Thursday’s stock market trading brought a rebound from Wednesday’s losses. While the three major stock indices recovered Wednesday’s sub-percentage point losses, stocks in Miami-based companies made significantly better gains.
Another “less bad” report on initial unemployment claims helped boost stocks on a day of unusually thin trading volume. (763 million shares were traded on the NYSE.) Although the “advance figure” for initial unemployment claims remained the same as the last week’s “adjusted figure”, the 4-week moving average exhibited a slight decrease:
In the week ending February 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 351,000, unchanged from the previous week's revised figure of 351,000. The 4-week moving average was 359,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week's revised average of 366,000.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s national index was spun to provide a nice sound bite. Here is the report from Kate Gibson of MarketWatch:
Thursday’s economic data had the Federal Housing Finance Agency reporting U.S. home prices climbed 0.7% in the final month of 2011.
Nevertheless, reading the report would have revealed this title: “U.S. House Prices Fell 0.1 Percent in Fourth Quarter 2011”. Here is the full story:
FHFA’s seasonally adjusted monthly index for December was up 0.7 percent from its November value. On a not-seasonally adjusted basis, prices were flat over the November-to December period.
“While FHFA’s national index shows a 2 percentage point price decline over the latest four quarters, 12 states and the District of Columbia posted price increases,” said FHFA Principal Economist Andrew Leventis. “When coupled with the fact that about half of all U.S. states saw price increases in the latest quarter, this growth adds to mounting evidence that real estate markets are seeing at least some signs of life.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 46 points on Thursday to close at 12,984 for a gain of 36 basis points (0.36 percent). The S&P 500 advanced by 43 basis points (0.43 percent) to finish at 1,363. The NASDAQ Composite regained 86 basis points (0.86 percent) to end the day at 2,956.
Miami-based corporations had a great day on Thursday. Lennar (LEN) led the group with a fat gain of 2.58% to close at 22.66. Ryder System (R) was next, jumping by 1.90% to finish at 53.92. Royal Caribbean (RCL) advanced by 1.11% to close at 29.07. Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL) enjoyed a more modest gain of 20 basis points (0.20%) to end the day at 30.16.
The following companies will be playing “beat the number” on Friday, with the release of their quarterly earnings reports: Alpha Natural Resources (ANR), American Water Works (AWK), BGC Partners (BGCP), Crown Media Holdings (CRWN), Cyberonics (CYBX), Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings (ENDP), EW Scripps (SSP), FTI Consulting (FCN), Gray Television (GTN), Interline Brands (IBI), Interpublic Group (IPG), JC Penney (JCP), Kaydon (KDN), Mobile Mini (MINI), Newmont Mining (NEM), Pepco Holdings (POM), Pinnacle West Capital (PNW), Portland General Electric (POR) and Telephone and Data Systems (TDS). Good luck!
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