I’ll tell you, for the amount of news that came out today, it’s surprising how flat stocks were.
US stocks end up barely moved, although there was a fair amount of bouncing around from start to finish. DJIA loses 8 to 9784, S&P 500 slips 3 to 1066, Nasdaq Comp eases 6 to 2127. Other assets, the dollar, crude, gold, are also little changed. Stocks start off higher, then drop, then even out. Indexes break a three-day winning streak, and are down for just the second session of the last 10.
There was a lot of data. Weekly jobless claims eased when they were expected to rise, although still are basically where they were in July, which is too high. The Philly Fed’s manufacturing report comes in stronger, another bit of evidence in the manufacturing rebound. And housing starts rose in August, again although not as much as expected.
Posted by Steven Russolilloon September 17, 2009 Media, Twitter /
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Revenue? Overrated. Profits? Fuggedaboutit.
These are small potatoes for Twitter – the microblogging sensation which reportedly is close to raising about $50 million that will value the hot start-up at $1 billion, according to TechCrunch. Twitter raised $35 million earlier this year, led by Benchmark Capital and Institutional Venture Partners.
Pretty remarkable, especially considering the company still doesn’t generate any meaningful revenue, MediaMemo blogger Peter Kafka says.
“Feel free to debate the merits of Twitter’s growth prospects,” he says. But given Twitter’s apparent course, the funding seems obvious.
Twitter’s repeatedly insisted it wants to build a strong independent company instead of selling out to Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Facebook or any other prospective suitors.
“If they weren’t going to sell, raising yet more money to give the company time and resources to build out a real business is the logical choice,” Kafka says.
Dow Jones reporter Shelly Banjo and Wealth Adviser columnist James Altucher discuss whether it’s too late to get in the market. A year from now the market will be higher than it is now, Altucher says, but it’s likely due for a short-term pullback.
AMR’s unusual financing deal, the strong Philly Fed report on manufacturing, and a disappointing reading on retail sales in the UK. It’s Tomorrow’s News Today.
I have to say, AMR’s deal to sell its frequent flyer miles to Citi to me sounds like New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine’s scheme to monetization Turnpike tolls. You’re basically collecting money now for future revenue streams. The people in New Jersey went nuts when that hit the papers, and eventually the Governor backed off it. Apparently that thinking works in other precincts.
It’ll be interesting to see how other companies in AMR’s position, not the strongest players and needing to raise cash for whatever reason, navigate the waters. Credit’s loosened up, but it’s not flowing quite as freely as the folks in Washington would like. That puts companies like AMR in the position of coming up with very creative means of raising money.
US stocks see-sawing today as bulls and bears are fighting to a standstill, portraying a common theme exhibited in the market’s three-day winning streak this week.
Stocks have started sluggish each day, but still finished higher. S&P 500 is now up a whopping 60% since the market bottomed in early March. But it may have finally reached extreme overbought levels.
The index yesterday closed more than 20% above its 200-day moving average, which Bespoke Investment Group describes as basically an unprecedented move. It’s the first time this has happened since May 1983, and comes only six months after the index traded the furthest below its 200-day moving average since the Great Depression.
“Not even during the great bull run of the ’90s did the index get this far above its 200-DMA,” Bespoke notes on its blog.
Nevertheless, all the chatter this week is focused on when (not if) the Dow will hit 10000. But this isn’t 1999 anymore, MarketWatch editor-in-chief David Calloway writes in a column this morning, and with Dow 10000 looming, this is a time to worry rather than celebrate. From Calloway:
US stock futures slightly higher, as the rally continues apace, traders put Dow 10000 back in their cross hairs, and the bears seem to be hibernating early this season.
Oracle’s earnings weren’t gangbusters, but they didn’t do anything to dissuade bullish investors.
Today brings weekly jobless claims, report on housing starts and the Philly Fed manufacturing index. Earnings reports include FedEx, Discover and Palm after the market. One or more of those could be a disappointment, but at this point, it’ll take a very big disappointment to derail the bulls, and the more likely expectation is that they’ll come in close enough to good to keep the party going.
FedEx’s earnings came in basically as the company said they would last week. Looking at revenue, Express revenue was down 23%, Freight revenue was down 27%, Ground revenue was down 2%. All that led to earnings falling to 58c a share from $1.23 a year ago. The company also backed its 2Q outlook, and said it’ll raise shipping rates about 6%.
S&P futures up 1.20, DJ futures up 17. Ten-year down a hair, yield at 3.47%. Dollar fell to new lows overnight, and gold’s flat.
J.P. Morgan reported some strong earnings today. But what this bloggers eye were some of the sub-numbers in the earnings report. The bank booked $1.8 billion in investment banking fees. But don’t be fooled – that wasn’t from big M&A advising. But $429 million was in advisory fees. Instead, that $1.3 billion + remaining fees […]
David Oreck, founder of a well-known maker of vacuums and air purifiers, says he’s upset his namesake company is in bankruptcy. He says Nashville, Tenn.-based Oreck Corp. was a perfectly profitable company when he sold his stake in it to a private equity firm in 2004. He blames the firm, New York-based American Securities Capital […]
