U.S. stocks are seeing solid gains across the board after the
Federal Reserve announced a new stimulus plan aimed at helping
lower the unemployment rate.
The plan to revive the economy includes the government's
purchase of $40 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities each
month, starting Sept. 14. The announcement spurred the S&P 500,
the Dow and NASDAQ up approximately 1% each.
The Fed also said it is keeping in place the "Operation Twist,"
which consists of swapping short-dated securities for longer-term
securities, as well as reinvesting the proceeds of maturing
securities. This will result in the central bank adding $85 billion
of long-term securities each month through the end of the year.
Interest rates will hold at a rate between 0% and 0.25% -- from
late 2014 to "at least through mid-2015." Previously, the Fed had
forecast rates would remain low until late 2014.
U.S. sectors are mixed, with utilities, non-cyclical consumer
and services leading gains while transportation, capital goods and
financial sectors lag.
Commodities were mixed. Crude oil for October delivery was up
$1.34 at $98.35 a barrel. October natural gas was down $0.073 at
$2.99 per 1 million BTU.
December gold futures rose $14.10, or 0.8%, to $1,747.60 an
ounce. December silver was flat at $33.29. December copper unmoved
at $3.69.
Here's where the markets stand:
NYSE Composite (^NYA) up 108 Pts (1.3%) to 8,375.
Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) up 106.32 (0.80%) to
13,439.67
S&P 500 (^INX) up 18.34 (1.28%) to 1,455.
Nasdaq Composite Index (^IXIC) up 43.33 (1.4%) to 3,157.5.
GLOBAL SENTIMENT
Nikkei 225 Index up 0.39%
Hang Seng Index down 0.14%
Shanghai China Composite Index down 0.48%
FTSE 100 Index up 0.76%
NYSE SECTOR INDICES
NYSE Energy Sector Index (^NYE) up 39.01 (+0.29) at
13,623.20
NYSE Financial Sector Index (^NYK) up 4.25 (0.09%) at
4,619.85
NYSE Healthcare Sector Index (^NYP) up 25.09 (0.35%) to
7,256.75
UPSIDE MOVERS:
(+) DARA, (+10%, but off day highs) Announced that it has signed
an exclusive agreement with The Helsinn Group of Switzerland for
the U.S. commercial rights to Gelclair. Gelclair is an FDA-cleared
topical gel topical gel used to coat and protect the oral cavity to
reduce pain from oral mucositis. DARA plans to launch Gelclair in
the first quarter of 2013.
(+) HEK, (+8.7%) The water solutions company is up after
announcing that it has completed the acquisition of a majority
interest in Appalachian Water Services, LLC (AWS). AWS will operate
as an integral part of Heckmann's fluid management solutions
strategy. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
(+) PLL, (+8%) The filtration, separation and purification
technologies company, is up 8% after it posted FQ4 diluted earnings
per share of $0.99, topping the $0.77 per share estimate on Yahoo
Finance. Revenue for the quarter came in at $783.7 million, beating
the $718.79 million consensus. For the full year, PLL's sales
increased 5.9% on the previous year. Diluted EPS were $2.71
compared to $2.67 in the previous year.
(+) LRN, (+7.3%) In the after hours session, reported that it
pulled in Q4 revenue of $170.4 mln, up nearly 33% year-over-year
and ahead of the analyst consensus of $165.4 mln on Capital IQ.
Earnings increased to $0.05 per share vs. a year ago loss of $0.08
per share. The Street view was a loss of $0.04 per share.
DOWNSIDE MOVERS:
(-) FMER, (-10.2%) Today agreed to acquire Citizens Republic
Bancorp Inc. (
CRBC
) in a stock deal valued at roughly $952 million.
(-) NOC, (-2.3%) Was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS. The
firm established a $64 price target.