Bears Take Hold of S&P 500

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The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell about 30 points, a drop of more than 2.4%, to around 1,145 in early Tuesday buying and selling. The S&P 500 is down about 6% for the past five days and 9% for the year. September historically is one of the worst months for markets, and this trend is continuing in the month’s first three days. Gold is up and oil is down, manifesting the lack of investor confidence in central governments around the world and hopes for global economic growth. Declining stocks outnumbered those advancing by more than 8-to-1 in the morning session.

Opening the morning in reverse was Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG), down more than $2.50 per share, or 6%, to under $33.40. Harley-Davidson was removed from the short-term “buy” list of UBS AG. Other recent articles have detailed how demographics do not favor HOG shares for the future. Harley-Davidson is up more than 2% for the past five days and more than 30% for the year. HOG now has a short float of 4.14%.

Jabil Circuit (NYSE:JBL) was off more than 8%, dropping about $1.30 per share to around $15. A recent negative article predicted a “slowdown” in business for Jabil. The tech stock is up about 6% for the week and more than 40% for the year.

Also down more than 6%, or 30 cents, to about $4 per share was PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM). Goldman Sachs removed PulteGroup from its “conviction buy” list this morning because of weak job growth and its impact on housing. Since Goldman put PHM on the conviction list six months ago, the stock has fallen more than 40%. Interestingly, Goldman still has a “buy” rating for PulteGroup, claiming it is in the early stages of a turnaround. Apparently, it is the very early stages of a turnaround — PHM is down more than 20% for the month with a short float of 10.36%.

Up around 2% was International Paper (NYSE:IP), gaining about 50 cents per share to over $26. International Paper is buying competitor Temple-Inland for $3.7 billion, which greatly pleased Wall Street on a bearish morning. International Paper is up more than 17% for the year.

Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) was up more than 1%, about 80 cents, to over $65.30 per share. Gold is up this morning, and stocks in the industry are rising. Reports say China is buying gold to challenge the U.S. dollar as a reserve holding. Newmont is up almost 20% for the month.

DeVry, Inc. (NYSE:DV) gained about 1%, or about 40 cents, to trade over $41.50. DeVry was upgraded to a “buy” by Deutsche Bank, raising its price target to $53. The summer semester has not been kind to DeVry, which is down more than 30% for the quarter. DeVry was battered in early August when it reported that enrollment had dropped by more than 25%. There is a short float of 3.87% for DeVry.

Jonathan Yates does not own any of the stocks mentioned in this article.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2011/09/sp-500-harley-jabil-circuit-phm-ip-nem-dv/.

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