There's No Business Like FOX Business
In one of the lightest trading days of the year, Wall Street closed essentially unchanged on Tuesday as the markets failed to hold onto an early, M&A-fueled rally and the Dow was unable to close in positive territory for 2010.
Today’s Markets
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.19 points, or 0.02%, to 10405.98, the Standard & Poor's 500 gained 2.60 points, or 0.23%, to 1118.31 and the Nasdaq Composite picked up 7.22 points, or 0.32%, to 2280.79. The FOX 50 dropped 0.39 points, or 0.05%, to 804.80.
Wall Street appeared to be on track to build on Monday's robust gains but the rally faded late in the day amid low trading volume.
“Volume is exceptionally light. There’s not enough interest in the overall market for us to see a robust up tick in volume,” said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital Group. “We’re still in day two of March. It’s too early in the month to make a trend call.”
Earlier in the day the Dow had been up more than 50 points as the markets cheered higher commodity prices and a number of positive storylines out of Corporate America, including Dow Chemical’s (DOW) $1.63 billion deal to sell its Styron division and CF Industries’ (CF) decision to relaunch its $4.72 billion acquisition of Terra Industries (TRA). Those acquisitions come on the heels of at trio of deals announced Monday that helped send the markets solidly higher.
Despite the M&A chatter, the Dow ended below the 10428 level, meaning it failed to join the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite by closing in the green on the year. Most of the index's 30 components gained ground, led by Walt Disney (DIS) and Verizon (VZ). On the other hand, Microsoft (MSFT) and Bank of America (BAC) fell more than 1% a piece.
Commodity-related stocks like Chevron (CVX) provided Wall Street with the most strength on Tuesday as gold and crude oil rallied around a weaker greenback. Crude rose 98 cents a barrel, or 1.25%, to $79.68. Gold gained $19.10 a troy ounce, or 1.71%, to $1136.90.
The Nasdaq Composite managed stronger gains than the broader markets as tech stocks outperformed. Qualcomm (QCOM) announced plans late Monday to boost its quarterly dividend by 12% and buy back $3 billion of its own shares. At the same time, UBS upgraded both PC maker Dell (DELL) and flash memory card maker SanDisk (SNDK) amid its upgraded 2010 revenue forecast for global semiconductors.
Wall Street had little reaction to the latest signs that domestic auto makers continued their rebound in February.
Ford Motor (F) said its sales surged 43% last month and it sold more cars than General Motors for the first time in a decade. GM reported an 11.5% rise in February sales, while Chrysler said its sales were basically flat. February marked the first full month for U.S. auto makers to capitalize on Toyota’s (TM) sales and production halt, which was due to massive recalls. However, Toyota said its U.S. sales fell just 8.7% last month from a year ago even as it was slammed by a wave of negative publicity.
Wall Street has also begun to turn its attention to the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report, which is due out on Friday. The report, which often sets the tone for the month, is expected to show the U.S. lost 20,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate rose to 9.8%.
Corporate Movers
Dow Chemical(DOW) inked a $1.63 billion deal to unload its Styron division to private equity giant Bain Capital. The deal, which includes several long-term supply, service and purchase agreements, gives Dow the option to receive up to 15% of the equity of Styron, which makes polystyrene, rubber and latex.
Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) more than doubled its profits during the fourth quarter as the fast food chain’s new pizza recipe fueled stronger sales. Its non-GAAP profit of 30 cents and revenue of $462.9 million, up 8.1% from a year earlier, beat consensus estimates.
Staples (SPLS) beat the Street with a non-GAAP profit of 38 cents a share and 4% sales growth to $6.41 billion. However, the office supplies giant saw its stock tumble 10% as its full-year profit outlook of $1.23 to $1.33 was well shy of estimates.
Autozone (AZO) reported a 6.4% climb in profits to $2.46 a share, well ahead of the $2.34 expected by analysts. The auto parts supplier’s revenue rose 4% to $1.5 billion, narrowly topping estimates.
Global Markets
The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 1.45% to 5484.06, France's CAC 40 gained 1.12% to 3811.92 and Germany's DAX rose 1.10% to 5776.56.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 advanced 0.49% to 10221.84 but Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.72% to 20906.11 and China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.48% to 3073.11.
Price drop means low interest ratesShaky Data Fail to Deter Bulls
