The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up about 65 points, or just 0.6%, early Wednesday to over 11,241. Less-than-stellar manufacturing data from China and the United States yesterday has done nothing to dim the hopes of traders. Poor housing numbers have not halted the Dow from gaining every day this week, either. For the year, the Dow is down about 2.8%. Over the last five days of trading, the Dow has lost around 1.2% of its value.
Down more than 33% for the month, Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) was up more than 6% early, picking up more than 40 cents a share to top $6.70. Banking analyst Meredith Whitney said this morning that Bank of America does not have an immediate need for cash. Bargain hunters also are focusing on the empirical fact that Bank of American cannot go that much lower, as it is down 50% for the year already.
Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) was back over $84 a share, gaining more than $1, about 1.25%. The Big Cat announced aggressive expansion plans for China this morning. For the year, Caterpillar is up almost 30%, but it’s down more than 7% for the week and 21% for the month.
Nucor (NYSE:NUE) also was up more than $1 per share, or about 3.1%, to more than $33.60. Morgan Stanley lifted its rating on the steelmaker this morning. This has been a bad year for the steel sector, and Nucor is down more than 24% for the year and almost 20% for the month.
Despite news of tepid economic growth and a still-falling housing market, Home Depot (NYSE:HD) again was a leader, rising to over $33.55, picking up about 50 cents per share, or about 1.4%. It has been a good month for Home Depot as it reported strong earnings, benefited from disappointing numbers from Lowe’s and was upgraded by UBS and Barclays Capital.
Off about 0.5% was Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) to under $19.50, shedding about 15 cents per share. The entire tech sector was weak this morning after a strong Tuesday on an upgrade of Nvidia. Intel now has a dividend yield of more than 4%, twice the average for the market. Intel is up about 10% for the year but down around 14% for the month.
ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) was flat in early trading, hanging around $73.66 per share. Reports from Citigroup and Goldman Sachs forecast much lower oil prices in 2012. Basic supply and demand issues are bringing oil down even though QE3 would weaken the dollar, which raised price of oil during the period of QE2. ExxonMobil still is up almost 30% for the year, as the energy sector has been very strong.
Jonathan Yates does not own any of the stocks mentioned in this article.
