Moving the Market - Stocks On The Move

S&P futures vs fair value: +5.70. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +13.30. Stock futures initially slipped in response to the second reading on fourth quarter GDP, but they have since stabilized. The second reading indicated that the U.S. economy expanded at an annualized rate of 2.8% from October through December. The consensus among economists polled by Briefing.com had called for growth of 3.3% after the advance reading showed growth of 3.2%. Personal consumption for the fourth quarter was revised downward to reflect growth of 4.1% after it had initially been reported as growth of 4.4%. Core personal consumption expenditures were revised upward to a 0.5% increase from a 0.4% increase in the advance reading. The GDP Price Index for the fourth quarter increased by 0.4% after the advance reading had reported a 0.3% increase. Economists surveyed by Brieifng.com had expected, on average, that the GDP Price Index would go unrevised.

2/25/2011 8:05:00 AM ET

[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: +5.80. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +12.00. Stock futures have steadily worked their way higher overnight. They now point to a strong start to this week's final trading session. Stocks head into Friday with a week-to-date loss of 2.6%, though. That currently makes for the stock market's worst weekly performance since August. Renewed support this morning comes amid solid gains abroad. It has also helped that headlines out of the Middle East and North Africa have slowed, at least for now. Even though oil prices are up 0.6% to $97.90 per barrel, the energy component is still more than $5 below the heights that reached less than 36 hours ago. Corporate news this morning hasn't been terribly exciting, but nonetheless positive. More specifically, Autodesk (ADSK) posted an upside earnings surprise and issued in-line guidance. Applied Materials (AMAT) issued upside guidance after it posted an upside earnings surprise of its own. Gap (GPS) also bested earnings expectations then announced plans to put $2 billion into its share repurchase program and raise its dividend by 13%. CIGNA (CI) added $500 million to its share repurchase plan. As for data, the second reading on fourth quarter GDP is due at the bottom of the hour. The final February Consumer Sentiment Survey from the University of Michigan follows at 9:55 AM ET.

2/25/2011 6:28:57 AM ET

[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: +6.30. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +13.00.

2/25/2011 6:28:53 AM ET

[BRIEFING.COM] FTSE...5934.39...+14.40...+0.20%. DAX...7163.54...+32.80...+0.50%.

2/25/2011 6:28:53 AM ET

[BRIEFING.COM] Nikkei...10526.76...+74.10...+0.70%. Hang Seng...23012.37...+411.30...+1.80%.

2/24/2011 4:30:00 PM ET DJ30 PointChange: -37.28 Level: 12068.50 NASDAQ PointChange: +14.91 Level: 2737.90 NQ100 PercentChange: +0.5 R2K PercentChange: +0.6 SP400 PercentChange: -0.1 SP500 PointChange: -1.30 Level: 1306.10 NASDAQ-Adv:1583 Dec: 1051 NYSE-Adv:1585 Dec: 1381

[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks had appeared to be headed for another day of broad losses, but an afternoon retreat by oil prices helped the major averages rebound for a mixed finish.
Continued concerns about political and social turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa hampered trade in the early going. Sellers eventually intensified their efforts so that the Dow faced its third straight loss of at least 100 points. At its session low, the Dow broke below the 12,000 line. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 probed the 1294 zone, but the Nasdaq managed to limit its loss and remain above its prior session low.
However, buyers were pulled back into the action by a drop in oil prices. Oil futures cleared $103 per barrel overnight for a new two-year high, but spent most of pit trade near $99 per barrel before afternoon selling took it to a 0.8% loss at $97.28 per barrel. A smaller-than-expected build in weekly inventories had no real influence on oil's trade.
Oil's pullback undercut energy stocks, which had already spent the session trading as laggards. In turn, the sector fell to a 1.4% loss after it had staged a 2.0% gain in the prior session. Transocean (RIG 80.62, -1.41) was down almost 5% following news of its light revenue figure, but the stock pared its loss into the close.
Airlines found strong favor after oil prices moved lower. In turn, the Amex Airline Index ascended 1.4% after it had fallen in excess of 8% during the two previous sessions.
Semiconductor stocks also had a strong showing. Their 1.7% gain helped prop up the Nasdaq so that it outperformed its counterparts.
Retailers had a strong session overall. As a group they gained 0.8%, despite a mixed batch of quarterly reports from Target (TGT 52.00, +1.74), Kohl's (KSS 53.80, +1.78), Sears Holding (SHLD 82.40, -4.83), and Limited (LTD 32.14, +0.37).
Shares of General Motors (GM 33.02, -1.57) set a post-IPO low, but they managed pare losses as the broader market staged its afternoon recovery. Selling against GM came in the face of news that the automaker had strong quarterly sales.
As for data, initial jobless claims for the week ended February 19 totaled 391,000, which is down 22,000 from the prior week and less than the 410,000 that had been expected, on average, among economists polled by Briefing.com. Continuing claims came down 145,000 from the prior week to total 3.79 million.
Durable goods orders for January increased 2.7%, which is on par with what had been widely anticipated. Orders for the prior month were revised upward to reflect a 0.4% decline. Excluding transportation, durable goods orders for January tumbled 3.6%, which comes in stark contrast to the Briefing.com consensus 0.6% increase.
New home sales for January fell 12.6% month over month to an annualized rate of 284,000, which is less than the rate of 310,000 units per year that had been generally expected among economists polled by Briefing.com. The sharper-than-expected drop in sales comes after they had bounced by 15.7% in the prior month.
Treasuries advanced, but settled off of their highs. The latest Treasury auction featured the 7-year Note. It drew a bid-to-cover of 2.86, dollar demand of $82.9 billion, and an indirect bidder participation rate of 49.7%.
Headline risk related to the turmoil of the Middle East and North Africa, corporate news, and data continue to underpin strong participation. As such, more than 1.20 billion shares traded hands on the NYSE today. That follows tallies in excess of 1.30 billion shares for each of the past two sessions.