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Hi Cheong wee, Its time straitasia & mermaid will start to power up liao.
U.S. Stocks Advance as Retail, Energy Companies Lead Gains
By Jeff Kearns
June 25 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks advanced for a third day as better-than-estimated earnings at Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. lifted retailers and higher oil prices triggered gains in energy shares, overshadowing an unexpected jump in jobless claims.
Bed Bath & Beyond surged 9.9 percent after the largest home-furnishings retailer cut expenses to guard against the recession. J.C. Penney Co., the third-biggest U.S. department- store chain, added 4.8 percent as JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded the shares. Cameron International Corp., the second-largest maker of oilfield equipment, rallied 6.8 percent after crude advanced and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. advised buying the shares.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.6 percent to 906.45 at 10:44 a.m. in New York. The index has lost 4.2 percent since June 12 following a 40 percent rebound from its 12-year low in March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 39 points, or 0.5 percent, to 8,338.86. Almost two stocks increased for each that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.
“There’s a sense that the consumer is starting to get better,” said Uri Landesman, who manages $2.5 billion at ING Investment Management Inc. in New York. “There’s still uncertainty about the pace of recovery and the slope of the line. People are changing their minds every day.”
Stocks opened lower after the Labor Department said initial claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week by 15,000 to 627,000, defying economists’ average estimate of a decrease. A separate government report showed the economy shrank last quarter at a 5.5 percent pace, slower than the 5.7 percent decrease forecast by economists and previously estimated by the government.
Short Bets Increase
Bets against the S&P 500 rose for the first time since March as investors increased short sales of health-care stocks including Merck & Co. and Cardinal Health Inc. Short interest on the index climbed to 9.8 billion shares as of June 15, a gain of almost 1 percent from two weeks earlier, according to data compiled by U.S. exchanges and Bloomberg and released yesterday.
Bed Bath & Beyond rallied 9.9 percent to $31.19, its steepest gain since April 8. Net income increased to 34 cents a share from 30 cents a year earlier. Analysts anticipated earnings of 25 cents a share, according to the average of 18 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
J.C. Penney Co. rose 4.8 percent to $27.89. The third- largest U.S. department-store chain was upgraded to “overweight” from “neutral” at JPMorgan Chase & Co., which said the company will beat analysts’ earnings estimates on better-than-expected sales and lower costs.
Cameron Rallies
Cameron International jumped 6.8 percent to $28.55. The manufacturer of valves and other oil and gas pressure-control equipment was upgraded to “buy” from “neutral” at Goldman Sachs, which also boosted its share-price estimate 11 percent to $42.
Crude oil for August delivery rose 63 cents to $69.30 a barrel after militants attacked a Royal Dutch Shell Plc pipeline supplying an export terminal in Nigeria, Africa’s largest producer.
Lennar Corp. rallied 14 percent to $8.91 for the biggest gain in the S&P 500. The third-largest U.S. homebuilder said home deliveries and new orders rose 47 percent and 67 percent, respectively, from the first quarter.
Alcoa Inc. rose 2.1 percent to $10.21. The biggest U.S. aluminum maker will benefit from a recovery in manufacturing and the housing market, Citigroup Inc. said in a report, initiating coverage of the stock with a “buy” rating.
Jefferies Gains
Jefferies Group Inc., the brokerage that specializes in mid-sized companies, added 4.4 percent to $21.34 after saying sales may exceed $500 million in the quarter ending June 30. Revenue is expected to be $325 million in the period, according to the average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.
Red Hat Inc. lost 6.6 percent to $18.80, the third-steepest drop in the Russell 1000 Index. The biggest seller of the Linux operating system was downgraded to “neutral” from “buy” at Bank of America Corp., which cited a slowdown in deferred revenue.
Most U.S. stocks advanced yesterday as durable goods orders unexpectedly jumped and earnings topped estimates at Oracle Corp. Equities pared gains and the Dow average fell as the Federal Reserve disappointed investors by not increasing its bond-purchase program.
Fed policy makers yesterday voted to maintain the size and pace of their $1.75 trillion program to buy mortgage debt and Treasuries. The central bank said it sees a “gradual resumption of sustainable” growth.
cheongwee ( Date: 25-Jun-2009 22:38) Posted:
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