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ZT: Stocks Move Higher

本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Friday November 21, 2008 (12:39 PM EST)

Stocks did not rebound strongly from Thursday's market rout, but some investors did seek bargains as indexes traded at 1997 levels

U.S. stocks were higher Friday on short covering and bargain hunting after Thursday's plunge to an 11-year low. November options expire on Friday.

Congress was headed home for Thanksgiving, leaving U.S. automakers automakers still struggling for loans to keep going.

Shares of Citigroup (C) continued to plunge after chief executive Vikrum Pandit said he does not want to sell Citi's Smith Barney brokerage unit or break up the troubled bank. That news -- based on several news organizations' citing of sources on a morning Citi staff conference call -- contradicted an earlier report in the Wall Street Journal that executives were considering all options.

Bonds were lower. Gold futures and crude oil futures were higher.

European stock markets fell Friday, with major indexes in London, Frankfurt and Paris down 2% or more. Asian markets finished mixed, with Tokyo stocks rising 2.70% and Hong Kong gaining 2.93%, but Shanghai falling 0.72%.

On Friday at shortly after noon eastern time, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 41.57 points, or 0.55%, to 7,593.86. The broad S&P 500 index gained 3.83 points, or 0.51%, to 756.27. And the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 8.14 points, or 0.62%, to 1,324.26. Stocks were bouncing back a bit from a rout the day before, when stock indexes blasted below their lowest points of the 2002 tech bust, returning to prices not seen since the 1990s. On Thursday, the Dow plunged 444.99 points, or 5.28%, to 7,552.29. The S&P 500 lost 54.14 points, or 6.71%, to 752.44 -- its lowest level since April 1997. The Nasdaq fell 70.30 points, or 5.07%, to 1,316.12.

"No one has any confidence in the market with the economy headed into recession, and the financial crisis slowly unwinding. Day traders [have been] been pulling the trigger at the most unexpected times," says S&P MarketScope.

The most recent reports on Citi's reluctance to sell Smith Barney differed with a Wall Street Journal report earlier on Friday that executives at Citigroup, faced with a plunging stock price, were weighing the possibility of auctioning off pieces of the financial giant or even selling the company outright, according to people familiar with the matter. The internal discussions are at a preliminary stage, the Journal said, and don't signal that Citigroup's board and management are backing down from their insistence that the New York company has ample capital, funding and strategic direction, these people said. Citi's stock fell 26% on Thursday, its worst one-day percentage decline ever, and Citigroup officials have decided they need to reckon with a range of scenarios that were unthinkable only weeks ago.

Reuters reports St Louis Fed President James Bullard said Thursday night that deflation would be very damaging to the U.S. economy and with nominal interest rates already very low, quantitative easing may be needed to keep it at bay. "At least over the near term, any additional influence through interest rate reductions will be limited and the focus of monetary policy may turn to quantity measures," he told a regional economic conference. Some economists believe the Fed will cut rates to zero over the next three months, together with actions to boost the money supply, as the U.S. central bank takes aggressive steps to prevent the world's biggest economy from Japanese-style deflation and lost decade of growth.

Bullard stressed he saw deflation as a remote risk in the United States, but one that deserved to be taken seriously. "It would take some doing to get some deflation. But what I do think is the inflation expectations are very fluid right now, and that is one of the primary determinants of what is going to happen," he told reporters after the speech. "If we do our job it won't happen and we're dedicated to that," he said. Some economists expect negative annual inflation rates in 2009 and say the risk of a widespread deflation has increased as the United States, Japan and Europe are set to suffer simultaneous recession next year for the first time since World War II.

President Bush is expected to sign into law an extension of jobless benefits as early as Friday, reports the Associated Press. Earlier in the year, Bush expressed doubts about further benefit extensions, but he came to support the legislation as new figures showed new claims for jobless aid had reached a 16-year high. In what could be its last vote of the year, the Senate approved a measure Thursday that would provide up to three months of extra benefits for those whose unemployment benefits have run out or are about to expire. The House passed the bill in October.

There were no significant economic reports scheduled for release Friday.

In other U.S. markets Friday, the 10-year Treasury note was lower in price at 105-18/32 for a yield of 3.103%, while the 30-year Treasury bond was lower at 117-27/32 for a yield of 3.524%.

December West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures remained below the $50-per-barrel market, down 51 cents to 48.91 per barrel Friday.

December gold futures rose almost 6% to 793.30 per ounce.

Among Friday's stocks in the news, Dell Inc. (DELL) posted third-quarter EPS of 37 cents, vs. 34 cents one year earlier, as controlled costs and an improved product mix offset a 3% revenue decline. Dell said it will continue to focus on improving competitiveness, lowering costs, and improving its mix of products and services to optimize liquidity, profitability and growth.

H.J. Heinz (HNZ) posted second-quarter EPS of 87 cents, vs. 71 cents one year earlier, on a 5.8% organic sales rise. The company sees fiscal 2009 organic sales growth of at least 6%, and EPS of $2.87-$2.91.

Wal-Mart (WMT) unexpectedly announced a new chief executive, Mike Duke, replacing H. Lee Scott, who has led the world's largest retailer for almost nine years.

Salesforce.com (CRM) posted third-quarter EPS of 8 cents, vs. 5 cents one year earlier, on a 43% revenue rise. The company sees fourth-quarter revenue of about $284 million-$285 million, and EPS of 6 cents-7 cents, and fiscal 2010 revenue of $1.35 billion-$1.36 billion. The company expects to update this guidance, as well as provide its expectations for fiscal 2010 GAAP EPS, when it announces its fourth quarter anf fiscal 2009 results in February.

Autodesk (ADSK) posted third-quarter non-GAAP EPS of 56 cents, vs. 49 cents one year earlier, on a 13% revenue rise. GAAP EPS was 45 cents. The company sees fourth revenue of $525M-$550M, non-GAAP EPS of $0.28-$0.34. Autodesk sees fourth-quarter GAAP EPS of 13 cents-19 cents. Given the uncertainty of current markets, the company says it is not providing guidance for fiscal 2010 at this time.

New York Times Co. (NYT) announced that in October total company revenues from continuing operations decreased 9.4%. Advertising revenues decreased 16.2% and circulation revenues increased 3.9%.

Nike (NKE) raised its 23 cents quarterly dividend by 9% to 25 cents.

21-Nov-2008 12:39:23更多精彩文章及讨论,请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
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