S&P Hits Five-Year High — Thursday’s IP Market Recap

by Marc Bastow | January 10, 2013 5:03 pm

[1]The S&P 500 was powered to a five-year high on Thursday thanks to optimistic earnings momentum, a number of positive corporate headlines and encouraging data on the Chinese exports front.

When it was all said and done, the S&P surged ahead 0.76% to finish at 1,472.12. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.57% at 13,466.80 — led by bank stocks Bank of America (NYSE:BAC[2], +3.1%) and JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM[3], +1.5%), among others — and the Nasdaq pushed ahead 0.51% to 3,121.76.

Finnish tech firm Nokia (NYSE:NOK[4]) rallied up more than 18% after the company announced it had sold more than 6.6 million smartphones — powered by 4.4 million Lumia units[5] — to mark its first increase in smartphone sales in a year.

Ford (NYSE:F[6]) announced it was doubling its dividend[7], and investors were immediately rewarded with a 2% jump in share price as the automaker said it expects to continue future increases based on record profit margins and improving cash. The new dividend represents a 2.9% yield on Thursday’s closing price.

Supervalu (NYSE:SVU[8]) continued a monthslong rebound after announcing it had reached a deal to sell five of its biggest grocery chains — Albertson’s, Acme, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s and Star Market — for $100 million in cash and more than $3 billion in debt to private-equity fund Cerberus. SVU finished up 14%.

Luxury retailer Tiffany (NYSE:TIF[9]) lost more than 4% after reporting that holiday season sales improved just 4% worldwide — near the low end of expectations — and warned about 2013 earnings growth because of economic uncertainty in its major markets. Moving in sympathy, upscale retailer Michael Kors (NYSE:KORS[10]) dropped 2% while luxury accessory company Coach (NYSE:COH[11]) fell just less than 1%.

The battle for the soul of Herbalife (NYSE:HLF[12]) also continued Thursday. HLF shares fell 2% while hedge-fund managers jockeyed for control[13] of the slumping nutritional products maker. In a presentation, Herbalife laid out its case as a legitimate enterprise — and not the pyramid scheme claimed by Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman.

Finally, Best Buy (NYSE:BBY[14]) investors found their shares worth over 5% more by the end of the trading day after the company said its online sales were gaining ground[15] on Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN[16]) in some regions, crediting recently instituted sales taxes on Amazon for the improvement.

Three Up

• Isis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ISIS[17]): Up 10.3% ($1.23) to $13.22.
• Yelp (NYSE:YELP[18]): Up 6.9% ($1.43) to $22.19.
• Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN[19]): Up 4.6% ($1.89) to $42.64.

Three Down

• Molycorp (NYSE:MCP[20]): Down 22.7% ($2.45) to $8.35.
• Dendreon (NASDAQ:DNDN[21]): Down 6.3% (34 cents) to $5.10.
• Ruby Tuesday (NYSE:RT[22]): Down 5.8% (48cents) to $7.83.

Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing he does not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/01/thursdays-ip-market-recap-bac-jpm-f-nok-svu/

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