Top 10 News Items 3/15-3/19: PPI/CPI Data Soothes Inflation Worries, Fed Leaves Rates Unchanged, Boeing to Accelerate Production of 777's, 747's
Here is a recap of the top news items from this week on Wall Street:
1. Data on producer and consumer prices this week showed that concerns related to inflation may have previously been overdone. PPI for February actually fell 0.6%, better than the 0.2% drop economists had been expecting, while CPI for the month was flat. Traders received mixed signals, however, as India's Reserve Bank chose to be one of the first central banks to raise key lending rates this week.
2. As promised by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve said Tuesday that it will hold key interest rates at record lows while the U.S. economy recovers and the labor market stabilizes. The Fed did, however, give a slightly brighter picture of the future as it said the job market is stabilizing, following a statement in January when the it said that the erosion of the labor market was easing. The Fed also added that, in an encouraging sign, businesses are spending more on equipment. The Fed still cautioned that consumer spending could continue to be weighed down by the high unemployment rate, sluggish income growth, lower wealth and tight credit.
3. On Friday Boeing (NYSE: BA) announced that it plans to accelerate the planned production programs for its 777 and 747 jetliner units, as the company is seeing increased customer demand in the recovering aircraft market. Specifically, Boeing will raise the number of 777's per month from 5 to 7 over the next 6 months and the number of 747's from 1.5 to 2 units. The stock rose about 1% on the news.
4. Shares of Nike (NYSE: NKE) surged about 5% on Thursday as the company reported better-than-expected Q3 results. Quarterly earnings came in at $1.01 on sales of $4.74 billion, which compares to the analyst consensus of $0.89 in earnings and $4.6 billion in sales. Also key to the earnings, Nike said that worldwide futures orders rose 6% ex-currency, which compared to the analyst estimate of up 2.4%.
5. Continuing recent week's move lower, shares of Palm (Nasdaq: PALM) tumbled almost 30% on Friday as even a recently-lowered sales outlook couldn't prepare investors for such horrendous Q3 results. The adj-loss came in at 61c, versus the consensus which was looking for a loss of 42c, on sales of $366 million. The maker of the Pre said it shipped 960,000 smartphones during the quarter, however, sell-through languished at around 400,000 units.
6. Traders cheered a deal at Teva Pharma (Nasdaq: TEVA) this week, bidding the stock up by more than 5% to close the week. On Thursday the world's largest maker of generic drugs announced a tentative agreement to purchase German generic drugmaker, Ratiopharm for 3.625 billion euro.
7. Shares of Phillips-Van Heusen (NYSE: PVH) jumped nearly 10% on Monday of this week as the company announced a deal to purchase Tommy Hilfiger for $3 billion. Private-equity firm Apax Partners will receive 1.92 billion euro in cash and 276 million euros' worth of Phillips-Van Heusen common stock.
8. Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is being rumored to having decided to depart China sometime in April, as an announcement from the Internet giant is expected on Monday, according to a China Business News report on Friday. A business agent for Google's China unit was cited by the news report stated that the search engine company had yet to confirm its plans to close its operations in the country early in April. Shares of Google finished this week about 3% lower than last Friday's close.
9. After pricing at around $12 per share on Monday, shares of Financial Engines (Nasdaq: FNGN) surged more than 50% to close around $18 on Friday.
10. Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) announced this week the passing of a director, Jerry York. York had been known for his work at many other company's including Chrysler and Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda. York, age 71, suffered a brain aneurysm late Wednesday and pronounced dead early Thursday.
1. Data on producer and consumer prices this week showed that concerns related to inflation may have previously been overdone. PPI for February actually fell 0.6%, better than the 0.2% drop economists had been expecting, while CPI for the month was flat. Traders received mixed signals, however, as India's Reserve Bank chose to be one of the first central banks to raise key lending rates this week.
2. As promised by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve said Tuesday that it will hold key interest rates at record lows while the U.S. economy recovers and the labor market stabilizes. The Fed did, however, give a slightly brighter picture of the future as it said the job market is stabilizing, following a statement in January when the it said that the erosion of the labor market was easing. The Fed also added that, in an encouraging sign, businesses are spending more on equipment. The Fed still cautioned that consumer spending could continue to be weighed down by the high unemployment rate, sluggish income growth, lower wealth and tight credit.
3. On Friday Boeing (NYSE: BA) announced that it plans to accelerate the planned production programs for its 777 and 747 jetliner units, as the company is seeing increased customer demand in the recovering aircraft market. Specifically, Boeing will raise the number of 777's per month from 5 to 7 over the next 6 months and the number of 747's from 1.5 to 2 units. The stock rose about 1% on the news.
4. Shares of Nike (NYSE: NKE) surged about 5% on Thursday as the company reported better-than-expected Q3 results. Quarterly earnings came in at $1.01 on sales of $4.74 billion, which compares to the analyst consensus of $0.89 in earnings and $4.6 billion in sales. Also key to the earnings, Nike said that worldwide futures orders rose 6% ex-currency, which compared to the analyst estimate of up 2.4%.
5. Continuing recent week's move lower, shares of Palm (Nasdaq: PALM) tumbled almost 30% on Friday as even a recently-lowered sales outlook couldn't prepare investors for such horrendous Q3 results. The adj-loss came in at 61c, versus the consensus which was looking for a loss of 42c, on sales of $366 million. The maker of the Pre said it shipped 960,000 smartphones during the quarter, however, sell-through languished at around 400,000 units.
6. Traders cheered a deal at Teva Pharma (Nasdaq: TEVA) this week, bidding the stock up by more than 5% to close the week. On Thursday the world's largest maker of generic drugs announced a tentative agreement to purchase German generic drugmaker, Ratiopharm for 3.625 billion euro.
7. Shares of Phillips-Van Heusen (NYSE: PVH) jumped nearly 10% on Monday of this week as the company announced a deal to purchase Tommy Hilfiger for $3 billion. Private-equity firm Apax Partners will receive 1.92 billion euro in cash and 276 million euros' worth of Phillips-Van Heusen common stock.
8. Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is being rumored to having decided to depart China sometime in April, as an announcement from the Internet giant is expected on Monday, according to a China Business News report on Friday. A business agent for Google's China unit was cited by the news report stated that the search engine company had yet to confirm its plans to close its operations in the country early in April. Shares of Google finished this week about 3% lower than last Friday's close.
9. After pricing at around $12 per share on Monday, shares of Financial Engines (Nasdaq: FNGN) surged more than 50% to close around $18 on Friday.
10. Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) announced this week the passing of a director, Jerry York. York had been known for his work at many other company's including Chrysler and Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda. York, age 71, suffered a brain aneurysm late Wednesday and pronounced dead early Thursday.
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