*from www.bloomberg.com, April 30, 2013 (To view original article click here.)
Take Away #1: U.S. stocks were little changed, with the S&P 500 Index trading near a record high, as an unexpected drop in business activity offset a rise in consumer confidence and investors weighed earnings reports.
Key Facts and Figures:
- The S&P 500 added less than 0.1% to 1,593.69 as of 12:41 p.m. in New York.
- The gauge has climbed 1.6% in April for a sixth straight monthly advance, the longest streak since Sept. 2009.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 19.61 points, or 0.1%, to 14,799.14 today.
- Trading in the S&P 500 stocks was 4.9% higher than the 30-day average at this time of day.
- “People have seen what the market has been doing and so they just continue to tiptoe into equities,” Jason Cooper of 1st Source Investment Advisors, said.
- “In that same regard, a lot of people are ready to say ‘hey, this thing can’t go any further. Go slow about it.’ They’re willing to pull out if things get bad.”
Take Away #2: Business activity in the U.S. unexpectedly shrank in April for the first time in more than three years.
Key Facts and Figures:
- The MNI Chicago Report’s business barometer fell to 49, the lowest since September 2009, from 54.4 last month.
- A reading of less than 50 signals contraction.
Take Away #3: Confidence among U.S. consumers climbed more than forecast in April to a five-month high.
Key Facts and Figures:
- Americans’ outlook for the economy and their incomes improved, according to a gauge from the Conference Board.
- The S&P/Case-Schiller index of property values in 20 cities showed residential real-estate prices increased in February.
- The index increased by the most since May 2006, a sign that the U.S. housing market is strengthening.
Take Away #4: The Fed may consider maintaining its bond-buying program at a two-day meeting starting today, after a report last week showed the economy grew less than forecast in the first quarter.
Key Facts and Figures:
- The bull market in U.S. equities entered its fifth year last month.
- The S&P 500 has surged 135% from a 12-year low in 2009, driven by better-than-estimated corporate earnings and three rounds of bond purchases by the Federal Reserve.
- The central bank will probably continue its “aggressive” easing program this year, Former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh said yesterday.
- The European Central Bank will cut its benchmark interest rate to a record low of 0.5% on May 2.
Take Away #5: “Earnings season has been OK, but it’s not like it’s growing strongly,” Brad Thompson, director of research at Frost Investment Advisors LLC said.
Key Facts and Figures:
- Invesco Ltd. (IVZ), Franklin Resources Inc. and 36 other S&P 500 companies report quarterly earnings today.
- Of the 306 that have reported so far, 73% exceeded analysts’ predictions, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
- Profit at S&P 500 companies rose 1.1% in the first three months of the year, according to analysts’ projections compiled by Bloomberg.
- Companies whose earnings are least tied to economic swings led this year’s rally.
- Gauges of health-care, utility, and consumer staples providers in the S&P 500 jumped at least 17%.
- Commodity and technology shares performed worst, rising no more than 7.8%.
Take Away #6: The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, of VIX, added 1.5% to 13.92 today.
Key Facts and Figures:
- The gauge for options reached a six-year low in March.
- The VIX is still down 23% this year amid reduced demand for protection against losses in the S&P 500.
Take Away #7: Apple climbed 2.2% to $439.45.
Key Facts and Figures:
- Apple intends to issue debt that includes floating-rate notes maturing in 2016 and 2018 and fixed-rate securities due in 2016, 2018, 2023, and 2043.
- Proceeds may help the company avoid so-called repatriation taxes on its $102.3 billion of funds held overseas as it returns an additional $55 billion to shareholders through 2015.
- Apple has fallen 37% from its record $70.2.10 closing price in September.
Take Away #8: Avon (AVP), Best Buy, and Invesco advance.
Key Facts and Figures:
- Avon climbed 3.4% to $22.99.
- The door-to-door cosmetics seller reported first-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates as CEO Sheri McCoy’s cost-reduction plan starts to produce results.
- Best Buy Co. jumped 10% to $26.63, the highest in more than a year.
- The world’s largest consumer electronics retailer said it will exit Europe by selling its 50% stake in a mobile-phone venture to partner Carphone Warehouse Group Plc for 500 million pounds ($775 million).
- Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly, who took charge in September, is evaluating the retailer’s foreign units to free up cash and resources in his effort to revive U.S. stores.
- U.S. stores have been hurt by competition from Amazon.com Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
- Invesco Ltd. advanced 5.9% to $31.45.
- The owner of Invesco, Van Kampen, and PowerShares funds said first-quarter profit rose 15% as record client deposits lifted assets.
Take Away #9: Pfizer, Newmont Mining, U.S. Steel Corp., Pitney Bowes, and Cummins Inc. fall.
Key Facts and Figures:
- Pfizer (PFE) retreated 3.4% to $29.39.
- Pfizer posted first-quarter earnings excluding some items of 54 cents a share, missing the 55-cent average projection of analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
- Full-year earnings excluding one-time items may be $2.14 to $2.24 a share, Pfizer said.
- The company gave a previous 2013 forecast of $2.20 to $2.30 in January.
- Newmont Mining declined 7.2% to $31.54 after saying late yesterday that first-quarter net income fell as gold prices declined and costs were higher than expected.
- Earnings excluding one-time items were 71 cents a share, trailing the 76 cent-average analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
- U.S. Steel Corp. fell 1.4% to $17.30.
- The largest U.S. steelmaker by output reported a first-quarter loss that missed analysts’ estimates after a drop in prices of the metal.
- Pitney Bowes Inc. (PBI) tumbled 17%, the most since October 2000, to $13.42.
- The maker of postal meters slashed dividends by half as first-quarter earnings trailed analyst forecasts.
- Cummins Inc. dropped 5.4% to $107.12.
- The maker of diesel engines reported first-quarter earnings excluding some items of $1.44 a share, trailing the average analyst estimate of $1.86.
*To view original article from www.bloomberg.com click here.