MARKET UPDATE
Equities and just about everything else is taking a breather today after a wave of key earnings continues to be mixed. S&P Futures are down 6 points and DJIA futures are down about 50 points. European stocks are down, but only about -2% to -4% on average. Treasuries are mixed, but the 10-Year is yielding 3.46% and the 30-Year yield is 4.30%. Commodities are lower with NYMEX WTI Crude up almost $0.33 per barrel around $77.25 and gold is down by -0.2% around the $1047 level.
ECONOMIC & MACRO EVENTS
These are today’s top economic data:
9:15 AM EST Industrial Production & Capacity Utilization (September)
9:55 AM EST University of Michigan Sentiment (October, preliminary)
Earnings Today: Bank of America (BAC), General Electric (GE), Halliburton (HAL), Mattel (MAT), Prosperity Bancshares (PRSP), Sify (SIFY).
ANALYST UPGRADES & DOWNGRADES
Upgrades
Harley-Davidson (HOG) upgraded to Outperform at RBC.
Urban Outfitters (URBN) Started as Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
NutriSystem (NTRI) upgraded to Buy at Janney Montgomery
Downgrades
F5 Networks (FFIV) downgraded to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Scientific Games (SGMS) downgraded to Neutral at JP Morgan.
BULLISH EVENTS
Google (GOOG) traded up 2% after the king of internet search posted better than expected earnings and better than expected revenues. The web giant also ended the quarter with some $22 billion in cash.
General Electric (GE) posted $0.27 EPS vs $0.20 estimates, but this translates to a 44% drop in profits. The problem continues continues to be GE's finance unit. Shares are actually lower by a bit this morning. <
Procter & Gamble (PG) was given a positive article in Business Week's "Inside Wall Street"... The best defensive stock was said to "set to bubble up" and head higher.
Tiffany (TIF) was given a positive article in Business Week's "Inside Wall Street". the stock recently has hit a 52-week high of $41.75 on Oct. 14, up from about $16 on Mar. 6, as analysts saw fresh shine at the retailer of fine jewelry, even amid a weak economy.
Delta Air Lines (DAL) was given a positive article in Business Week's "Inside Wall Street" where it said it is beating the odds. "What sets Delta apart from rivals is not just its lean cost structure and aggressive cuts in overseas capacity but also the boost to its profit outlook from the October 2008 merger with Northwest Airlines."
BEARISH EVENTS<
IBM (IBM) is trading lower despite beating earnings expectations and raising guidance. Service revenues, its new lifeblood, were down 7%. Much of the efforts have also been on cost cutting measures.
Halliburton (HAL) is trading directionless after its earnings. The oil services giant posted $0.31 EPS vs. $0.26 estimates on Revenue of $3.59B vs. $3.42B estimates. The company noted that market dynamics remained difficult in North America, with more confidence in the international markets. Cost cutting is still a desire. <
Bank of America (BAC) missed earnings. The banking giant posted -$0.26 EPS vs. -$0.21 EPS estimates and Revenue of $26.04 billion vs. $27.61B estimates. BofA also added $2.1B billion to it credit loss reserves as credit costs remain high. BofA did note a leveling of delinquencies among its credit card customer base.
Apple (AAPL) is hit with a semi-bearish call from Oppenheimer. The brokerage firm noted that Apple could report in-line or even slightly disappointing revenues of $9 to $9.2 billion. The call is for investors to be p[atient and see if they can buy shares at a discount after earnings.
Mattel (MAT) posted $0.63 EPS as expected. Revenue fell about 8% to $1.79 billion, also effectively in line with estimates. The toy giant said revenues continue to be challenging and retailers are tightly managing inventories.
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