S&P 500 Breaks Above 1700: Thursday’s IP Market Recap

by Marc Bastow | August 1, 2013 4:51 pm

[1]Thursday kicked off with a boom as the S&P 500 reached a new milestone early in the day, breaking through the 1700 level after the Labor Department reported first-time claims for unemployment benefits[2] sank to a 5-year low, adding to Wednesday’s positive jobs and GDP reports.

Additional good news came in the form of increased car sales[3] in July — although the results were below estimates — and all three indices finished ahead broadly by day’s end.

The Nasdaq finished with the biggest gain Thursday, roaring ahead 1.36% to 3675.74 on the strength of a rally in technology stocks. The S&P 500 maintained its early momentum and finished up 1.25% to 1706.87, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.83% to 15628.02.

Leading the way on the Nasdaq was Yelp (YELP[4]), which soared more than 23% after announcing it had cut its losses for the second quarter, and Northland upgraded its shares from “market perform” to “outperform.”

SanDisk (SNDK[5]), which initiated a dividend[6] of 22.5 cents per share and announced a buyback program, roared ahead just under 6% on the day. Facebook (FB[7]) shares rose over 2%, but once again failed to close above its $38 IPO price.

Meanwhile, Google (GOOG[8]) moved ahead 2%, and heavily weighted Apple (AAPL[9]) — boosted by an analyst upgrade from Jefferies — rose nearly 1%.

Bank stocks also managed a nice rally, with Bank of America (BAC[10]) and Goldman Sachs (GS[11]) up more than 2% and Wells Fargo (WFC[12]) and Citigroup (C[13]) up over 1%.

On the earnings front, Exxon Mobil (XOM[14]) was the biggest loser on the Dow with a 1% loss after announcing Q2 earnings of $1.55 per share, well below analyst estimates of $1.89. Top-line results were no better, as revenues declined 16.4% year-over-year to $106.5 billion, although that bested estimates. Sectormate Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A[15], RDS.B[16]) also saw shares fall on disappointing results, with adjusted earnings coming in at $1.46 per share compared to estimates of $1.88 per share and revenue down nearly 4%. Shares lost nearly 6% on the news.

However, ConocoPhillips (COP[17]) managed to move ahead nearly 2% after posting an earnings beat for the second quarter.

Procter & Gamble (PG[18]) moved ahead over 1% despite second-quarter earnings coming in 48% below last year, at 64 cents per share, down from $1.28 per share. P&G took large expense hits for restructuring charges, and a 2.2% rise in revenues to $20.66 billion helped keep the stock in positive territory for the day.

Finally, shares of JCPenney (JCP[19]) managed to rally more than 2% early before ending fractionally lower after conflicting reports emerged about CIT Group (CIT[20]) cutting off funding for some of JCP’s suppliers. The reports first surfaced in The New York Post, but they were quickly denied[21] by JCP.

Earnings notables for Friday include Chevron (CVX[22]) and Viacom (VIAB[23]).

Three Up

• Renren (RENN[24]): Up 19.5% (65 cents) to $3.98.
• Zillow (Z[25]): Up 14.8% ($19.95) to $84.83.
• Ruckus Wireless (RKUS[26]): Up 10.4% ($1.39) to $14.70.

Three Down

• Sally Beauty (SBH[27]): Down 12.1% ($3.68) to $26.83.
• Sunpower (SPWR[28]): Down 13.6% ($3.75) to $23.90.
• World Fuel Services (INT[29]): Down 6.3% ($2.43) to $35.91.

Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing he is long AAPL and XOM.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/08/sp-500-breaches-1700-thursdays-ip-market-recap/

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