Active broad-market exchange-traded funds at mid-day:
SPDR S&P 500 (
SPY
): -0.3%
PowerShares QQQ Trust, Series 1 (
QQQ
): -0.6%
iShares Russell 2000 Index (
IWM
): -0.6%
iPath S&P 500 VIX Short Term Futures (
VXX
): -0.6%
Financial Select Sector SPDR (
XLF
): -0.7%
Broad Market Indicators
Broad-market exchange-traded funds, including SPY, IWM, IVV and
others, continue to be weaker. Actively traded PowerShares QQQ (
QQQ
) is down 0.6%.
U.S. stocks continue their descent farther into negative
territory as corporate earnings reports turn up disappointing
results and lingering worries over a slowdown in global economic
growth take center stage once again. This is despite a decrease in
U.S. new weekly jobless claims and lower import/export prices.
Markets are still stinging after hopes for a new round of stimulus
were dashed following yesterday's Fed meeting minutes, with few
officials keen on having additional asset purchases.
Winners and Losers
Financial -
ETFs and stocks in the sector are digging farther into the
negative zone as minutes from the latest Federal Open Market
Committee meeting indicated more stimulus is unlikely in the near
future.
Select Financial Sector SPDRs (
XLF
) is down 0.7%. Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X shares (FAS) is
down 1.2%. Its bearish counterpart, FAZ, is up 1.1%.
Actives in the sector are adding to earlier losses: Bank of
America (BAC), down 1.4%; Goldman Sachs (GS), down 1.2%; Morgan
Stanley (MS), down 1.8%; and Citigroup (C), down 2%.
Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) is off 0.1% after signing a
definitive settlement agreement between Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. and
the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) that resolves the DOJ's
previously disclosed claims that some Wells Fargo mortgages may
have had a disparate impact on some African-American and Hispanic
borrowers. WFC will pay $125 million to borrowers that the DOJ
believes were adversely impacted by mortgages priced and sold by
independent mortgage brokers through its Wholesale channel. The DOJ
claims are based on a statistical survey of Wells Fargo Home
Mortgage loans between 2004 and 2009, and the claims primarily
relate to mortgages priced and sold to consumers by independent
mortgage brokers. WFC continues to deny the claims despite agreeing
to the settlement.
BBVA (BBVA) is down 3% after shares were downgraded to Neutral
from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Technology -
Tech actives are lower: Apple (AAPL), down 0.4% but well above
day lows; Microsoft (MSFT), down 1.5%; Intel (INTC), down 2%;
Google (GOOG), down 0.6% but well above day lows; Cisco (CSCO),
down 2.%; Yahoo (YHOO), down 0.01%.
Valence Technology (VLNC) filed for voluntary Chapter 11
bankruptcy earlier today.
Yahoo! (YHOO) is facing a security breach issue following
reports that hackers have gained access to its server and posted
passwords from 450,000 user accounts online. According to a report
on the Ars Technica technology news website, the group which took
responsibility for the hacking identified itself as D33DS Company.
The group hacked into a YHOO subdomain, where the details from the
accounts that were retrieved were unencrypted, the report detailed.
According to Reuters, the affected accounts were from Yahoo!
Voices, a voice-over-Internet-protocol, or VOIP, service running on
YHOO's instant messenger. A YHOO spokesperson in Singapore declined
to comment, Reuters said.
Vodafone Group's (VOD) unit, Vodafone New Zealand, will acquire
TelstraClear, the wholly owned subsidiary of Telstra, for NZD 840
mln or $660 mln. VOD shares are down 1.38%.
ETFs in the space are lower: iShares Dow Jones US Technology ETF
(IYW), down 1%; iShares S&P North American Technology ETF
(IGM), down 0.9%; iShares S&P North American
Technology-Software Index (IGV), down 1.3% and Technology Select
Sector SPDR ETF (XLK), down 0.8%.
SPDR S&P Semiconductor (XSD) is down 1.7% and nearer to year
lows; Semiconductor Sector Index Fund (SOXX) is down 1.7%.
SPDR S&P International Technology Sector ETF (IPK) is
flat.
Energy -
Dow Jones U.S. Energy Fund (IYE) is down 0.87% while Energy
Select Sector SPDR (XLE) is down 0.5%.
BP (BP) ADRs are off 0.3% after it said that it agreed to pay
additional $13 million to resolve workplace safety violations
stemming from a 2009 blast at its Texas City, Texas, refinery that
killed 15 people and injured 170 others.
Royal Dutch Shell plc (RDS.A) is down 0.6% after its subsidiary,
Shell Bidco, said its offer to purchase Cove shares is being
extended and will remain open for acceptance until the next closing
date which will be 1.00 p.m. (London time) on25 July 2012. The
offer remains subject to the terms and conditions set out in the
offer document.
Commodities -
Crude was down 0.9%. United States Oil Fund (USO) was down
0.5%.
Gold was down around 0.7% while silver was up around 0.5%. Among
rare metal funds, SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) is down 0.6%; iShares
Silver Trust (SLV), up 0.5%.
Consumer -
ETFs and stocks in the sector are mixed: Consumer Staples Select
Sector SPDR (XLP), up 0.3% to near year highs; iShares Dow Jones US
Consumer Goods (IYK), little changed; and Vanguard Consumer Staples
ETF (VDC), little changed.
SPDR S&P Retail (XRT) is down 1.2%; PowerShares Dynamic
Retail (PMR), down 1.3% and Market Vectors Retail ETF (RTH) down
0.4%.
SuperValu Inc (SVU) is plummeting, now down 47.5% having hit new
year lows after reporting fiscal Q1 per share earnings that were
50% below analyst forecasts and saying it was reviewing strategic
alternatives, including a possible sale of the company. The grocery
chain also suspended its dividend.
Fastenal (FAST) is up 7% after reporting Q2 earnings of $0.38
per share, ex one-time items, versus the Capital IQ consensus of
$0.37. Revenues were $804.9 mln, versus the analyst estimate of
$809.59 mln. In the same period last year, the company reported EPS
of $0.32 on sales of $701.7 mln.
Power Play -
Healthcare -
ETFs and stocks are mostly better in the sector, breaking away
from the broader market slump. Health Care SPDR (XLV) is up 0.5%
and nearer to year highs; iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (IBB),
up 0.7%; Vanguard Health Care ETF (VHT), up 0.4%; and iShares Dow
Jones US Healthcare (IYH), up 0.4%.
Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners (CPRX) is up nearly 30% after
the company earlier announced that it expects topline data from its
CPP-109 Phase II(b) clinical trial for the treatment of cocaine
addiction to be released earlier than expected. The results will be
released at the end of September versus the prior guidance of early
in Q1 of 2013.
Cereplast, Inc. (CERP) is up 16%, adding to its pre-market gains
of some 2%, after the company said it entered into a distribution
agreement with Hamburg, Germany-based ALBIS PLASTIC GMBH to supply
Cereplast bioplastic resins to the United Kingdom and Ireland.
J&J (JNJ) is up 0.03% and closer to year highs despite a
report on Reuters that the company could face a bill of almost $4.8
billion to cover revision surgery for its Pinnacle metal-on-metal
hip system. The report says the company's Pinnacle metal-on-metal
hip system has nearly 1,600 lawsuits pending in U.S. courts.
Doctors who are tracking large groups of patients with both
products estimate that more than 10 percent of the Pinnacle
all-metal hips will have failed in the next two to three years.
Sanofi (SNY) is down 0.1% following affirmation from an employee
that the French pharma giant is planning to halt research in
Toulouse, according to StreetInsider.