Markets Down Marginally Awaiting Results on Greek Deal

Published on Wednesday, 08 February 2012 13:01 Written by J Hawk

New York, February 8^th (TradersHuddle.com) – U.S. stocks opened mostly unchanged this morning before selling off, as the market patiently awaits the outcome of negotiations for Greece to receive its second €130 billion bailout from the so-called troika, the EU, IMF and ECB.

Nevertheless, equity markets continue exhibiting caution as uncertainty remains. Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is still seeking approval from party leaders backing his interim government on a slew of austerity measures Greece must adopt before the troika releases the next bailout package.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down -39 points or -0.3 percent midday to 12,840, with the S&P 500 Index shedding -3 or -0.2 percent to 1,344, while the NASDAQ composite Index declined by -4 or -0.2% to 2,899. 

U.S. economic numbers continue the week with very few releases, with Crude Oil Inventories showing a drop to +0.3M barrels this week, versus an expected increase of +2.9 million barrels, and down from +4.2 million barrels last week.

U.S. Stocks in the News

Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) stock was up +0.42 or +1.1 percent midday to $38.52 per share, after the New York based media conglomerate reported a slight rise in fourth quarter earnings. Time Warner also announced an 11 percent increase in its quarterly dividend and a $4 billion stock buyback program. The company will pay out a 26 cent dividend in the first quarter of 2012. Time Warner reported a profit of $773 million or 76 cents per share, versus $769 million or 68 cents per share in the same period one year ago. Excluding some items, earnings per share rose to 94 cents per share, versus 67 cents last year, which compares to the analyst consensus of 87 cents per share. The media giant will also buy back $4 billion of its own stock, adding to the $4.9 billion in stock it already bought back throughout 2011.  

Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) stock was down -0.05 or -2.04 percent at midday to $2.40 per share, after the company reported a net loss of -$1.3 billion or 43 cents per share in the fourth quarter, which compares to a loss of -$929 million or 31 cents per share in the same period one year ago. The loss was attributed in part to the cost of Sprint selling the Apple iPhone and receiving a lower than expected increase to subscriber numbers. The Q4, 2011 results included a loss of $241 million related to one-time costs on assets such as plants and equipment, in addition to severance and asset impairment charges from its investment in Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR) Sprint’s provider of 4G WiMax services.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was up 4.37 or 0.93 percent at midday to $473.16, after the stock logged a new all-time high of $474.22, as the chatter regarding the highly anticipated Apple TV set continued. Yesterday, Barclays said that its estimates that the iTV could add $5.40 per share to earnings in fiscal 2013.

3M Company (NYSE: MMM) stock was up +0.05or +0.06 percent midday to $87.94 per share after the company announced its Chief Operating Officer, Inge Thulin would be replacing George Buckley as Chief Executive Officer on February 24^th. The St. Paul, Minnesota-based conglomerate best known as the manufacturer of Scotch Tape and a wide array of other consumer products, has been increasing its focus on expanding into emerging markets. Thulin seems to be the perfect fit for CEO, with his experience in international operations, having already put in time managing operations in Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East and Europe.