INDICATIONS
U.S. steady as GE hits forecasts; retail data awaited
By Simon Kennedy, MarketWatch
Last Update: 7:20 AM ET Oct 13, 2006
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures held steady Friday after industrial bellwether General Electric reported third-quarter results in line with market forecasts and investors awaited key retail-sales data, with Yahoo also in focus after a broker downgrade.
GE (GE : General Electric Company
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Last: 36.22+0.05+0.14%
GE36.22, +0.05, +0.1%) said third-quarter net income rose 6%, matching forecasts, and sales increased 12%. The diversified manufacturer credited the growth to stronger industrial sales and financial-services revenue. See full story.
S&P 500 futures dipped 0.50 points at 1,370.20 and Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.50 points at 1,733.25. Dow industrial futures slipped 3 points at 12,003.
U.S. stocks rallied Thursday on stronger-than-expected earnings from McDonald's Corp. (MCD : McDonald's Corporation
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Last: 42.23+0.98+2.38%
MCD42.23, +0.98, +2.4%) among others and a favorable Federal Reserve Beige Book survey, which showed few signs of increased price pressure. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 95.57 points at a record 11,947.70.
Data will again be in focus Friday with the release of the September retail-sales report. Economists polled by MarketWatch expect retail sales growth of 0.1%, down from 0.2%, largely due to a sharp fall in retail gasoline prices.
Also set for release Friday are the September import-price index and the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for October.
The dollar held steady against the euro and the Japanese yen.
Crude-oil prices broke back through $58 a barrel after data on Thursday showed U.S. distillate inventories had fallen for the first time in nine weeks. The November light crude contract was recently up 40 cents to $58.26 a barrel in electronic trading.
Home builder Centex Corp. (CTX : Centex Corporation
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Last: 55.09+1.10+2.04%
CTX55.09, +1.10, +2.0%) said late Thursday that it sees second-quarter earnings from continuing operations of 65 cents to 75 cents a share, compared with its July view of $1.40. It said net sales tumbled 28% from last year
Among broker calls, Yahoo Inc. (YHOO : Yahoo! Inc.
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Last: 24.12-0.12-0.50%
YHOO24.12, -0.12, -0.5%) was cut to peer perform from outperform at Thomas Weisel. While it believes Yahoo as a business has a "terrific" future, it thinks the company may have a difficult time achieving medium-term consensus earnings expectations.
Wachovia Securities upgraded Time Warner Telecom, Inc. (TWTC : time warner telecom inc cl a
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Last: 19.60+0.46+2.40%
TWTC19.60, +0.46, +2.4%) to outperform from market perform, citing potential upside from the Xspedius acquisition and its belief that the enterprise market is firming.
La-Z-Boy (LZB : La-Z-Boy Incorporated
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Last: 15.00-0.05-0.33%
LZB15.00, -0.05, -0.3%) after Thursday's close cut its fiscal second-quarter earnings forecast to a range of a penny to 4 cents a share from its previous view of 11 cents to 15 cents a share because of weaker sales.
Pawnshop operator EZCorp (EZPW : EZCORP Inc Cl A Non-Vtg
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Last: 36.35+1.43+4.10%
EZPW36.35, +1.43, +4.1%) raised its fourth-quarter earnings forecast to a range of 61 cents to 64 cents a share. EZ Corp. previously forecast earnings of 43 cents to 46 cents a share. Additionally, it sees 2006 per-share earnings of $2.05 to $2.08 and 2007 per-share earnings of $2.40 to $2.45, ahead of Wall Street's view.
Also late Thursday Aetna (AET : aetna inc new com
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Last: 40.22+0.27+0.68%
AET40.22, +0.27, +0.7%) said it will lay off 650 staff, or about 2% of its total workforce, in a move to cut administrative costs.