Active broad-market exchange-traded funds at mid-day:
SPDR S&P 500 (
SPY
): -1.2%
iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index (
EEM
): -2%
PowerShares QQQ Trust, Series 1 (
QQQ
): -1.7%
Financial Select Sector SPDR (
XLF
): -1%
iShares Russell 2000 Index (
IWM
): -1.2%
Broad Market Indicators
Broad-market exchange-traded funds, including SPY, IWM, IVV and
others, are sliding farther down. Actively traded PowerShares QQQ (
QQQ
) is down 1.7%.
U.S. stocks continue to be quagmired in negative territory,
unable to shake off disappointment over the worse-than-expected
nonfarm-payrolls report for June, which showed 80,000 jobs added
for the month. In total, the US gained 225,000 jobs in the past
three months, making it the weakest quarter of job growth since
2010, rekindling fears of a recession and driving down markets
across the board. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, remained flat
at 8.2%.
Winners and Losers
Financial -
Select Financial Sector SPDRs (
XLF
) is down 1%. Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X shares (FAS) is down
2.5%. Its bearish counterpart, FAZ, is up 2.5%.
Preferred Bank (PFBC) is down 18% after it said that it expects
to incur charges from two significant loans that will negatively
impact its Q2 results. The bank expects to report a Q2 net loss
ranging from $5.5 million to $5.7 million.
Visa Inc. (V) and MasterCard Inc. (MA) are prepared to settle a
seven-year lawsuit brought by retailers to cut their credit-card
costs later this month, according to Bloomberg, which cites three
people briefed on the talks. A settlement may come as soon as late
next week, the report says, adding that the deal may include
payments to retailers and a temporary cut in interchange rates or
swipe fees tacked on to each card purchase. V shares are off 1.3%
from near year highs while MA shares are down 0.5%.
Actives in the sector are trading more deeply in the red: Bank
of America (BAC), down 1.6%; Goldman Sachs (GS), down 0.4%; Morgan
Stanley (MS),down 1.5%; Citigroup (C), down 1.9%.
Technology -
Tech actives are seeing continued weakness: Apple (AAPL), down
1%; Microsoft (MSFT), down 2.1%; Intel (INTC), down 1.8%; Google
(GOOG), down 1.7%; Cisco (CSCO), down 1.3%; and Yahoo (YHOO), down
0.4%.
Informatica (INFA) is now down 28% at around $31.12, which is $3
above the new year lows hit earlier today after the company said in
Thursday's after hours session that it expects Q2 revenue in the
range of $188 to $190 mln, below the analyst consensus of $217.6
mln on Capital IQ. EPS are seen in the range of $0.27 to $0.28, vs.
expectations of $0.37 per share.
Research In Motion Ltd (RIMM) is up 4% despite a Reuters report
earlier that proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis advised investors not
to re-elect one-time lead director John Richardson to the board of
the struggling BlackBerry maker at Tuesday's annual meeting. The
advice repeats a long-standing Glass Lewis concern that Richardson
failed to properly oversee the provision of stock options to RIM
employees, which were erroneously back-dated over an eight-year
period, Reuters said.
Yahoo, Inc. (YHOO) is considering Hulu LLC Chief Executive
Officer Jason Kilar for its top job, Bloomberg reports. Bloomberg
said Yahoo seeks a CEO who can revive growth and quell the
management upheaval that has put five executives at the helm since
2009. Scott Thompson exited in May after failing to correct an
error in his academic credentials.
Amazon.com (AMZN) is off nearly 1% after Bloomberg reported that
the company is developing a smartphone that would run on Google's
(GOOG) Android operating system. The report cited two people with
knowledge of the matter. The company is working with Chinese mobile
phone manufacturer Foxconn International Holdings, according to one
of the sources, while the other said AMZN will be acquiring patents
that cover wireless technology to prevent against patent
infringement disputes, the report detailed.
In the ETF space, iShares Dow Jones US Technology ETF (IYW) is
down 2.3%; Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK), down 1.8%;
iShares S&P North American Technology ETF (IGM), down 2.4%; and
iShares S&P North American Technology-Software Index (IGV),
down 4.3%.
SPDR S&P Semiconductor (XSD) is down 3.9%; Semiconductor
Sector Index Fund (SOXX), down 3%.
SPDR S&P International Technology Sector ETF (IPK) is
flat.
Energy -
Dow Jones U.S. Energy Fund (IYE) is off 1.3% while Energy Select
Sector SPDR (XLE) is down 1.4%.
Pengrowth Energy Corp. (PGH) is down 4.9% after announcing that
its monthly dividend payment will be reduced to Cdn $0.04 per
month. The dividend change will come into effect for the dividend
payable August 15, 2012 to shareholders of record as of July 23,
2012. This initiative follows a $200 million pro forma capital
expenditure reduction.
Commodities -
Crude is down around around 3%, as is natural gas. Among ETFs,
United States Oil Fund (USO) is down 2.2% while the United States
Natural Gas Fund (UNG) is down 3.4%.
Gold is down around 1.6%; silver, down around 2.3%. Among rare
metal funds, SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) is down 1.6%; iShares Silver
Trust (SLV) is down 2.7%
Healthcare -
ETFs in the space continue to be weaker: Health Care SPDR (XLV),
down 0.8%; iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (IBB), down 1%;
Vanguard Health Care ETF (VHT), down 0.8%; and iShares Dow Jones US
Healthcare (IYH), down 0.9%.
Alexza Pharmaceuticals (ALXA) is down 11% but well above session
lows after it announced today that the U.S. Food & Drug
Administration (FDA) has accepted its resubmitted ADASUVE New Drug
Application (NDA) as a complete, class 2 response to the FDA's
action letter, with an indicated Prescription Drug User Fee Act
(PDUFA) goal date of December 21, 2012. On June 22, 2012, Alexza
announced that it had resubmitted the ADASUVE NDA, which seeks
marketing approval for the acute treatment of agitation associated
with schizophrenia or bipolar I disorder in adults.
ShangPharma (SHP) is up 17.5%, paring back earlier gains of more
than 20% after its Board of Directors received a going-private
offer from its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Michael Xin
Hui, to acquire all of the outstanding shares of ShangPharma for
between $8.50 and $9.50 per American Depositary Share (ADS, each
ADS representing 18 ordinary shares of the company) in cash,
subject to certain conditions.
Power Play -
Consumer -
Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP) is down 0.2% from near
year highs; iShares Dow Jones US Consumer Goods (IYK) and Vanguard
Consumer Staples ETF (VDC) are also lower, down 0.5% and 0.2%
respectively.
SPDR S&P Retail (XRT) is down 1.2%; PowerShares Dynamic
Retail (PMR), down nearly 1%; and Market Vectors Retail ETF (RTH),
down 0.4% from year highs.
LaCrosse Footwear (BOOT) is steady higher, up 80% and hitting
new year highs after the company agreed to be acquired by Japanese
footwear retailer, ABC-MART, INC., for $20 per share in cash, or
approximately $138 million. The transaction is expected to close in
the third calendar quarter of 2012.