Active broad-market exchange-traded funds at mid-day:
SPDR S&P 500 (
SPY
): +0.13%
iPath S&P 500 VIX Short Term Futures (
VXX
): -6.8%
Financial Select Sector SPDR (
XLF
): -0.42%
iShares Russell 2000 Index (
IWM
): 0.01%
iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index (
EEM
): -0.05%
Broad Market Indicators
Broad-market exchange-traded funds, including SPY, IWM, IVV and
others, are mostly weaker. Actively traded PowerShares QQQ (QQQ) is
up 0.7%.
U.S. stocks are churning between positive and negative territory
at session's half, as worries over Spain's 10-year bonds - yields
hit a record high of more than 7% - put a damper on the results
from the Greek election. U.S. homebuilders' sentiment, which rose
to its best level in five years this month, as well as expectations
that the Federal Reserve will extend its Operation Twist Program,
have helped keep losses in check.
Winners and Losers
Financial -
Select Financial Sector SPDRs (
XLF
) is down 0.45%. Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X shares (FAS) is
down 0.82%. Its bearish counterpart, FAZ, is up 1%.
Among actives: Bank of America (BAC) is down 1.4%, Goldman Sachs
(GS) is down 2.2%, Morgan Stanley (MS) is down 3.1%, Citigroup (C)
is down 1.9%.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) is down 0.9% after the company
made a capital increase of $250 million to its Mexican
subsidiaries. The sum, funded to J.P. Morgan Grupo Financiero, S.A.
de C.V., will allow the global financial institution to provide
additional lending capital to its Mexican customers. The 62%
capital increase brings the firm's total capital in Mexico to about
$653 million. The additional capital planned for Banco J.P. Morgan,
pending final regulatory approval, will allow it to increase its
lending limits in the country and to provide its clients with more
credit opportunities. J.P. Morgan Casa de Bolsa may also be funded
with additional capital, which will allow it to increase its
activities in the Mexican equity market.
Spanish banks are lower after a report showed that the amount of
risky loans Spain's banks owned had hit 18-year highs. Banco Bilbao
Vizcaya Argentaria SA (BBVA) is down 5.11% while Banco Santander,
S.A. (SAN) is down 5.33%.
Industrial -
Vanguard Industrials (VIS) is down 0.05%; iShares Trust Dow
Jones U.S. Industrial Sector Index Fund (IYJ) is up 0.01% and
Select Sector SPDR-Industrial (XLI) is flat.
Extorre Gold Mines (XG) is much higher, up 54% after the company
said it signed an agreement to be acquired by Yamana Gold (AUY)
through a statutory plan of arrangement under the Canada Business
Corporations Act. Under the terms of the agreement, each XG
shareholder will receive in exchange for each XG share held, $3.50
in cash and 0.0467 of a common share of AUY. Each holder of an XG
stock option shall be entitled to receive, upon the exercise of
such options, AUY shares based upon a share exchange ratio of
0.2648 of an AUY share for each XG share which would have been
issuable upon exercise of such options prior to the effective date
of the arrangement. AUY shares are up 0.6%.
Energy -
Dow Jones U.S. Energy Fund (IYE) is down 1% while Energy Select
Sector SPDR (XLE) is also down 1%.
ExxonMobil (XOM) is down 0.5% in mid-day trading. Last Friday,
the company and Rosneft agreed to jointly develop tight oil
reserves in Western Siberia and establish a joint Arctic Research
Center for Offshore Developments.
Commodities -
Crude is down 0.88% at $83.29 a barrel. United States Oil Fund
(USO) is down 0.73% at 31.40.
Gold is down $2.40 at $1,625.70 an ounce. SPDR Gold Trust (GLD)
is down 0.04% at 157.78 Silver is down 0.12% at $28.71 a pound.
iShares Silver Trust (SLV) is up 0.32% at 27.90.
Healthcare -
Health Care SPDR (XLV) is up 0.46%; iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology
Index (IBB) is up 0.8%; Vanguard Health Care ETF (VHT) is up 0.3%
and iShares Dow Jones US Healthcare (IYH) is up 0.3%.
Infinity Pharmaceuticals (INFI) is down more than 6% after the
company said it will voluntary terminate its Phase 2, double-blind,
randomized, placebo-controlled study of saridegib (IPI-926) in
patients with metastatic or locally advanced, inoperable
chondrosarcoma, after a planned futility analysis of the trial
data, conducted by the study's independent Data Monitoring
Committee, concluded that treatment with saridegib was similar to
placebo and, therefore, the trial would not meet its primary
endpoint. The primary endpoint of the Phase 2 study was
progression-free survival.
Consumer -
Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP) is up 0.15%; iShares
Dow Jones US Consumer Goods (IYK) is down 0.01%; and Vanguard
Consumer Staples ETF (VDC) is up 0.01%.
SPDR S&P Retail (XRT) is down 0.5%; PowerShares Dynamic
Retail (PMR) is up 0.41%; and Market Vectors Retail ETF (RTH) is up
0.17%.
Body Central (BODY) is down near 50% and has hit a new 52-week
low of $8.20 after saying it expects Q2 revenue in the range of $77
to $79 mln and EPS of $0.19 to $0.21 per share. The analyst
consensus is $82 mln in revenue and earnings of $0.27 per share,
according to Capital IQ. For the full fiscal year, the company now
expects net revenues in the range of $323 million to $328 million,
comparable sales to decrease in a range of 4% to 6% and diluted
earnings per share in the range of $1.07 to $1.11. The Street is at
$335 mln in revenue and earnings of $1.35 per share.
DSW (DSW) is down 11.5% after it revised its Q2 EPS outlook to
$0.60 - $0.64, excluding any impact from the company's RVI merger
and related items, due to due to a more normalized gross margin
performance in the quarter and previously announced pre-opening
costs associated with the acceleration in the company's store
expansion. This is below the Capital IQ estimate consensus of $0.75
per share. The company also reaffirms FY12 adjusted EPS of $3.25 to
$3.40, versus the Street estimate of $3.40.
Power Play -
Technology -
Among tech actives: Apple (AAPL) is up 1.52%; Microsoft (MSFT)
is down 0.9%; Intel (INTC) is up 0.433%; Google (GOOG) is up 0.85%;
Cisco (CSCO) is up 0.4%; Yahoo! (YHOO) is up 0.7%.
Yahoo! (YHOO) announced earlier that it has appointed appointed
Michael Barrett as the company's new chief revenue officer. Barrett
will be responsible for Yahoo's advertising revenue and operations
globally for the company, with Americas, EMEA and APAC regional
leads reporting to him.
Facebook (FB) is up 5.7% despite news that the company's chief
technology officer, Bret Taylor, is leaving.
Microsoft (MSFT) is down 0.9% following a report on Techcrunch
that the company and Barnes and Noble (BKS) will announce a new
tablet today, which the Techcrunch report says may be the first
non-Xbox device to gain Xbox Live streaming capabilities. The two
companies announced a "strategic partnership" in late April with
Microsoft investing $300 million into the joint business dubbed
"Newco" for a 17.6% equity stake and Barnes and Noble owning 82.4%.
BKS shares are up 0.71%.
Elster Group SE (ELT) is up 17.4% and has hit new year highs
after the company confirmed that it is in discussions with Melrose
PLC where, among other things, Melrose would make an all cash offer
for all outstanding shares of Elster at US$20.50 per American
Depositary Share, or approximately US$2.3 billion in aggregate on a
fully diluted basis. The administrative board of Elster is in the
process of evaluating whether the proposal is in the best interest
of Elster and its stakeholders.
In the ETF space, iShares Dow Jones US Technology ETF (IYW) is
up 0.3%; Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) is up 0.6%; and
iShares S&P North American Technology ETF (IGM) is up 0.62%.
iShares S&P North American Technology-Software Index (IGV) is
down 0.3%.
SPDR S&P Semiconductor (XSD) is up 0.93% and Semiconductor
Sector Index Fund (SOXX) is up 01.3%.
SPDR S&P International Technology Sector ETF (IPK) is up
1.13%.