Stock Market News for March 2, 2010 - Market News
Increased activity on the mergers and acquisitions front and an upbeat outlook from SanDisk on the semiconductor industry sent U.S. stocks higher Monday, with both Nasdaq and the S&P 500 index jumping back into positive territory for the year. Hopes that Greece would find a way out of the present financial crisis also helped boost sentiments.
The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average finished the day with gains of 79 points as all but four of its components ended the day in the green. As solid economic posts continued to pour in, the broader S&P 500 index moved past the closely watched 1115 level and finished the day just above that level. The tech-heavy NASDAQ was the best performer among major averages, finishing with a 1.6% gain to 2,274.
All ten S&P500 industry sectors finished with gains, led by basic material shares (+2.0%), which advanced on strength in copper prices amid supply concerns from Chile's earthquake. Technology shares recorded gains of 1.5% after SanDisk's (NASDAQ:SNDK) said Friday that increased demand for memory chips would generate first quarter sales of $925 million to $1 billion. The company also noted the industry outlook in coming years is strong. Shares of consumer service sector gained 1.4% after reports showed better-than-expected consumer spending during January.
Yesterday, the EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner asked Greece to try harder to control its financial problems. However, much to the respite of Athens, a deal with Germany and France appeared in the works. This morning's news the Reserve Bank of Australia had raised interest rates to 4.0% was somewhat factored in by traders.
Nevertheless, as consumer sentiment remains central to any economic recovery and as unemployment numbers continue to disappoint, a Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) research report noted, "Our forecast of a decline of 100K payroll jobs assumes the February snowstorms will delay at least this many net hires. Assuming a return to more normal weather, March payrolls should post a substantial rebound."
Today's items of interest include February car sales and the effect of a full month of Toyota's (NYSE:TM) temporary sales suspension to repair its pedal problems and the numerous snowstorms during the month. Analysts anticipate a disappointing drop to a 10.3 million unit seasonally adjusted annual rate, down from 10.82 million prior. Also of interest, Morgan Stanley's (NYSE:MS) technology conference offers presentations from Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), IBM (NYSE:IBM) and AT&T (NYSE:T).
The Fed calendar includes speeches from Kansas City Fed President Hoenig at 10 am on CNBC, and Minneapolis Fed President Kocherlakota at 1 pm. Companies reporting their earnings include: AutoZone (NYSE:AZO), Fresh Del Monte Produce (NYSE:FDP), Hovnanian (NYSE:HOV), and Staples (NASDAQ:SPLS).
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