RiM, Visa Fall; BofA, Citi Rise

123jump.com Staff
02 Aug, 2010
New York City

U.S. stocks traded sharply higher after manufacturing expanded and positive earnings reports. S&P 500 index extended gains of 6.9% in July by another 1.6%. Banks traded higher in the U.S. and in Europe after HSBC reported pre-tax profit doubled.

[R]11:45 AM New York – U.S. stocks traded sharply higher after manufacturing expanded and positive earnings reports. S&P 500 index extended gains of 6.9% in July by another 1.6%. Banks traded higher in the U.S. and in Europe after HSBC reported pre-tax profit doubled.[/R]

Of the 30 stocks in Dow Jones Industrial Average, all stocks traded higher. Hewlett Packard led the index stocks with a gain of 3% followed by increase in Alcoa Inc of 3.1%, Cisco Systems of 2.8% and AT&T Inc of 2.6%.

Other Movers

Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc ((ARNA)) declined 3.7% or 37 cent to $7.61 after JP Morgan Chase set the target price of $6. The bank also lowered the rating on the stock to “neutral.”

Bank of America Corporation ((BAC)) rose 2.5% or 35 cents to $14.39 after the media speculation that recovering economy will increase the bank’s earnings.

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc ((CRL)) dropped 4.3% or $1.38 to $29.72 after the testing lab services provider estimated 2010 adjusted earnings not to exceed $2 a share.

Citigroup Inc ((C)) increased 2% to $4.18 after banks were among the leading gainers in trading.

Corinthian Colleges, Inc. ((COCO)) rose 3.5% or 32 cents to $9.42 after the company announced to purchase as much as $200 million of its own shares.

Dynavax Technologies Corporation ((DVAX)) fell 9.9% or 22 cents to $1.99 after the company released second quarter loss of 34 cents a share compared to 10 cents a share profit in the quarter a year ago.

Ford Motor Company ((F)) added 2.3% or 30 cent to $13.08 after the auto maker completed the sale of Volvo Car unit to China based Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd. for $1.8 billion.

HSBC Holdings Plc ((HBC)) surged 5.5% or $2.82 to $53.90 after it reported quarterly earnings doubled for the first half of fiscal 2010 helped by reduced loan impairment charges and other credit risk provisions, mainly in its North American business division.

Humana Inc ((HUM)) gained 2.9% or $1.36 to $48.39 after the health insurance provider estimated third quarter net of $1.65 a share.

ICICI Bank Limited ((IBN)) surged 7.4% to $41.78 after the India based private bak reported sharply higher than expected earnings.

Intel Corporation ((INTC)) gained 2.1% or 44 cents to $21.05.

MetLife, Inc ((MET)) rose 1.6% or 68 cents to $42.37 after the company announced the filing of a secondary offering of 75 million shares. The company plans to raise as much as $6.8 billion to pay American Life Insurance Company from American International Group, Inc.

McDermott International ((MDR)) plunged 45.4% or $10.66 to $12.85 after it spun off its power business Babcock & Wilcox Company. For every two share of McDermott held, will receive one share of BW.

The Mosaic Company ((MOS)) rose 0.8% or 36 cents to $48.09 after the company said that it will appeal the preliminary injunction on a phosphate mine in Central Florida.

Oshkosh Corporation ((OSK)) rose 0.9% or 37 cent to $34.75 after the retailer reported third quarter sales of $2.44 billion and $211.12 million or $2.31 a share compared to sales of $1.22 billion and loss of continuing operations for $21.2 million or 28 cents a share.

The PMI Group, Inc ((PMI)) gained 2.2% or 7 cents to $3.20 after the mortgage insurance company said it will sell its stake in FGIC Corporation and took losses related to the impairment of the asset in the first quarter.

Research In Motion Limited ((RIMM)) dropped 1.7% or 90 cents to $56.70 after Unite Arab Emirates joined India and Bahrain and said it may suspend access to Internet and messages for the users and Blackberry. UAE is expected to block the service as early as in the first half of October. Local media have estimated number of Blackberry users in the nation between 100,000 and 200,000.

Visa Inc ((V)) declined 2.3% or $1.73 to $71.60 after Bloomberg reported that AT&T and Verizon are expected to enter in a joint venture that may promote he use of smartphones as payment processor.

The talks of alternative payment dragged MasterCard Inc lower by 2.2% or $4.70 to $205.34.