Friday, November 16, 2007

Thank God It's Friday!

A late rally sent stocks to a positive finish on Friday, ending a wild week with a wild trading day.

Share prices fluctuated throughout the day, as investors digested a spate of earnings news both good and bad, and fell back into the standby routine of selling financial stocks and snapping up tech shares.

The major averages finished in positive territory after swinging between gains and losses for most of the day. The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 13,174, up 64 points, or 0.5%. The Standard & Poor’s 500 added 7 points, or 0.5%, to 1,458, while the Nasdaq gained 18 points, or 0.7%, to 2,637.

The Dow Transportation average tumbled 1.6%, falling 74 points to 4,563. The decline was sparked when FedEx (nyse: FDX - news - people ) revised its guidance early in the day. The shipping company said rising fuel costs and weak package volume will pressure its earnings and cut its fiscal second quarter and full-year 2008 outlook, and shares dropped $4.57, or 4.5%, to $96.80. (See: "FedEx Burned By Oil")

FedEx rival (UPS (nyse: UPS - news - people )) also closed with a loss Friday, down $1.09, or 1.5%, to $72.01.

Trucking company YRC Worldwide (nasdaq: YRCW - news - people ) said it sees the same weak trends as FedEx. The company, which stopped offering guidance this year due to the difficulty in forecasting the market, saw its shares drop $2.52, to $17.59, down 12.5% Friday.

Crude prices added $1.67, to $95.10 per barrel on the New York mercantile exhange. The major U.S. oil companies closed the day with gains as the commodity rallied. Dow component Exxon Mobil (nyse: XOM - news - people ) rose 44 cents, or 0.5%, to $84.93, Chevron (nyse: CVX - news - people ) climbed $1.82, or 2.2%, to $85.98, and ConocoPhillips (nyse: COP - news - people ) shares added 89 cents, or 1.1%, to $78.93.

The topsy-turvy day on Wall Street mirrored the trends of the late summer and early fall, as financial stocks retreated and the tech sector charged ahead.

Financial firms declined after Fannie Mae (nyse: FNM - news - people ) said it has reworked the way in which it accounts for losses, an announcement that appeared to confuse investors and shake whatever confidence they had in the lender. Shares of Fannie dropped $2.35, or 5.5%, to $40.69. (See: "Fannie Mae Fails To Quell Worries")

On the tech side, the big names were leading the gains, as computer-maker Hewlett-Packard (nyse: HPQ - news - people ) paced the Dow with a 3.8% gain. Shares of the company rose $1.85, to $50.75, after a Morgan Stanley analyst upgraded its shares. (See: "HP Drives Tech On Friday")

Among the biggest tech winners was Garmin (nasdaq: GRMN - news - people ), after the navigation equipment company announced it was withdrawing from the bidding for European digital map-maker Tele Atlas. The withdrawal, which basically ceded Tele Atlas to Garmin rival TomTom, was met with approval by investors. Garmin’s shares flew 16.1% higher, adding $13.51, to $97.51. (See: "Garmin Pops After Dropping Tele Atlas Bid")

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