Dow lost 64 (closing at the lows), decliners ahead of advancers 5-4 & NAZ was off 6 even though Apple (AAPL) shot up 15. The Financial Index remained fractonally lower in the 197s. The MLP index was off 1+ to the 393s & the REIT index fell a fraction in the 267s. Junk bond funds were mixed near their yearly highs & Treasuries edged higher. Oil tumbled below $90, giving up some its recent gains & gold pulled back modestly.
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China will step up policy fine-tuning in H2 to support economic growth, although there are signs of stabilization in the economy, the official Xinhua news agency quoted Premier Wen Jiabao as saying. Wen affirmed the gov's resolve to maintain its long-standing controls on the property sector. The gov will take steps to improve the domestic investment environment & diversify its export market. China would also increase fiscal & monetary policy support to the economy in H2. The comments were made with business leaders & academics, including former World Bank chief economist Justin Lin. These comments are broadly in line with official pro-growth statements made in the wake of H1 GDP data which showed the economy in Q2 had expanded at its slowest pace in more than 3 years. The Chinese economy needs a little extra juice.
China Reiterates Growth Chief Priority
Photo: Bloomberg
Pfizer, a Dow stock, posted a 25% jump in Q2 net income due to aggressive cost cutting & lower restructuring & other charges, shaking off the expected plunge in revenue from generic competition to cholesterol fighter Lipitor, the world's top-selling drug. EPS was 43¢, up from 33¢ last year. Excluding $2.1B in charges before taxes, adjusted EPS was 62¢, 8¢ above the forecast. Charges included $1.2B for asset writedowns & $474M in legal charges, mainly for litigation over its hormone replacement medicines. Revenue totaled $15.06B, down 9% but above expectations of $14.93B. Generic competition reduced sales by about $1.8B, mainly because of lower Lipitor sales (which had peak annual global sales of $13B). Early sales losses were slowed by the unprecedented strategy to keep patients on its brand as long as possible. In Q2, US Lipitor sales nosedived to $296M from $1.4B a year ago & global sales slumped 53%to $1.2B. Still, "We kept three times more (market) share than has traditionally occurred" after a big drug's patent expired, CEO Ian Read said. "We added hundreds of millions of dollars of profitability to the company, as well as enabling patients to stay on the brand." Newer drugs, particularly pain reliever Lyrica and Prevnar 13 saw sales jump just over 10%. Total pharmaceutical sales fell 10%, to $13.1B. Sales of veterinary medicines edged up 3% to $1.09B & sales of consumer health care products, such as ChapStick & Centrum vitamins, increased 8% to $768M. PFE expects action from the FDA soon on 2 experimental drugs that have run into trouble. PFE will file in mid-Aug to sell as much as 20% of its animal-health unit in an IPO. The stock rose 38¢ & has a good chart over the last year.
Pfizer Plans August IPO Filing as Profits Top Estimates
Enbridge Energy Partners, a major MLP, Q2 earnings fell 28% on lower selling prices for natural gas liquids. Results were below expectations for adjusted earnings & revenue. Earnings were 33¢ per unit compared with 51¢ a year earlier. Excluding items such as hedging gains, it would have earned 23¢ per unit. The forecast was for earnings of 31¢ per unit. Revenue plunged 35% to $1.55B from $2.37B last year ago & well below the $1.77B forecast. The recent price drop in natural gas liquids was partly offset by higher pipeline revenue. EEP also announced that it will increase the quarterly distribution to 54.35¢ per unit, a 2.1% increase that was in line with its goal of raising annual distributions by 2-5%. EEP also has a companion corp, EEQ, which tracks the price of the units & pays a stock div based on the distribution. The units rose 79¢.
Enbridge 2Q profit, sales fall on lower gas prices AP
This was another listless day as markets wait for the results of the Federal Reserve meeting tomorrow. The following day, ECB will make a much bigger announcement. Everybody is guessing what actions it can take to ease the euro debt mess. Another round of bond buying is expected. But it has just so much money, not to mention, when it ends, market forces will probably drag bond prices down, forcing yields up. Dow gained 128 in Jul & remains above 13K, important for those watching technical signs.
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
Click below for the latest market update:
| CLU12.NYM | Crude Oil Sep 12 | 88.07 |  1.71 (1.9%) |
Treasury yields:
U.S. 3-month | 0.101% | |
U.S. 2-year | 0.215% | |
U.S. 10-year | 1.495% |
China will step up policy fine-tuning in H2 to support economic growth, although there are signs of stabilization in the economy, the official Xinhua news agency quoted Premier Wen Jiabao as saying. Wen affirmed the gov's resolve to maintain its long-standing controls on the property sector. The gov will take steps to improve the domestic investment environment & diversify its export market. China would also increase fiscal & monetary policy support to the economy in H2. The comments were made with business leaders & academics, including former World Bank chief economist Justin Lin. These comments are broadly in line with official pro-growth statements made in the wake of H1 GDP data which showed the economy in Q2 had expanded at its slowest pace in more than 3 years. The Chinese economy needs a little extra juice.
China Reiterates Growth Chief Priority
Pfizer, a Dow stock, posted a 25% jump in Q2 net income due to aggressive cost cutting & lower restructuring & other charges, shaking off the expected plunge in revenue from generic competition to cholesterol fighter Lipitor, the world's top-selling drug. EPS was 43¢, up from 33¢ last year. Excluding $2.1B in charges before taxes, adjusted EPS was 62¢, 8¢ above the forecast. Charges included $1.2B for asset writedowns & $474M in legal charges, mainly for litigation over its hormone replacement medicines. Revenue totaled $15.06B, down 9% but above expectations of $14.93B. Generic competition reduced sales by about $1.8B, mainly because of lower Lipitor sales (which had peak annual global sales of $13B). Early sales losses were slowed by the unprecedented strategy to keep patients on its brand as long as possible. In Q2, US Lipitor sales nosedived to $296M from $1.4B a year ago & global sales slumped 53%to $1.2B. Still, "We kept three times more (market) share than has traditionally occurred" after a big drug's patent expired, CEO Ian Read said. "We added hundreds of millions of dollars of profitability to the company, as well as enabling patients to stay on the brand." Newer drugs, particularly pain reliever Lyrica and Prevnar 13 saw sales jump just over 10%. Total pharmaceutical sales fell 10%, to $13.1B. Sales of veterinary medicines edged up 3% to $1.09B & sales of consumer health care products, such as ChapStick & Centrum vitamins, increased 8% to $768M. PFE expects action from the FDA soon on 2 experimental drugs that have run into trouble. PFE will file in mid-Aug to sell as much as 20% of its animal-health unit in an IPO. The stock rose 38¢ & has a good chart over the last year.
Pfizer Plans August IPO Filing as Profits Top Estimates
Pfizer (PFE)
Enbridge Energy Partners, a major MLP, Q2 earnings fell 28% on lower selling prices for natural gas liquids. Results were below expectations for adjusted earnings & revenue. Earnings were 33¢ per unit compared with 51¢ a year earlier. Excluding items such as hedging gains, it would have earned 23¢ per unit. The forecast was for earnings of 31¢ per unit. Revenue plunged 35% to $1.55B from $2.37B last year ago & well below the $1.77B forecast. The recent price drop in natural gas liquids was partly offset by higher pipeline revenue. EEP also announced that it will increase the quarterly distribution to 54.35¢ per unit, a 2.1% increase that was in line with its goal of raising annual distributions by 2-5%. EEP also has a companion corp, EEQ, which tracks the price of the units & pays a stock div based on the distribution. The units rose 79¢.
Enbridge 2Q profit, sales fall on lower gas prices AP
Enbridge Energy Partners (EEP)
This was another listless day as markets wait for the results of the Federal Reserve meeting tomorrow. The following day, ECB will make a much bigger announcement. Everybody is guessing what actions it can take to ease the euro debt mess. Another round of bond buying is expected. But it has just so much money, not to mention, when it ends, market forces will probably drag bond prices down, forcing yields up. Dow gained 128 in Jul & remains above 13K, important for those watching technical signs.
Dow Jones Industrials
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