Stock Reports Friday

[jjgold]

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were set for a slightly weaker open on Friday as nervous investors await updates on consumer confidence and GDP (news - web sites) data as faith in the recovery story wavers but some eye bargains after two days of sharp losses.

Shares closed at their lowest levels for almost month on Thursday following a mixed batch of reports which showed the housing sector was powering ahead amid signs of improvement in the job market but sales of durable goods surprisingly fell.


"You do have ongoing concerns about the economic recovery, there's no doubt about that, and those durable goods numbers didn't help," said Commerzbank economist Peter Dixon.


By 6 a.m. EDT, U.S. stock futures were pointing to falls of 0.1 to 0.3 percent for the major indexes.


Investors will be hoping final GDP figures at 8:30 a.m. EDT and the University of Michigan's sentiment index around 9:45 a.m. EDT will provide a clearer picture of the state of the world's largest economy.


Stocks have enjoyed a renewed upleg since June as investors piled into higher risk equities in expectation of an improvement in the economy and profits but this week's decline has knocked as much as five percent off key indexes.


"You could argue that this is simply a pause after three strong months, but you could also argue that the strength over the summer months was the post-Iraq (news - web sites) surge and we could be set for a pull-back," Dixon said.


With the earnings season looming next month, investors were wary of corporates failing to meet rising expectations.


"All the good news was priced into the market and it was always going to be vulnerable to some bad news. Just recently, we had some of that bad news," Dixon said, highlighting the decision by Eastman Kodak (NYSE:EK - news) to cut its dividend and a spike in oil prices as major culprits.


HUMAN GENOME (news - web sites) TO SLIDE


Bad news could also hit the shares of Human Genome Sciences Inc (Nasdaq:HGSI - news) after the company reported an unsuccessful trial of its experimental anti-inflammatory drug. The stock tumbled almost 10 percent in after-hours trade on Thursday.


Research In Motion (Nasdaq:RIMM - news), maker of the BlackBerry e-mail device, was expected to open firmer after it results on Thursday pleased investors. The stock was up nearly three percent at $35.72 in after-hours trade.


Business software maker Manugistics Group Inc. (Nasdaq:MANU - news) was around eight percent firmer in after-hours trade on Thursday after it posted a narrower quarterly loss and said its sees business improving for the rest of the year.


Mobile handset maker Motorola (NYSE:MOT - news) may be in focus after the Wall Street Journal reported the company may miss the chance to sell some of its first camera phones in the United States during the key holiday season because of delivery delays.


Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC - news) could also attract interest after Moody's Investor Services upgraded the bank's long-term credit rating to "Aa1" from "Aa2," as could aluminum giant Alcoa (NYSE:AA - news), which is studying the feasibility of setting up a $1.5 billion smelter in Brunei.

 

[jjgold]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT - news) fell in pre-open trade on Friday after the Wall Street Journal said the company may miss the opportunity to sell some of its first camera phones in the United States during the key holiday season because of delivery delays.
Shares of Motorola fell to $12.28 on the Instinet electronic brokerage system from their New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites) close of $12.53 on Thursday.


Also on Friday, JP Morgan said it upgraded Motorola to "overweight" from "neutral."


Shares of Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC - news) rose slightly in pre-open trade after JP Morgan said it upgraded Intel, the world's biggest chipmaker, to "neutral" from "underweight."


Intel rose to $27.46 on Instinet from its close of $27.45 on Nasdaq on Thursday.

 

[jjgold]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks sank to their lowest levels in about a month on Friday as investors braced for the corporate earnings season to gear up in October and a mixed bag of economic data tempered optimism about the strength of the economic recovery.


The market has made substantial gains over the past six months. But with evidence of an economic rebound still spotty, investors scrambled to lock in profits amid worries stock prices may have risen too far, too fast.


Those jitters knocked the market back sharply this week, with technology shares leading the retreat. The tech-packed Nasdaq Composite Index (Nasdaq:IXIC - news) posted a hefty loss of nearly 6 percent, its biggest weekly loss since April 2002.


"Everyone's in a wait-and-see mode on third-quarter earnings," said Stephen Massocca, head of trading and president of Pacific Growth Equities. "There's a perception that stocks are overvalued, and that's holding the market back."


Early Friday morning, the Commerce Department (news - web sites) said that brisk consumer spending helped the U.S. economy grow at a slightly faster-than-expected pace, setting the stage for a second-half surge in growth. Gross domestic product grew at a revised 3.3 percent annual rate from April through June -- up from a 3.1 percent rate estimated a month ago.


A separate survey from the University of Michigan, however, showed consumers were in a surprisingly somber mood in September, hurt by persistent weakness in the job market, high gasoline prices and the U.S. occupation in Iraq (news - web sites).


The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI - news) fell 30.88 points, or 0.33 percent, to 9,313.08, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index (^SPX - news) dropped 6.42 points, or 0.64 percent, to 996.85. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index (^IXIC - news) dropped 25.17 points, or 1.39 percent, to 1,792.07, based on the latest available figures.


Trading was active with 1.4 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites) and 1.8 billion traded on Nasdaq.


For the week, the S&P 500 fell 3.8 percent, its biggest drop since January 2003, and the Dow dropped 3.4 percent, its biggest decline since March 2003.


Some money managers are eager to lock in gains from the market's rally over the past six months as the quarter draws to a close, traders said. So far this year, the blue-chip Dow is up 12 percent, the S&P 500 is up 13 percent and the Nasdaq Composite is up 34 percent.


Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT - news) topped the New York Stock Exchange's most actively traded list. Its shares ended unchanged at $12.53 after the world's No. 2 cellphone maker said it is positioned for the crucial holiday season and reiterated its forecast for that business.


Two large customers had said earlier Friday that delays by Motorola would mean the company's digital camera phones would not be available during the holiday season.


Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE:EK - news), which on Thursday slashed its dividend for the first time ever, sank to a fresh record low at $20.40 and weighed on the blue-chip Dow average. Kodak's stock ended down 75 cents, or 3 percent, at $21.40.


On the Nasdaq, Human Genome (news - web sites) Sciences Inc. (Nasdaq:HGSI - news) fell, a day after the drug development company said its experimental anti-inflammatory drug failed a mid-stage trial in adults with chronic skin ulcers. The company said it will not develop the drug for that use. Human Genome shares fell 89 cents, or 6 percent, to $13.17.


Shares of 3M Co. (NYSE:MMM - news) rose and ranked among the Dow's top percentage gainers after Banc of America Securities upgraded its rating on the conglomerate to "buy" from "neutral." Shares of 3M, which makes products ranging from sandpaper to Post-it notes to fiber-optic connectors, gained $1.84 or 1.3 percent to $143.45.

 

[corey]

Anything over P/E 13:1 is over-valued IMO.