Well, the good news is, some big-name earnings reports looked pretty good Wednesday.
The bad news is, it just didn’t matter — at least not to the broader markets.
Whether they should or not, investors still seem to have the “fiscal cliff” on the brain, and uproar in Europe added another layer of concern. Greece was provided more time to get its fiscal house in order, but still does not have the emergency financing needed to stay solvent; plus, anti-austerity strikes were held across Europe as labor groups staged a “Day of Action and Solidarity.”
That all led to yet another down day for the markets; the Dow Jones tumbled 1.45% to 12,570.95, the S&P 500 lost 1.39% to finish at 1,355.49, and the Nasdaq tumbled 1.29% to 2,846.81. All three indices have now lost 4% in the past five trading days.
The losses were broad based, with Bank of America (NYSE:BAC, -3.5%), General Electric (NYSE:GE, -3.3%) and Home Depot (NYSE:HD, -3%) among the big losers on the day.
But, as mentioned before, it at least was a decent day for a few select companies.
Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) rocketed ahead more than 34% on blowout earnings and revenues for the third quarter. Meanwhile, lower-cost competitor Aeropostale (NYSE:ARO) gained more than 2% on news it was buying retailer GoJane.com.
Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) was up just under 5% on Wednesday after reporting profit and revenue above expectations Tuesday, making it the biggest (and only) gainer for the Dow.
Even beleaguered office supplier Staples (NASDAQ:SPLS) got into the act, rising nearly 3% after beating the Street on third-quarter earnings despite a shortfall on revenue.
Lastly, in the tech sector, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) climbed more than 12% despite more than 800 million FB shares becoming available following another “lockup” expiration Tuesday. And it wasn’t a timid move, either — 230 million shares changed hands by the close of Wednesday trading.
Three Up
- Greenbrier (NYSE:GBX): Up 6.2% ($1.03) to $17.76.
- Key Energy (NYSE:KEG): Up 4.4% (26 cents) to $6.11.
- Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN): Up 3.8% (10 cents) to $2.73.
Three Down
- Goodrich Petroleum (NYSE:GDP): Down 11.1% (99 cents) to $7.95.
- Sony (NYSE:SNE): Down 8.8% (95 cents) to $9.82.
- SandRidge Energy (NYSE:SD): Down 7.3% (41 cents) to $5.19.
Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
