It’s not easy being green:
- By now, you know how this works: oil up, stocks down — and vice-versa. On Tuesday, it was vice-versa. With oil slipping 0.4% (though still above $105 a barrel) amid reports of off-again-on-again progress in the Middle East Unrest universe, stocks rebounded. Airline stocks came up huge — their rally actually started late Monday when oil began to show signs of retreating. The emboldened risk helped small-caps, which outperformed the market, and took a little of the luster off the precious metals trade. Both gold and silver prices finished 0.4% lower. Bonds also slipped, driving the 10-year Treasury note up to 3.54%.
- After the closing bell, shares of Finisar (NASDAQ:FNSR) tanked, to the tune of about 35%, after the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report, which included a first-quarter profit forecast way below estimates, in part, the company said, due to an overall slowdown in China. That can’t be good for anyone, really. Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN) was off 1% following the chipmaker’s midquarter update. The company narrowed its EPS guidance, the midpoint of which was below analysts’ estimates.
- On Wednesday, another trickle of earnings reports, but nary a hard hitter in the bunch. Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) holds its 2011 analyst meeting, and the only economic data is a January report on wholesale inventories.
OUT THERE SOMEWHERE:
- Fleck not a fan of the Fed’s role in global food riots.
- Monsters lurking in Wall Street’s shadows.
- According to Gallup, the job market looks a little less sanguine.
- China bank crisis odds? About 60%, by 2013.
- What Wall St. could learn from — wait for it — Charlie Sheen.
- Worth wondering about: Do the Saudis have all that oil capacity?
- Commodity-related stocks can’t rise forever, right?
- Not much to argue about: Investors are not big fans of AOL’s (NYSE:AOL) moves.
- On the horizon: the 99-cent e-book?
- Herb Greenberg points out earnings guidance doesn’t really happen much.
- Global victims of higher oil prices: It’s all relative.
