Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.50
percent to 13,949.45 while the NASDAQ rose 0.59 percent to
3,149.99. The S&P also surged 0.53 percent to 1,510.32.
Top Headline
Yesterday, Hewlett-Packard Co (NYSE:
HPQ
) posted better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results and
issued an upbeat outlook for the fiscal second quarter.
H-P expected FQ2 adjusted earnings of $0.80 to $0.82 per
share, surpassing analysts' estimates of $0.77 per share. It
posted FQ1 adjusted earnings of $0.82 per share on revenue of
$28.4 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of
$0.71 per share on revenue of $27.9 billion.
Analysts at UBS also upgraded the stock from Sell to
Neutral.
Equities Trading UP
Aruba Networks (NASDAQ:
ARUN
) shot up 21.12 percent to $25.19 after the company reported
upbeat FQ2 results.
Shares of Infoblox (NYSE:
BLOX
) got a boost, shooting up 17.65 percent to $22.53 after the
company posted better-than-expected FQ2 results and issued an
upbeat FY13 outlook.
WebMD Health (NASDAQ:
WBMD
) was also up, gaining 23.44 percent to $20.12 after the
company's Q4 revenue surpassed analysts' estimates.
Equities Trading DOWN
Volcano (NASDAQ:
VOLC
) took a 12.40 percent hit to $21.61 this morning after the
company reported a decline in its Q4 net income.
Abercrombie & Fitch Co (NYSE:
ANF
) was also down, falling 7.58 percent to $45.33 after the company
issued downbeat FY13 forecast.
Shares of MRC Global (NYSE:
MRC
) were down 9.01 percent to $28.18 this morning, after the
company issued downbeat FY13 forecast.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.04 percent to $92.80,
while gold traded down 0.36 percent to $1,572.90.
Silver traded down 0.87 percent Friday to $28.45, while copper
dropped 0.61 percent to $3.53.
Eurozone
European shares were higher following the strong IFO survey.
The Ifo Business Climate index surged to 107.4 in the month of
February, beating estimates of a 104.7 reading and better than
last month's 104.3. German Q4 GDP was reported as
contracting 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter, in line with
expectations, and growing 0.1 percent on an annualized basis,
also in line with expectations.
The European Union has cut its growth forecasts for 2013,
slashing estimates to a contraction of 0.3 percent from a
previously projected growth of 0.1 percent. German growth
forecasts were cut to 0.5 percent from 2 percent previously and
U.K. growth forecasts were cut to 0.9 percent from 1.9 percent
previously.
The Spanish Ibex surged 2.05 percent, while the Italian MIB
index jumped 1.40 percent. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 1.30
percent, London's FTSE 100 Index surged 0.70 percent, French CAC
40 Index rose 2.25 percent and German DAX 30 index gained 1.03
percent.
(c) 2013 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment
advice. All rights reserved.
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