to $1617.80 and WTI crude futures up 53 cents to $89.92.

Facebook Inc. (FB) had a terrible start this morning, falling as low as $22.28 and currently trading at $24.26. FB closed at $26.84 last night before posting weak earnings. I wonder if shares would be trading differently if their IPO underwriters properly priced their IPO?

Coffee giants across the nation also posted weak results this morning and lost ground as Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) lost over 11% and Caribou Coffee Co. (CBOU) down over 5%. SBUX posted in increase in earnings, but slowing growth and weak guidance.

Expedia Inc. (EXPE) gained over 25% as hotel revenue  led the travel discount company’s revenue for the previous quarter.

Arch Coal Inc. (ACI) had an 11% gain this morning after better than expected revenue results. I like to see coal stocks rebound after last month’s bloodbath for the industry.

The Chicago based, and soon-to-be London based reinsurance company Aon PLC (AON) rose 5% after releasing weak earnings, yet strong revenues.

Netgear Inc. (NTGR) fell 7.4% after posting weak earnings and poor guidance based on the weakening global economy.

David Cornes holds a degree in economics from the University of Montana.

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Chris Cruises the Globe 7.27.2012

The AIA group, Asia’s third largest insurer, slipped .2% today, however posted a larger than expected increase in value of new business in the first half of the year. The Banking sector rose today after Shanghai Securities News announced Chinese banks have until 2018 to meet new capital-adequacy rules. Industry and Commercial Bank of China rose 2.7% and Bank of China 2.1%.

Europe is having a choppy trading day, however the FTSEurofirst has managed a .1% gain on yesterday’s comments by European Central Bank Leader Mario Draghi. The day has been held back by a Spanish report showing unemployment staggeringly high at 24.6% in Q2, the highest on record. The Euro is up again today at 1.2309.

The SEC and department of justice are considering investigating retailers for breaches of anti-foreign bribery laws after allegations came in from Mexico against Wal-Mart.

Commodities are beginning mixed again today with crude and silver up as natural gas and silver are slacking at the moment.

Contributer Chris Rygh is currently pursuing his MBA in Wisconsin and has a passion for the Market.
Comments can be directed to ryghcw19@uww.edu

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Movers and Shakers – FB – 7.27.2012

Facebook posted an increase in Q2 revenue of 32% to $1.18 billion, beating analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion, however posted a quarterly net loss of $157 million and a net profit of 12 cents a share. Advertising revenue beat estimates by $1 million, coming in at $922 million. Investors and analysts are skeptical of the social media giant’s business model in that they do not have effective ways of monetizing their average of 552 active daily users.  In my opinion, facebook is valuable and the collapse in stock price in such a short amount of time must have been to poor price projection by their underwriters.

David Cornes holds a degree in economics from the University of Montana.

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Morning Rage 7.27.2012

As for the announcements today, GDP will be reported at 8:30am EST and Consumer
Sentiment will be reported at 9:55am EST. The last estimate of GDP was 1.2% and
the market does not expect to see much more than that today.

In better news the S&P 500 will open on an increase of 1.65%. 10-year treasuries
and oil join the upward trend at 2.08% and 0.60% respectively while the dollar is
down 0.20%.

Merck reported earnings today of 58 cents a share, beating Wall Street’s
expectations but down from 65 cents last year. The drug company’s net income
fell 1.4% due to restructuring and acquisition costs but despite the high expenses,
Merck’s sales did rise this quarter.

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