US stocks rose, paring losses for the month, as Walt Disney Co's profit topped forecasts, Boeing Co won a US$6 billion aircraft order and Midwest manufacturing expanded more than expected.
"In terms of underlying developments on the economy, in terms of corporate profits, we are going the right way," Kevin Bannon, chief investment officer at Bank of New York Co, told Bloomberg Television. The bank oversees US$70 billion.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 108.68, or 1.4 percent, to 8,053.81. Disney and Boeing contributed more than one-tenth of the gain. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index advanced 11.09, or 1.3 percent, to 855.70. Both benchmarks climbed for a third day in four.
Applied Materials Inc tumbled, sending the NASDAQ Composite Index lower, after the company said orders for its semiconductor-making equipment fell more than forecast last quarter.
The NASDAQ lost 1.44, or 0.1 percent, to 1,320.91.
The S&P 500 slipped 2.7 percent this month, its worst January performance since 2000, partly because of concern a war with Iraq would push up energy prices and slow economic growth. The Dow fell 3.5 percent and the NASDAQ 1.1 percent.
Stocks' January declines may foretell a drop for the year.
Since 1950, the direction of the market in January predicted the annual course of the stock market in all but 10 years. In the Stock Trader's Almanac, Yale Hirsch says there were only four "major" errors, when the direction of stocks in January was dramatically different from the rest of the year.
Shares were helped after the National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago's factory index rose to its highest since May, suggesting a recovery among Midwest factories gained strength in January.
"This is a good first number showing growth," said Philip Orlando, chief investment officer at Value Line Asset Management, which oversees about US$5 billion.
Among the S&P 500 companies that have posted fourth-quarter results, profits have risen 11.6 percent, according to Thomson First Call. Analysts expect earnings growth of 12.5 percent once all the index's members have reported.
Disney share rose US$1.15 to US$17.50 after the second-largest US media company said fiscal first-quarter profit beat the average analyst forecast. Disney earned US$0.17 a share, excluding aircraft-lease writedowns, as revenue rose to a record on higher theme-park attendance and television ad sales. Analysts expected US$0.15.
Boeing added US$0.93 to US$31.59. The world's largest planemaker received an order from Ryanair Holdings Plc, Europe' second-largest low-cost airline, for as many as 100 jetliners.
More than two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange while four advanced for every three that declined on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Some 1.51 billion shares traded on the Big Board, 11 percent above the three-month daily average.
Benchmark indexes slumped for a third consecutive week. The S&P 500 lost 0.7 percent, the Dow 1 percent and the NASDAQ 1.6 percent.
Applied Materials, the biggest maker of equipment to produce semiconductors, slipped US$0.98, or 7.6 percent, to US$11.97. The company said orders fell 35 percent in the fiscal first quarter from the fourth period, more than its previous estimate of a 20 percent drop.
Hewlett-Packard Co declined US$0.79 to US$17.41, while Dell Computer Corp slipped US$0.32 to US$23.86. Lehman Brothers Inc's Daniel Niles, one of Institutional Investor magazine's top-rated analysts, said US demand for the companies' computers was weak this month.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
Taipei is today suspending its US$2.5 trillion stock market as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed-income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Yesterday, schools and offices were closed in several cities and counties in southern and eastern Taiwan, including in the key industrial port city of Kaohsiung. Taiwan, which started canceling flights, ship sailings and some train services earlier this week, has wind and rain advisories in place for much of the island. It regularly experiences typhoons, and in July shut offices and schools as
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
RSS