Jobless Claims Fall, Durable Goods Orders Rise

123jump.com Staff
28 Jan, 2010
New York City

U.S. stocks traded higher after weekly jobless claims declined and durable goods orders increased. President Obama focused on job creations and asked Congress to provide more economic stimulus. E*Trade, Netflix, Qualcomm and Symantec quarterly sales rise.

[R]9:45 AM New York – U.S. stocks traded higher after weekly jobless claims declined and durable goods orders increased. President Obama focused on job creations and asked Congress to provide more economic stimulus. E*Trade, Netflix, Qualcomm and Symantec quarterly sales rise.[/R]
Stocks in early trading increased after the weekly jobless claims declined and durable goods orders increased.
Seasonally adjusted weekly jobless claims decreased 8,000 to 470,000 from the revised previous week claims of 478,000. The preliminary insured unemployment rate in the week ending January 16 fell 0.1 percentage point from the prior week''s revised rate of 3.6%.
December durable goods orders increased 0.3% or $0.5 billion to $167.9 billion, this increase followed two consecutive monthly decline including 0.4% in November. Orders increased 0.9%. Excluding defense new orders rose 0.3%.

President Obama in his first State of the Union addressed focused on creating new jobs and said worst of the financial crisis is behind us but now we have to deal with “devastation.”

He offered several tax breaks for families with children in colleges and said that part of additional fees levied on large banks should be set aside for community banks to provide credit to small businesses.

He also reiterated that he is not out to “punishing banks” large banks but he is not happy about “big bonuses” doled out banks and financial services companies which were only a year ago facing meltdown.

Futures of crude oil inched up 41 cents to $74.08 and natural gas decreased 7 cents to $5.16 per mBtu. Gold futures increased $10.50 to $1,096 an ounce.

Yields on 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds increased to 3.68% and 30-year bonds to 4.59% as the Treasury wraps up its $118 billion auction this week.

Earnings Review

AT&T Inc, the communications company reported fourth quarter sales fell 0.6% to $30.9 billion from $31.1 billion a year ago. Net income in the quarter rose 26% to $3.02 billion or 51 cents per diluted share compared to net income of $2.40 billion or 41 cents per share a year ago.

Net sales for the fiscal year 2009 fell 0.8% to $123.0 billion from $124.0 billion a year ago. Net income for the year fell 3% to $12.5 billion or $2.12 per diluted share compared to net income of $12.9 billion or $2.16 per share a year ago.

E*Trade Financial Corporation., the finance company said fourth quarter revenues rose 7.6% to $523.4 million from $486.4 million a year ago. Net loss in the quarter was $67.1 million or 4 cents per diluted share compared to net loss of $275.6 million or 50 cents per share a year ago.

Netflix, Inc, the provider of online movie rental subscription service said fourth quarter revenues rose 23.6% to $444.5 million from $359.6 million a year ago. Net income in the quarter rose 36% to $30.9 million or 56 cents per diluted share compared to net income of $22.7 million or 38 cents per share a year ago.

Revenues for the fiscal year 2009 rose 23% to $1.67 billion from $1.36 billion a year ago. Net income for the year rose 39.6% to $115.9 million or $1.98 per diluted share compared to net income of $83 million or $1.32 per share a year ago.

Qualcomm Incorporated, the maker of cellphone chips said first quarter revenues rose 6% to $2.67 billion from $2.52 billion a year ago. Net income in the quarter rose 146.6% to $841 million or 50 cents per diluted share compared to net income of $341 million or 20 cents per share a year ago.

Symantec Corporation, the computer security company said third quarter revenues rose 2% to $1.54 billion from $1.51 billion a year ago. Net income in the quarter was $300 million or 37 cents per diluted share compared to net loss of $6.8 billion or $8.25 per share a year ago.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 162.21 or 1.58% to 10,414.29, and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 323.30 or 1.61% to 20,356.37, and CSI 300 index in China higher 8.00 or 0.25% to 3,206.57. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 28.70 or 0.62% to 4,673.30. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia was lower 1.26 or 0.10% to 1,264.51.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 16.95 or 1.04% to close at 1,642.43. SET index in Thailand closed lower 0.74 or 0.11% to 689.72. JSE Index in Indonesia increased 55.01 or 2.15% to 2,619.56. The Sensex index in India increased 17.05 or 0.10% to 16,306.87.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index traded higher 19.80 or 0.38% to 5,237.27, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 20.91 or 0.56% to 3,780.71 and in Frankfurt DAX index traded higher 28.24 or 0.50% to 5,671.44. In Zurich trading SMI increased 23.77 or 0.37% to 6,496.80.