Wall Street Lower on German Data, Apple Sells 5 Million iPhone Devices

Arthi Gupta
24 Sep, 2012
New York City

U.S. indexes opened lower as the attention in the euro zone crisis shifted to Spain and France and German business confidence declined. Tomkins agreed to sell its air distribution division for $1.1 billion. Home builders Lennar and KB Home gained on quarterly results.

[R]9:45 AM New York – U.S. indexes opened lower as the attention in the euro zone crisis shifted to Spain and France and German business confidence declined. Tomkins agreed to sell its air distribution division for $1.1 billion. Home builders Lennar and KB Home gained on quarterly results.[/R]

U.S. indexes opened lower after German business confidence declined for the fifth month in a row and Spain and France struggle to release 2013 budgets that meet the euro zone guide lines of keeping deficit below 3%.

In New York, investors scheduled to receive new home sales and consumer sentiment data and the weekly jobless claims report.

Financial markets in Europe turned down sharply after the German business confidence declined for the fifth month in a row in September as investors focused on Spain.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is scheduled to present his draft 2013 budget on Thursday that will target more spending cuts and additional taxes.

In addition, France is scheduled to release its 2013 budget on Friday and Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said on Sunday that budget deficit will be cut to 3% of gross domestic product from the estimated 4.5% this year.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said today that Italy has made a significant effort to speed up long-overdue economic reforms but added, resolute implementation and continuation of the reforms are crucial.

Norsk Hydro agreed to sell its aluminum plant in Taiwan to Ting Sin Metal.

Separately, Standard & Poor''s cut India''s growth forecast for 2012 to 5.5%, from 6.5% projected earlier.

Tomkins Sells Air Distribution Division

Onex Corporation and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board agreed to acquire, from Tomkins, its Air Distribution division for approximately $1.1 billion. The closing of the transaction is expected to occur in the fourth quarter.

In 2010, Onex and CPPIB jointly acquired Tomkins, an industrial holding company.

Norsk Hydro Agrees to Sell Taiwan Remelter

Norsk Hydro ASA agreed to sell its aluminum remelt plant in Taiwan to Ting Sin Metal Co. Ltd. The transaction is expected to close during October.

Ting Sin Metal Co. Ltd., a company already in the Taiwanese aluminum remelt market, will take over the Hydro Aluminium Taiwan operations, while Hydro will focus on supplying primary metal products to Taiwan.

Earnings Review

Apple Inc ((AAPL)) confirmed that the mobile phone device maker sold more than 5 million iPhone devices this weekend.

Lennar Corporation ((LEN)), the home-builder reported third quarter revenues surged 34% to $1.1 billion from the prior year. Net earnings in the quarter soared to $87.11 million or 40 cents per diluted share compared to net earnings of $20.73 million or 11 cents per share last year.

Rockwell Collins, Inc. ((COL)), the communications and aviation electronics maker estimates fiscal year revenue between $4.6 billion and $4.7 billion, earnings per share in the range of $4.30 to $4.50, and cash flow from operations of $500 million to $600 million.

TiVo Inc ((TIVO)) soared 5.6% to $10.10 after Verizon agreed to pay the company at least $250.4 million to settle a patent litigation.