Dow rose 38, advancers just ahead of decliners & NAZ added 8. The Financial Index gained another fraction to 235. The MLP index was even at 420 & the REIT index went up a fraction to over 280, a fresh 4½ year high. Junk bond funds were mixed & Treasuries pulled back, taking the yield on the 10 year Treasury over 1.9%. Oil & gold slipped with gold finding it difficult to break away from the mid 1600s.
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
Photo: Yahoo
Sales of new homes in the US cooled off in Dec compared with Nov but for the entire year were the best since 2009. The Commerce Dept said Fri that new-home sales fell 7.3% last month to an annual rate of 369K, down from the Nov rate of 398K (the fastest in 2½ years). For the year, sales rose nearly 20% to 367K, the most since 2009, although the increase is coming off the worst year for new-home sales since the gov began keeping records in 1963. Sales are still below the 700K level that is considered healthy.
Photo: Yahoo
Procter & Gamble, a Dow stock & Dividend Aristocrat, reported earnings & revenue that beat expectations. Fiscal Q2 EPS was $1.22, up from $1.10 a earlier. Revenue rose to $22.18B from $22.14B. "The consumer is definitely hanging in there. We haven't seen an inflection point in the market growth rates yet, but we also haven't seen any deterioration. So it's reasonably good," CFO Jon Moeller said. He added: "There are other tailwinds related to the broader macro environment. Much more benign commodity environment than we saw in the last two years. Certainly a better environment from a foreign-exchange standpoint." Expectations were for EPS excluding items of $1.11 on $21.91B in revenue. PG boosted its EPS guidance for the year to $3.97-$4.07, versus the prior year's EPS of $3.85. "Our strong first half results have enabled us to raise our sales, earnings and share repurchase outlook for the fiscal year, while we strengthen investments in our innovation and marketing programs," CEO Bob McDonald said. The stock shot up 2.69.
Procter & Gamble Raises Annual Forecast After Quarterly EPS Tops Estimates
Procter & Gamble (PG)
Kimberly-Clark, another Dividend Aristocrat, cost-cutting helped push Q4 profits higher, after excluding one-time items, & narrowly beat forecasts. EPS was $1.37, above the $1.35 estimate & ahead of $1.28 per share in adjusted EPS in the prior year. Revenue rose modestly to $5.3B, up 2.5% from nearly $5.2B in the same period of 2011. Forecasts were for $5.19. The stock inched up a nickel.
Stocks continue on their winning ways because of earnings reports that are good enough for stock buyers. But underneath, the sales numbers are not rocketing ahead MSFT, another Dow stock, reported earnings last night & the stocks is up a modest 27¢ after introducing the new Windows. Markets are being priced to perfection with no allowances for stumbling. The budget debt mess in DC is stuck in the mud which has the potential to bring on selling.
Dow Jones Industrials
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
Treasury yields:
U.S. 3-month |
0.068% | |
U.S. 2-year |
0.257% | |
U.S. 10-year |
1.917% |
| CLH13.NYM | ...Crude Oil Mar 13 | ...96.09 | ..... 0.14 | (0.2%) |
| GCF13.CMX | ...Gold Jan 13 | .......1,658.60 | ... 10.90 | (0.7%) |
Photo: Yahoo
Sales of new homes in the US cooled off in Dec compared with Nov but for the entire year were the best since 2009. The Commerce Dept said Fri that new-home sales fell 7.3% last month to an annual rate of 369K, down from the Nov rate of 398K (the fastest in 2½ years). For the year, sales rose nearly 20% to 367K, the most since 2009, although the increase is coming off the worst year for new-home sales since the gov began keeping records in 1963. Sales are still below the 700K level that is considered healthy.
Photo: Yahoo
Procter & Gamble, a Dow stock & Dividend Aristocrat, reported earnings & revenue that beat expectations. Fiscal Q2 EPS was $1.22, up from $1.10 a earlier. Revenue rose to $22.18B from $22.14B. "The consumer is definitely hanging in there. We haven't seen an inflection point in the market growth rates yet, but we also haven't seen any deterioration. So it's reasonably good," CFO Jon Moeller said. He added: "There are other tailwinds related to the broader macro environment. Much more benign commodity environment than we saw in the last two years. Certainly a better environment from a foreign-exchange standpoint." Expectations were for EPS excluding items of $1.11 on $21.91B in revenue. PG boosted its EPS guidance for the year to $3.97-$4.07, versus the prior year's EPS of $3.85. "Our strong first half results have enabled us to raise our sales, earnings and share repurchase outlook for the fiscal year, while we strengthen investments in our innovation and marketing programs," CEO Bob McDonald said. The stock shot up 2.69.
Procter & Gamble Raises Annual Forecast After Quarterly EPS Tops Estimates
Procter & Gamble (PG)
Kimberly-Clark, another Dividend Aristocrat, cost-cutting helped push Q4 profits higher, after excluding one-time items, & narrowly beat forecasts. EPS was $1.37, above the $1.35 estimate & ahead of $1.28 per share in adjusted EPS in the prior year. Revenue rose modestly to $5.3B, up 2.5% from nearly $5.2B in the same period of 2011. Forecasts were for $5.19. The stock inched up a nickel.
- Kimberly-Clark adjusted net narrowly beats the Streetat bizjournals.com(Fri 10:40AM EST)
Stocks continue on their winning ways because of earnings reports that are good enough for stock buyers. But underneath, the sales numbers are not rocketing ahead MSFT, another Dow stock, reported earnings last night & the stocks is up a modest 27¢ after introducing the new Windows. Markets are being priced to perfection with no allowances for stumbling. The budget debt mess in DC is stuck in the mud which has the potential to bring on selling.
Dow Jones Industrials
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