U.S. Stocks Turn Lower; Target, Deere, Dell Earnings Rise

Bikram Pandey
18 May, 2011
New York City

U.S. stocks edged lower as weak sentiment affected trading. Commodities advanced and crude oil gained 2%. Target earnings gained 2.7% and Dell soared after earnings advanced. Deere & Co quarterly net rose 65%.

[R]9:55 AM New York – U.S. stocks edged lower as weak sentiment affected trading. Commodities advanced and crude oil gained 2%. Target earnings gained 2.7% and Dell soared after earnings advanced. Deere & Co quarterly net rose 65%.[/R]

U.S. stocks opened lower and are expected to extend losses for the third day in a row. Crude oil rebounded 2% and earnings drove market sentiment.

Looking ahead, FOMC is set to release its minutes of meetings at 2 p.m. Eastern time today and investors are looking for clues of how the Fed will wind down its bond purchase program.

Staples plunged 15% after the office supplies retailer reported weaker than expected earnings and lowered its annual outlook. Target reported first quarter to March net rose 2.7%.

Bank of Spain reported bad loan ratio declined to 6.11% in March from 6.20 in February when it reached the peak last seen since September 1995.

The bad loans measure included loans issued by all banks, financial cooperatives and retail credit cards declined to €1.069 billion to €111.511 billion in March.

Markets in Asia closed higher with Japan leading region with a gain of 1%. Japanese stocks advanced on a speculation that industrial climate is improving and supply chain problems are easing. Markets in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Australia gained but in India edged lower.

Stock Movers

Analog Devices Inc ((ADI)) increased 4% after the chip maker said fiscal second quarter earnings per share rose to 78 cents from 55 cents and revenues increased 18% to $791 million.

Dell Inc ((DELL)) gained 6% after first quarter net increased to $945 million from $341 million. Deere & Company said fiscal second quarter net rose.

Deere & Co ((DE)) declined 2.3% after the farm machinery maker said fiscal second quarter net increased 65% despite an increase in raw materials cost. Earnings in the quarter increased to $904.3 million or $2.12 a share from $547.5 million or $1.28 a share a year ago.

Target Corp ((TGT)) declined 1% after the second largest discounter said first quarter net increased 2.7% to $698 million or 99 cents a share from $671 million or 90 cents a share. Revenues increased 2.8% to $15.58 billion and comparable same store sales increased 2% in the quarter ended in April.