Market Wrap: No Apple Dividend; Hot FDA Panel Action; Sears Sears Shorts

Market wrap-up for February 23rd

End of the Day: Dow Jones up 46.0 to 12,984.69; Nasdaq up 23.8 to 2,956.98; S&P 500 up 5.8 to 1,363.46

The following is a brief summary of events moving markets today:

• These shares are no longer a Blue Light Special: Sears Holdings Corp. (Nasdaq: SHLD) closed Thursday over 19 percent better following several items of information issued earlier in the session.
  
  First (and definitely not helping the upside), Sears reported adjusted EPS of 54 cents and revs of $12.5 billion in the quarter, beating Street views on the top and bottom.
  
  Next, Sears said it has agreed to sell 11 full-line locations to General Growth (NYSE: GGP) in a $270 million deal. Notably, each of the stores is a General Growth property.
  
  Finally, the Company said it would separate its Hometown and Outlets businesses, as well as certain hardware stores. That deal is expected to fetch about $400 million to $500 million.
  
  
• Expected, but a little surprising: Proctor & Gamble (NYSE: PG) ended the session higher but is down after the close amid cut guidance from CEO Bob McDonald at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York conference today. Core EPS guidance for its third quarter was lowered from 91 cents to 97 cents to a range of 89 cents to 95 cents. Conversely, PG is expecting about $10 billion in cost reductions over the next coming years. About $3 billion will be overhead cuts, eliminating 4,100 positions in fiscal 2013 following 1,600 job cuts in fiscal 2012. Other savings include $6 billion in COGS and $1 billion in marketing costs.
  
  
• "Welcome to FDA Panel City: Pop. 3" - FDA panels were making some moves Wednesday and Thursday, all in the right directions. Yesterday, Vivus (Nasdaq: VVUS) got a nod for its weight-loss drug Qnexa, today Forest Labs (NYSE: FRX) received a thumbs-up for its lung drug aclidinium bromide and Chelsea Therapeutics' (Nasdaq: CHTP) Northera also got the go-ahead signal.
  
  Of course, the FDA takes panels into consideration before passing a drug, but can ultimately decide against approval.
  
  
• Gesundheit!: Earlier, Commerzbank AG Chief Executive Martin Blessing gave anything but to the European Central Bank with regard to the Greek bailout. According to the WSJ, Blessing said, "The participation in the haircut is as voluntary as a confession during the Spanish Inquisition." Unlike the Inquisition, it should be noted, many expected the Greek bailout.
  
  He has a right for some harsh words; Commerzbank took a loss of €2.2 billion on its Greek debt holdings. Blessing said his bank won't be buying any more debt from European countries with sovereign issue issues.
  
  For its part, the ECB said it was protecting taxpayers' money with the approved austerity package and bailout.
  
  
• Anything Apple does is exciting. Anything: Many thought the annual Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Shareholder Meeting would be a non-event, but there was still a segment hoping for something mentioned in the way of an "addition to shareholder value" as well as "reduction of that Mt. Everest-dwarfing pile of cash." Well, neither occurred. CEO Tim Cook said Apple was mulling what to do with the cash, and said the Board is not considering a stock split.
  
  Notably, while many argue a stock split does nothing for shareholders because they're still in the same equity position as before the split, the onrush of Johnny-come-lately investors who see Apple stock only as $500 per share and not a well-valued investment might drive shares another 10 percent to 20 percent higher (if not more) immediately.
  
  Otherwise, the Board adopted a majority-vote standard for future meetings and all board nominees were elected.
  
  For more analysis on Cook's comments, click here.

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