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US Market reverses course to end higher

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

After being considerably down for the day, traders turn their focus on earnings

The week started off with a roller coaster ride for the US Market today, Monday, October 22, 2007. In the early morning trading hours, the indices plunged taking a cue from last Friday’s trading sentiment. But in the second half, market picked up momentum as it waited for two crucial earnings report. Finally, at the end, the indices posted modest gains for the day. Six out of ten economic sectors posted losses today.

The Dow Jones industrial Average closed higher by 45 points at 13,567. The Nasdaq Composite Index, finished higher by 28.77 points at 2,753.93. S&P 500 finished higher by 5.7 points at 1,506.

Eighteen out of thirty Dow stocks ended in green. Merck and Walt Disney led the team of Dow winners while Exxon Mobil headed the list of Dow laggards.

Earlier in the day stocks traded lower, perhaps due to some conclusions at the G7 meeting where leaders announced that global growth will moderate in the coming years. But as market waited for Apple and Texas Instruments to declare their earnings report, sentiments started to be more focused towards earnings reports.

Merck was a notable winner today after beating earnings expectation.

Microsoft also provided notable leadership today. The Wall Street Journal reported the European Union has said that it has reached an agreement with Microsoft over compliance issues with the commission's 2004 ruling on the software giant's anticompetitive business practices.

After going up by 6% last week, crude oil prices slipped today and settled below $88/barrel. Prices eased as dollar strengthened against most of its rival currencies. Prices also eased on reports of a cease fire in Turkey. Profit-taking was another reason for the rise in price, especially given that the November front-month crude contract expired at the end of today’s session.

Crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for November delivery closed at $87.56/barrel (lower by $1.04/barrel or 1.2%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Last Friday price had peaked to $90.02/barrel after dropping later in the day.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange came to nearly 1.4 billion, as advancing stocks outran those declining 9 to 7. On the Nasdaq, nearly 2 billion shares were exchanged, and advancing issues topped decliners 3 to 2.

After the close, Apple and Texas Instrument came out with their earnings report and both companies beat Wall Street expectations.

Posted by FR at 10:41 PM  

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