Stock Market News for February 4, 2010 - Market News
Stocks lost steam after a two-day advance as a weak report on service industries and a mixed report on labor market worried investors. Lingering sovereign debt concerns and worries related to bank reforms kept traders off the buying table.
The blue-chip Dow average, which jumped 230 points in the past two sessions, closed down 26 points or 0.3%. The tech-laden NASDAQ closed the day virtually unchanged and the S&P 500 index fell 6 points or 0.6%. Three stocks fell for every two that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 847.8 million shares. Nevertheless, trading volume has remained thin throughout the week as caution reigns supreme, and as the economy fails to show consumer demand sufficient to propel economic growth higher.
Only nine DJIA components managed to record gains on Wednesday. Nine of the ten S&P 500 industry groups closed down, led by declines in financials, down 1.3%, and health care, off 1.0% on Pfizer's (NYSE:PFE) weaker-than-expected earnings and outlook. Technology sector shares, however, closed up 0.4%.
China’s moves to curb lending in that country, sovereign debt issues in Greece, Portugal and Spain are keeping traders on toes. After the European Union came out in defense of Greece’s moves to curtail spending – and prevent the situation from spiraling out of hand – the euro registered gains. Portugal also announced a cut in its planned Treasury bill issuance, and Spain projected a larger-than-estimated budget deficit for the next three years.
Moody's (NYSE:MCO), meanwhile, cautioned that the US' triple-A credit rating could come under scanner without stronger economic growth or stricter actions to curtail the bulging budget deficit. Last week the Obama administration estimated a fiscal 2010 deficit of $1.565 trillion.
Late yesterday, Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) posted fiscal second quarter adjusted results well above estimates on better-than-projected revenue gains and its CEO Chambers reported the company is "entering the second phase of the economic recovery." Visa (NYSE:V) also reported numbers ahead of expectations and said it saw improved operating profitability in 2010. Today's list of companies reporting their earnings include: Allergan (NYSE:AGN), Avon Products (NYSE:AVP), CIGNA (NYSE:CI), Clorox (NYSE:CLX), Kellogg(NYSE:K), MasterCard (NYSE:MA), Moody's (NYSE:MCO), and SaraLee (NYSE:SLE).
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