Stock Market News for March 3, 2010 - Market News
U.S. stock rose for a third straight session as hopes grew European leaders would soon find a resolution to Greece’s debt problems, and as key banking analyst Richard Bove said the banking industry is showing signs of stabilization. Recovery expectations gained further ground after Qualcomm announced plans to buy back $3 billion in stock.
Mergers and acquisitions front remained busy as Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) said it agreed to sell its Styron plastics business to private equity firm Bain Capital for about $1.6 billion. Hedge fund, Elliot Associates, offered $5.75 per share for Novell (NASDAQ:NOVL) while CF Industries (NYSE:CF) raised its bid for Terra Industries (NYSE:TRA).
This morning a private employment service report said private employers in the U.S. cut 20,000 jobs in February, well below the 60,000 jobs lost in January.
Nevertheless, broader concerns played in the minds of investors, sending the Dow Jones industrial average off its best levels of the day. The blue-chip index, which managed to wipe off losses for the year during trading, ended the day virtually unchanged at 10,406 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq managed a paltry 0.3% advance. The broader S&P 500 index edged up 0.2%. The market’s measure of volatility, the CBOE Vix, fell below 19 during trading Tuesday. On the New York Stock Exchange, advancing shares beat those that declined in price by more than two to one on volume of 835 million shares.
Among the ten S&P500 industry sectors, only two, technology (-0.1%) and consumer services (-0.1%), closed the day in the red. Hopes that global economic recovery is finally on the right track continued to favor basic material shares (+1.5%), even as the US dollar showed some weakness against a basket of currencies. Oil and gas shares advanced 0.8%, even as an industry report noted a greater-than-expected build in crude stockpiles.
S&P500 sector action showed basic materials up 1.5%, oil and gas 0.8%, consumer goods and health care 0.5%, industrials, utilities, financials 0.3%, telecom 0.02%, as tech and consumer service shares fell 0.1%.
Technology shares witnessed weakness after Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) CFO warned of a 5% increase in operating expenses for its 2010-2011 fiscal year. Shares in the company fell 1.9%, sending IBM (NYSE:IBM) down 0.9%, and both Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) off 0.8%.
Today's calendar covers Fed speak from Rosengren and Lockhart. Earnings calendar, although devoid of much activity, includes numbers from Costco (NASDAQ:COST), Big Lots (NYSE:BIG) and Progressive (NYSE:PGR).
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