Dow Takes a Drubbing — Tuesday’s IP Market Recap

by Kyle Woodley | April 10, 2012 4:36 pm

[1]The broader markets fell for a fifth straight trading day — their worst slump of 2012 — amid rising yields on Spanish and Italian bonds and turbulence in European markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 213 points, or about 1.6%, and the S&P 500 dropped 23 points, or 1.7%. Over the past five trading days, the DJIA and S&P have seen respective 4.1% and 3.5% declines. Still, despite the broader bad news, a few company high points were hit Tuesday before things went south — and after.

Alcoa dropped 3% Tuesday in anticipation of its afternoon earnings report, then rebounded almost almost 5% in early after-market trading on good news. The company reported first-quarter earnings of 9 cents per share, down frrom 27 cents in the year-ago period. However, revenues of $6.01 billion topped expectations and were up from last year’s $5.96 billion, and adjusted earnings of 10 cents per share beat analyst expectations for a 4-cent loss.

Alcoa also confirmed aluminum demand growth forecasts of 7% for the year and actually boosted its expectations for the global aerospace market.

Also Tuesday, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL[2]) briefly traded around an all-time high of $643 per share, getting its market capitalization clear of the $600 billion point — only the second time a U.S. company has done so. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT[3]) was the first, hitting an all-time high $618.9 billion market cap Dec. 30, 1999, while trading for $119.94 per share. Unfortunately, AAPL shares followed the rest of the market down, declining 1.2% to finish the day at $628.44.

Meanwhile, less-hyped but still-celebrated (at least among shareholders) Priceline (NASDAQ:PCLN[4]) hit an all-time intraday high of around $775 before retreating to a 3.1% loss at $741.26. The Internet travel reservation site has been on an absolutely torrid run, up almost 60% year-to-date and more than 700% in the past three years.

Retailer Best Buy (NYSE:BBY[5]) plunged almost 6% on news that CEO Brian Dunn had abruptly resigned[6] — another blow to the struggling big-box store.

Investors also got news about the Facebook IPO, albeit a little fuzzy. Reports say Facebook is eyeing two potential dates in May[7] for its initial public offering.

Three Up

• SuperValu (NYSE:SVU[8]): Up 15.2% (81 cents) to $6.13.
• Renren (NYSE:RENN[9]): Up 4.5% (25 cents) to $5.79.
• First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR[10]): Up 5.9% ($1.19) to $21.38.

Three Down

• Sony (NYSE:SNE[11]): Down 9.3% ($1.86) to $18.24.
• Michael Kors (NYSE:KORS[12]): Down 7.8% ($3.63) to $43.17.
• Dryships (NASDAQ:DRYS[13]): Down 7.9% (25 cents) to $2.91.

Kyle Woodley[14] is the assistant editor of InvestorPlace.com[15]. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Check out recaps from previous trading days here[16].

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/04/dow-takes-drubbing-tuesdays-ip-market-recap/

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