Reply #49: 12:05 EST numbers and blather (oopsie!) [View All]

[UpInArms]

Dow 10,229.76 -12.71 (-0.12%)
Nasdaq 1,949.99 -0.79 (-0.04%)
S&P 500 1,161.81 -0.29 (-0.02%)
10-Yr Bond 4.283 +0.32 (+0.75%)

NYSE Volume 849,046,000
Nasdaq Volume 775,989,000

12:00PM: Market trades with a tinge of caution midday, as investors juggle strong earnings reports and upbeat news in technology with mixed economic data... While the majority of S&P companies (22 of 31) out with earnings this morning have again checked in with better than expected results, the trading range mentality continues to leave the indices vulnerable to some consolidation, especially in the wake of a rally like the one witnessed yesterday...

Lockheed Martin (LMT 59.91 +0.16) has beaten forecasts and raised FY05 guidance, while notable names like COH, CFC, FPL, MHP, SLB, SO and X have also reported better than expected earnings... But Dow component DuPont (DD 48.20 -0.38) has missed analysts' Q1 forecasts and merely reaffirmed its FY05 outlook, while ROK, SLE, EQR, LXK and UST have also missed expectations... Meanwhile, new home sales for March surged 12.2% to a new record of 1.43 mln (consensus 1.19 mln), while April consumer confidence basically matched economists' forecasts with a reading of 97.7 (consensus 98.0)...

But even though the new home sales number reflects ongoing economic strength, the confidence data - which fell for the third consecutive month - is driving concerns about a potential economic slowdown... Technology has paced the way higher, as strength in Semiconductor (+1.1%) offsets weakness in Hardware (-1.7%)... Chip stocks have benefited from an upgrade on Altera (ALTR 21.07 +1.82) following a solid Q1 report while a disappointing quarter from Lexmark (LXK) has weighed on the latter... International Business Machines (IBM) announcing a $5 bln share buyback and boosting its dividend by 11% has also improved sentiment...

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