Dow Stages Broad Rally — Tuesday’s IP Market Recap

by Kyle Woodley | March 13, 2012 4:38 pm

[1]United Technologies (NYSE:UTX[2]) rode the M&A train to decent gains, and financials boomed to spark the Dow Jones Industrial Average on a Tuesday that saw all the major indices cruise.

UTX announced its shareholders approved a $16.4 billion purchase of North Carolina-based aerospace supplier Goodrich (NYSE:GR[3]). The deal, which was announced in September, valued GR at $127.50 per share, at the time a nearly 50% premium. While GR (at $ per share) barely budged on Tuesday’s news, United Technologies finished the day up almost 3% at $86.58.

That and a host of other stocks — primarily financials — helped lift the Dow 218 points to 13,177, its highest point since May 2008. JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM[4]) was up 7%, while Bank of America (NYSE:BAC[5]), Citigroup (NYSE:C[6]) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC[7]) all gained around 6% in anticipation of Federal banking stress tests, which now will be released later Tuesday, rather than on Thursday as originally planned.

JPMorgan said on Tuesday afternoon that it will raise its quarterly dividend by a nickel to 30 cents and repurchase up to $12 billion of its shares this year.

The S&P 500 also leaped, finishing just shy of 1,400, at a four-year high of 1,395, and the Nasdaq cleared the 3,000 mark, finishing at 3,039. Investors also were spurred by a positive retail sales report, as well as a decent economic outlook by the Federal Open Market Committee[8].

Fashion retailer Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN[9]) was bucking the trend Tuesday, down more than 5% on a disappointing earnings report. The company’s 27 cents per share earnings fell below estimates for 27 cents and were 40% lower than the year-ago period, though revenues of $730.6 million beat the Street and were up 9% from last year. Net margins also were down from the year before.

Three Up

• Midas (NYSE:MDS[10]): Up 27.4% ($2.46) to $11.45.
• GNC Holdings (NYSE:GNC[11]): Up 8.3% ($2.60) to $33.95.
• U.S. Steel (NYSE:X[12]): Up 7.3% ($1.92) to $28.31.

Three Down

• Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB[13]): Down 9% (64 cents) to $6.51.
• Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ:CLNE[14]): Down 6% ($1.24) to $19.31.
• Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC[15]): Down 3.6% (39 cents) to $10.52.

Kyle Woodley[16] is the assistant editor of InvestorPlace.com[17]. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Check out recaps from previous trading days here[18].

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/03/dow-united-technologies-bank-stocks-urban-outfitters/

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