After tearing through four straight weeks of gains that have U.S. stock indices nearing new heights, and despite upbeat news on durable goods orders, investors took a bit of a breather Monday.
The S&P 500 fell off 0.18% to at least stay fractionally above the 1,500 mark at 1,500.18, and the Dow slumped 0.1% to 13,881.93. The previously beaten-down Nasdaq got some respite, however, up 0.15% to 3,154.30.
Shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) managed to weather more downgrades and the momentary loss of its Most Valuable Company title to Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) to gain just more than 2.25%, stemming a two-day slump that lopped off more than 14% of its share price.
Construction and mining equipment manufacturer Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) gained more than 2% to lead the Dow despite a 55% decline in fourth-quarter net income, partially due to a one-time $580 million charge. CAT also predicted a difficult year ahead.
Men’s retailer Jos. A. Bank (NASDAQ:JOSB) fell roughly 15% after giving a harrowing warning on its full-year profits, which it expects to fall by 20% despite record revenues. Sectormate Men’s Wearhouse (NYSE:MW) fell nearly 6% in sympathy.
Shares of global energy company Hess (NYSE:HES) gained more than 6% after saying it would sell more assets as it exits the refining business and announced activist investor Elliot Associates is interested in buying a position.
Finally, Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) headed up more than 4% in after-hours trading following its Q4 earnings report. Yahoo grew revenues 2% to $1.35 billion, though earnings dipped 8% to $272 million, or 32 cents per share — though the latter figure did top estimates by 4 cents.
Earnings announcements on Tuesday included Corning (NYSE:GLW), Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN).
Three Up
- RadioShack (NYSE:RSH): Up 22% (58 cents) to $3.22.
- Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA): Up 14.1% (35 cents) to $2.84.
- Nii Holding (NASDAQ:NIHD): Up 5.5% (40 cents) to $7.66.
Three Down
- Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS): Down 9.9% ($8.64) to $78.47.
- Herbalife (NYSE:HLF): Down 8.2% ($3.57) to $40.02.
- Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM): Down 7.8% ($1.36) to $16.18.
Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing he is long AAPL, MSFT and YHOO.
