Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.22
percent to 12,843.46 while the NASDAQ fell 0.43 percent to
2,891.72 The S&P also fell, decreasing 0.11 percent to
1,378.52.
Top Headline
In a surprise move after the close Monday, Microsoft's (NASDAQ:
MSFT
) Windows Live president Steven Sinofsky announced he would be
leaving the company. While both Sinofsky and Microsoft had
nothing but good things to say about one and other, investors
were shaken by the departure of the lead behind the Windows 8
project shortly after its launch. The news lead to a 3.20 percent
drop in Microsoft's share price Tuesday morning.
Equities Trading UP
The Home Depot (NYSE:
HD
) saw a 4.68 percent boost to $64.03 following an earnings beat
before the market opening Tuesday.
Shares of Michael Kors (NYSE:
KORS
) saw a boost as well, rising 3.93 percent to $52.57 after
posting an earnings beat, despite releasing lower guidance than
expected by analysts.
Halcon Resources (NYSE:
HK
) rallied 8.64 percent to $5.85 after the company filed a series
of SEC form 4's on Monday.
Equities Trading DOWN
Weatherford International (NYSE:
WFT
) fell 11.76 percent to $9.60 after the company announced it
would have to refile its first-quarter earnings statement and
missed on revenue after the close Monday.
AK Steel (NYSE:
AKS
) was also down, dropping 10.26 percent to $4.90 after the
company announced $475 million in new debt offerings and a 25
million share common stock offering before the market opening
Tuesday. The debt offering, which nearly matches the $545.4
million market cap of the company clearly worried investors.
Shares of Tronox (NYSE:
TROX
) fell 19.07 percent following the market opening to $15.15
following a very poor earnings report after the close Monday.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.89 percent to $84.80, while
gold traded down 0.23 percent to $1,727.00.
Silver traded up 0.09 percent Monday to $32.62.
Eurozone
European markets traded down Tuesday morning as the EU and IMF
renewed their struggle over details of the Greek bailout.
The euro got a slight boost Tuesday morning after a German
newspaper reported that the German government was currently at
work on an EU44B aid package to cover Greece for the remainder of
the year.
Economics
In economic news Tuesday morning, the NFIB small business
optimism came in at 93.1, slightly above the expected 93.0 and
the prior report of 92.8.
IBD/TIPP economic optimism came in at 48.6, well below the
expected 53.8 and the previous figure of 54.0.
The monthly budget statement will be announced at 2:00 PM EST,
so stay tuned to Benzinga for an up to the second release once
the data is available.
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