Toll Bros Cuts Forecast

Elena
07 Nov, 2006
New York City

Following last session''s strong rally, U.S. stock futures pointed to a flat opening Tuesday as voters headed to the polls for the mid-term Congressional elections. Toll Brothers dropped 2.25% in pre-market trading, as it cut its home delivery forecast for 2007, and reported a 10% decrease in Q4 home building revenue. Elsewhere, Toyota Motor reported a 36% jump in Q1 earnings and lifted its earnings outlook for the year.

[R]9:00AM Stock futures turned flat after strong rally Monday.[/R]
Following last session''s strong rally, U.S. stock futures pointed to a flat opening Tuesday as voters headed to the polls for the mid-term Congressional elections.

Toll Brothers ((TOL)) dropped 2.25% in pre-market trading, as it gave a mixed picture on the housing market, saying that it hasn''t spotted a recovery in the housing market, but added the market may improve faster if the current inventory overhang is absorbed and consumer sentiment turns positive. Toll Brothers cut its home delivery forecast for 2007, and reported a 10% decrease in Q4 home building revenue. Peers Beazer Homes USA ((BZH)) and WCI Communities ((WCI)) didn’t express optimistic views about the housing market and reported sharply lower profit.

Diversified manufacturer Emerson Electric Co. ((EMR)) reported a 26% increase in Q4 earnings on strong global demand from industrial, energy and high-technology customers. The company earned $1.29 per share, compared with $1.01 per share a year earlier. The company projected a double-digit profit increase in 2007.

Sara Lee Corp. ((SLE)), a packaged-food and consumer-products company, reported sharply higher Q1 net income, buoyed by tax benefit and sales gains. The company reported earnings increase of 44 cents per share, up from 9 cents per share last year on 5% higher revenue, beating expectations of 25 cents per share on revenue of $3.15 billion.

Toyota Motor ((TM)) reported a 36% jump in Q1 earnings and lifted its earnings outlook for the year. Toyota also took nearly a 6% stake in Isuzu.


[R]8:00AM General Motors reduced its Q3 loss.[/R]
General Motors Corp. ((GM)) announced Tuesday that its Q3 loss was cut by $24 million to $91 million, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The company previously reported that its Q3 loss was $115 million, or 20 cents per share. The narrower profit loss was attributed to additional loan sales that had not been previously reported by its GMAC arm. GMAC unit revised its loss to $324 million in the third quarter, down from the previously reported $348 million. GM shares rose 0.14% to $34.75 in after-hours trading Monday.


[R]7:30AM Asian markets finish in positive territory on Tuesday, HK, Sydney lead.[/R]
Asian markets closed higher on Tuesday. The Nikkei 225 Index ended 0.2% higher at 16,393.41. Entertainment and electronics conglomerate Sony rose 0.9%.Toyota Motor announced its group net profit soared 34%, powered by robust sales in North America and Europe and a weaker yen. Its shares rose 1%. Shares of Honda rose 1.7%.

Hang Seng Index of Hong Kong rose 0.7% to 19,068.61, breaking the 19000-point barrier for the first time. Trading large-cap property shares were higher, with Sun Hung Kai Properties up 2.8%, while Henderson Land Development jumped 3%. China Mobile, the second-biggest large-cap by market value, rose 0.7% to a record high. The China Enterprises Index rose 1.2% to 7,804.14, breaking its previous all-time high set more than nine years ago.

Australia S&P/ASX 200 set a fresh intraday record before going slightlydown to close 0.9% higher to 5,491.60. Shares of mining company BHP Billiton rose 2% while rival Rio Tinto advanced 3.4%. Woodside Petroleum added 0.5%, lifted by stronger crude-oil prices. Taiwan Weighted Price Index gained 0.9%, rebounding from a 0.6% decline.

Elsewhere, Indonesia JSX Composite hit a record peak before retreating slightly to trade 1.2% higher at 1661.15. South Korea Kospi index advanced 0.6%, while Singapore Straits Times Index added 1.2%.

[R]6:30AM European markets advance in early trading Tuesday on oil and banks.[/R]
European markets were mostly higher on Tuesday. By mid morning, London FTSE 100 was flat at 6,224.5, Frankfurt Xetra Dax added 0.1% to 6,334.85, and the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.3% to 5,417.81.

Advancers

Strong results from Deutsche Postbank, the biggest retail bank in Germany. The company said its third-quarter net profit rose 16.7%, as interest income climbed nearly 14 %. The shares gained 2.2%.

Repsol of Spain gained 1.7%. JPMorgan raised its target price on the stock, but kept its underweight rating. Neste Oil, the Finnish refiner, gained 1.1%, while BP in Britain gained 0.8%.

Telecom Italia gained 1.2% after reporting a surprise 3.5% rise in net income and added it considering the sale of its Brazilian mobile division and had already received two offers

Marks & Spencer led the advance on the FTSE 100 after reporting a forecast-beating 32% jump in first-half pre-tax profit. Its shares gained 4.7%.

Decliners

Vivendi fell 3% after reporting a smaller-than-forecast rise in third-quarter sales and receiving a broker downgrade from Merrill Lynch.

Shares in Yell Group dropped 2.5% in London after reporting a 44% first-half profit decline on the costs of buying TransWestern and TPI.

Oil and gold

Oil eased but stayed in sight of $60 on Tuesday after leading OPEC producer Saudi Arabia held out the prospect of deeper output cuts to remove excess supply. U.S. crude oil was off 11 cents at $59.91 a barrel. London Brent was down 11 cents at $59.64.

Gold rose, resuming a four-week rally as a drop in the dollar spurred demand for an alternative asset. Gold for immediate delivery rose $1.30, or 0.2%, to $624.70 an ounce in early session in London.

Currencies

The U.S. dollar was at $1.2756 per euro from $1.2724 yesterday. The Japanese yen climbed to 117.84 per dollar in early trading in London from 118.31 in New York yesterday. Against the euro, the British pound was at 67.00 pence in London from 67.07 on Nov. 3. The U.K. currency was also at $1.9039 from $1.8971.