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Coutts-US MIDDAY: AIRLINES LEAD GAINS(ENP Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) ENP Newswire - 13 December 2013 Release date- 12122013 - Wall Street was slipping slightly lower on Thursday, as investors digested some mixed economic data with a decent pick-up in retail sales being offset by a big rise in jobless claims. Jobless claims surged to their highest level in two months in the week ended December 7th, rising to 368,000 from a revised 300,000 the week before. Analysts had expected a much smaller increase to 320,000. However, analysts warned about reading too much into the numbers given that the Labor Department said volatile seasonal factors - related to the timing of Thanksgiving - affected the data. Analyst Cooper Howes from Barclays said: 'We would suggest smoothing through the volatility and looking at the four-week moving average, which rose 6,000 to 329,000.' The volume of US retail sales expanded at a 0.7% month-on-month pace in November, figures from the Census Bureau revealed on Thursday. This was higher than a revised 0.6% gain in October and ahead of the consensus estimate for 0.5%. So-called 'core' retail sales (which strip out sales of vehicles, gasoline, and building materials) were up 0.6%, well above Barclays Research's 0.3% forecast, and growth was revised up in both October (to 0.8% from 0.5%) and September (to 0.4% from 0.3%), the broker pointed out to clients. Paul Dales, Senior US Economist at Capital Economics, said that the data suggests that the 'holiday shopping season began on a strong note'. The reports come as investors weigh the outlook on the timing of the Federal Reserve's tapering of monetary stimulus. A budget deal in Washington signed on Tuesday night was met with a mixed reaction on markets yesterday. While the agreement looks to ease spending cuts over the next two years and reduces the potential for political brinkmanship, many believe that it removes yet another obstacle standing in the way of the Fed's decision to taper following the strong labour-market figures out last week. According to a December 6th survey by Bloomberg, 34% of economists believe the central bank may consider reducing its $85bn of monthly bond purchases at its December 17th-18th meeting, up 17% from a November 8th poll. Airlines strong Investment banking group JPMorgan Chase & Co edged lower after the opening bell on reports that it is near a settlement with the Justice Department related to its relationship with Bernie Madoff. Facebook rallied on the news that it is to join the Standard & Poor's 500 index next week just a year after its debut on the stock market. Telecommunications network equipment maker Ciena Corp declined after posting fourth quarter adjusted earnings per share that missed forecasts. Oracle was downgraded to 'neutral' by analysts at JP Morgan. Airlines gained as IATA raised its forecasts for airlines' profitability in 2013 and 2014. Southwest Airlines was raised to 'buy' from 'neutral' at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch. 10-year US Treasury yields edged higher by 2 basis points to the 2.88% mark. Front month West Texas crude futures were edging up by 0.19% to the $97.61/barrel mark on the NYMEX. S&P 500 - Risers Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) $18.60 +3.51% GameStop Corp. (GME) $46.18 +2.15% Delta Airlines Inc. (DAL) $28.24 +2.10% American International Group Inc. (AIG) $49.64 +1.93% Helmerich & Payne Inc. (HP) $79.92 +1.91% BB&T Corp. (BBT) $35.32 +1.85% Owens-Illinois Inc. (OI) $33.65 +1.72% Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $369.99 +1.65% Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) $11.36 +1.61% Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $65.39 +1.55% S&P 500 - Fallers JDS Uniphase Corp. (JDSU) $11.75 -3.53% AES Corp. (AES) $13.87 -3.14% Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR) $20.67 -3.05% Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) $65.52 -2.75% F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $82.04 -2.61% Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM) $40.65 -2.54% Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) $49.27 -2.53% Teradyne Inc. (TER) $16.43 -2.43% Sysco Corp. (SYY) $36.07 -2.41% J. M. Smucker Co. (SJM) $101.52 -2.38% Dow Jones I.A - Risers Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $168.27 +0.40% Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $94.62 +0.38% Intel Corp. (INTC) $24.50 +0.33% JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $56.19 +0.21% General Electric Co. (GE) $26.60 +0.08% Dow Jones I.A - Fallers Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $82.19 -2.17% Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $91.28 -1.97% Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $20.51 -1.77% Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $48.09 -1.76% Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $69.29 -1.74% Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $39.49 -1.61% Visa Inc. (V) $202.93 -1.33% McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $94.30 -1.01% Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $48.01 -0.98% International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $173.54 -0.95% Nasdaq 100 - Risers Facebook Inc. (FB) $51.29 +3.87% Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA) $143.07 +2.45% Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $369.99 +1.65% Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $65.39 +1.55% Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $273.47 +1.28% Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $78.75 +1.16% Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $43.53 +1.08% Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $122.85 +1.03% Fiserv Inc. (FISV) $111.52 +1.02% Mylan Inc. (MYL) $41.83 +0.99% Nasdaq 100 - Fallers Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) $65.52 -2.75% F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $82.04 -2.61% Garmin Ltd. (GRMN) $47.16 -2.16% Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $16.65 -2.12% Randgold Resources Ltd. Ads (GOLD) $64.06 -1.90% Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) $28.15 -1.85% Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $20.51 -1.77% KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $60.94 -1.66% Catamaran Corp (CTRX) $43.64 -1.56% Kraft Foods Group, Inc. (KRFT) $52.90 -1.55% [Editorial queries for this story should be sent to [email protected]] ((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected])) (c) 2013 Electronic News Publishing - |