Dow Delivers Despite Iffy Earnings — Tuesday’s Market Recap

by Marc Bastow | January 22, 2013 4:53 pm

[1]U.S. stocks edged lower to start out a short week following a weaker-than-expected report[2] by the National Association of Realtors on the housing market and mixed earnings results, but the markets managed a slow-but-steady rally that carried through to broad gains by the end of the day.

The net result showed the Dow Jones Industrial Average surging ahead 0.46% to 13,712.13, with the S&P 500 right behind with a gain of 0.44% to 1,492.51. The Nasdaq closed up 0.27% to 3,143.18.

After the bell, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG[3]) made an earnings splash by posting quarterly profits of $10.65, up 12% year-over-year and better than estimates of $10.52. The figure came on revenues that grew 36% to $14.42 billion, also trumping estimates. GOOG shares were up about 4% in early after-market trading.

Earnings news dominated headlines, starting early when Verizon (NYSE:VZ[4]) reported a wider quarterly loss[5] blamed in part on Superstorm Sandy and subsidies for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL[6]) iPhone sales. Still, VZ managed to finish ahead by just less than 1%.

Also heading north was insurance giant Travelers (NYSE:TRV[7]), which gained 2% after the company’s fourth-quarter profit beat estimates, and DuPont (NYSE:DD[8]), which also improved around 2% on better-than-expected earnings and an upbeat outlook.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ[9]) slid less than 1% after the company’s earnings forecast fell short of the mark, though earnings and sales came roughly in line with analysts’ expectations.

Computer maker Dell (NASDAQ:DELL[10]) continued its run by another 2% after CNBC reported that Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT[11]) was in talks with Silver Lake Partners and CEO Michael Dell to invest between $1 billion to $3 billion in the much-discussed buyout.

Online daily-deals provider Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN[12]) saw its shares tumble just more than 2% after announcing it will no longer post gun-based sales[13] and won’t accept deals related to shooting ranges or concealed weapons classes.

Earnings release notables for Wednesday include Abbott Labs (NYSE:ABT[14]), McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD[15]) and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX[16]).

Three Up

• Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM[17]): Up 13% ($2.06) to $17.90.
• Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX[18]): Up 7.1% ($2.51) to $37.89.
• Nii Holdings (NASDAQ:NIHD[19]): Up 6.9% (45 cents) t0 $7.

Three Down

• Arena Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARNA[20]): Down 9.7% (95 cents) to $8.82.
• Chico’s (NYSE:CHS[21]): Down 3.9% (72 cents) to $17.77.
• Office Depot (NYSE:ODP[22]): Down 3.7% (17 cents) to $4.48.

Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he was long TRV, JNJ, MSFT and AAPL.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/01/tuesdays-market-recap-vz-aapl-trv-dd-jnj-grpn/

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