Market Wrap: Netflix Gets More Original; ECB Averts Greek Loss; Initial Claims at Four-Year Low; Investors Buy Baidu


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February 16, 2012 5:48 PM EST Send to a Friend
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Market wrap-up for February 16th

End of the Day: Dow Jones up 123.1 to 12,904.08; Nasdaq up 44.0 to 2,959.85; S&P 500 up 14.8 to 1,358.04

The following is a brief summary of events moving markets today:
  • "Seriously, we're not taking a loss on Greece." - the ECB: According to reports Thursday, the European Central Bank (ECB) said it would move to protect its Greek-bond portfolio -- currently valued at about €50 billion -- in a bond swap with Greece. New bonds will carry the same terms as the current ones, noted the ECB, indicating the bank will not take a loss on the swap.

    The ECB began buying Greek and Portuguese bonds in May 2010 to ensure its interest rate and bank-supporting measures were carried out across the entire 17 member euro zone.

  • Spinning a record: General Motors (NYSE: GM) reported record annual profit of $7.6 billion for fiscal 2011. Despite the number, its fourth-quarter results were marred by disappointing results in Europe, where unit sales fell 7.4 percent in the quarter due to weakness from its Opel/Vauxhall unit.

    Revenue in the quarter was $37.99 billion with earnings of 39 cents per share. The Street was looking for revs of $38.20 billion and earnings 2 cents higher to 41 cents per share.

  • More Americans file for unemployment...NOT!: Labor Department data for last week showed first-time jobless claims fell 13,000 to 348,000, thumping views calling for a reading of 365,000. Continuing claims for the week ended February 4th totaled 3.426 million, better than the 3.495 million economists on the Street had been expecting. The prior week continuing claims reading was revised from 3.526 million to 3.515 million.

    For more color on claims, click here.

  • Why license when you can make?: Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) had a decent day following reports the company was in discussions with CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) about a new original show for the streaming movie service. The announcement was made during a conference call by CBS following its quarterly report today. For more color, click here.

    Additionally, one-time bear Whitney Tilson of T2 Partners said he was "just about even" on his Netflix investment following a nice run up. Shares are up 76 percent since the start of 2012.

  • Searching for a win. Found: Baidu.com (Nasdaq: BIDU) shares are moving higher after hours as the Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) competitor issued solid fourth-quarter results and guidance. Earnings were 95 cents per share on revs of $710.9 million in revs, compared with views calling for EPS of 91 cents and revs of $711.8 million.

    For the first-quarter of 2012, Baidu is currently looking for a revenue range of $666.5 million to $688.0 million, compared with $678.5 million expected by the Street.
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