Global Issues Roll Wall Street
Originally published: 08.01.14 by Margot Crabtree
Geopolitical turmoil introduced our trading session and banking insolvency issues in Portugal closed up the other end. As our trading session ended July 15, 2014, corporate mergers were strong, but violence in Iraq brought tremors into the market.
The World Bank forecast slightly slower growth for the global economy this year, and cut their estimates from 3.2 percent to 2.8 percent. The Conference Board’s gauge of leading economic indicators, measuring future health, improved for the fourth month in May, up 0.5 percent, up from a revised 0.3 percent gain in April, a trend that was broadly positive across all sectors.
The Commerce Department said that sales of new homes shot up 18.6 percent in May, following a 3.7 percent increase in April. Just before the July 4th holiday, a report from the Labor Department showing acceleration in hiring pushed the Dow industrials above 17,000 for the first time.
U.S. employers added 288,000 jobs in June and drove the unemployment rate down to 6.1 percent. The Institute for Supply Management’s index of national factory activity for June, at 55.3, was little changed from May’s index.
As earnings began, worries about banking in Portugal revived fears of financial insolvency in Europe. At session’s end, business inventories, as reported by the Commerce Department, were up and in line with forecasts. Retail sales rose modestly in June, ahead just 0.2 percent.
The Federal Reserve pointed to October as the end-point for the central bankers’ stimulus program, and Fed chief Yellen indicated that if the labor market continues to improve, interest rates could be increased sooner than earlier expected.
"In light of corporate earnings being good, retail sales being good, manufacturing being good, even a data-driven Fed chairman is going to have to raise rates earlier than the market really wants," said Doug Cote, chief market strategist at Voya Investment Management. "So all the good fundamental data that should be good for the markets is also hawkish for (interest) rates."
Exchange |
Symbol |
Company Name |
Price
|
Price
|
Net
|
PercentChange |
52-Week
|
52-Week
|
Shares
|
Market
|
| NASD | AAON | AAON, Inc. | 31.98 | 32.15 | -0.17 | -0.53% | 34.64 | 21.31 | 36620 | 1171107.6 |
| NYSE | ABB | ABB Ltd. | 22.77 | 23.27 | -0.50 | -2.15% | 27.25 | 21.31 | 2300000 | 52371000 |
| NYSE | ARG | Airgas, Inc. | 109.76 | 105.99 | 3.77 | 3.56% | 113.16 | 99.32 | 74290 | 8154070.4 |
| NYSE | AOS | AO Smith Corp. | 47.64 | 49.64 | -2.00 | -4.03% | 55.18 | 38.01 | 90610 | 4316660.4 |
| NYSE | FIX | Comfort Systems USA, Inc. | 15.55 | 15.88 | -0.33 | -2.08% | 20.95 | 14.04 | 37580 | 584369 |
| NYSE | DOV | Dover Corp. | 88.12 | 89.15 | -1.03 | -1.16% | 91.84 | 66.27 | 166490 | 14671098.8 |
| NASD | ELON | Echelon Corp. | 2.33 | 2.46 | -0.13 | -5.28% | 4.18 | 1.99 | 43370 | 101052.1 |
| NYSE | DD | E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. | 64.58 | 68.11 | -3.53 | -5.18% | 69.75 | 54.10 | 918350 | 59307043 |
| NYSE | EME | EMCOR Group, Inc. | 44.09 | 44.82 | -0.73 | -1.63% | 48.00 | 36.26 | 67280 | 2966375.2 |
| NYSE | EMR | Emerson Electric Co. | 67.50 | 66.33 | 1.17 | 1.76% | 70.66 | 56.96 | 701740 | 47367450 |
| NYSE | F | Ford Motor Co. | 17.54 | 16.63 | 0.91 | 5.47% | 18.02 | 14.40 | 3950000 | 69283000 |
| NYSE | GM | General Motors Co. | 37.58 | 36.06 | 1.52 | 4.22% | 41.85 | 31.70 | 1600000 | 60128000 |
| NYSE | HON | Honeywell International, Inc. | 95.96 | 93.80 | 2.16 | 2.30% | 96.49 | 78.88 | 783120 | 75148195.2 |
| NASD | HDSN | Hudson Technologies, Inc. | 3.08 | 3.01 | 0.07 | 2.33% | 4.00 | 1.75 | 25090 | 77277.2 |
| NYSE | IR | Ingersoll-Rand Plc | 61.59 | 62.84 | -1.25 | -1.99% | 64.11 | 46.32 | 269900 | 16623141 |
| NYSE | JCI | Johnson Controls, Inc. | 50.93 | 49.82 | 1.11 | 2.23% | 52.50 | 36.93 | 664160 | 33825668.8 |
| NYSE | LII | Lennox International Inc. | 87.40 | 88.77 | -1.37 | -1.54% | 94.69 | 66.94 | 49150 | 4295710 |
| NYSE | LXU | LSB Industries, Inc. | 37.56 | 41.18 | -3.62 | -8.79% | 42.41 | 29.39 | 22540 | 846602.4 |
| NYSE | MTW | Manitowoc Co., Inc. | 31.63 | 28.08 | 3.55 | 12.64% | 33.50 | 18.12 | 135160 | 4275110.8 |
| NYSE | NWL | Newell Rubbermaid, Inc. | 31.56 | 30.57 | 0.99 | 3.24% | 32.54 | 24.32 | 276600 | 8729496 |
| NYSE | MLI | Mueller Industries, Inc. | 28.03 | 29.44 | -1.41 | -4.79% | 32.13 | 26.50 | 56690 | 1589020.7 |
| OTC | NSANY | Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. | 19.46 | 18.77 | 0.69 | 3.68% | 22.55 | 16.45 | 2100000 | 40866000 |
| NASD | OFLX | OmegaFlex, Inc. | 19.41 | 19.42 | -0.01 | -0.05% | 24.99 | 16.16 | 10090 | 195846.9 |
| NYSE | PH | Parker-Hannifin Corp. | 123.49 | 127.18 | -3.69 | -2.90% | 130.44 | 99.11 | 148940 | 18392600.6 |
| NYSE | RBC | Regal-Beloit Corp. | 77.93 | 77.71 | 0.22 | 0.28% | 80.41 | 62.93 | 45130 | 3516980.9 |
| NYSE | ROK | Rockwell Automation | 123.24 | 125.66 | -2.42 | -1.93% | 128.57 | 89.26 | 138440 | 17061345.6 |
| OTC | SIEGY | Siemens Aktiengesellschaft | 125.34 | 134.33 | -8.99 | -6.69% | 139.28 | 102.77 | 846130 | 106053934.2 |
| NYSE | SPW | SPX Corp. | 106.68 | 107.03 | -0.35 | -0.33% | 111.47 | 73.15 | 43820 | 4674717.6 |
| NYSE | TXN | Texas Instruments | 48.66 | 48.13 | 0.53 | 1.10% | 49.77 | 37.13 | 1080000 | 52552800 |
| NYSE | UTX | United Technologies Corp. | 114.84 | 116.87 | -2.03 | -1.74% | 120.66 | 99.50 | 916730 | 105277273.2 |
| NYSE | WSO | Watsco, Inc. | 98.54 | 100.79 | -2.25 | -2.23% | 105.39 | 86.98 | 32250 | 3177915 |
The HVACR Business Stock Index slipped into the red, off 5.62 points, or 0.42 percent, and closed at 1320.23. Declining issues topped advancing issues at a 19-to-12 count.
Siemens tumbled 8.99 points, or 6.69 percent after it lost its bid for Alstom’s gas turbine business to General Electric. The sweetened deal from GE includes three joint ventures. The transaction is incomplete, waiting for the sale of a 20 percent stake to the French government.
Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser noted plans to make acquisitions in the U.S. natural gas sector. SIEGY closed at 125.34, and was the top dollar loser.
Airgas rose 3.77 points or 3.56 percent. Airgas purchased the assets and opera- tions of Technical Alloy for an undisclosed sum. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Technical Alloy had about $20 million in sales in 2013. Investment firm Jefferies & Co. restated its "buy" rating on ARG; its price target is now $126, up from an earlier $116. Airgas closed at 109.76, and was the top dollar gainer.
Parker-Hannifin slid 3.69 points, or 2.90 percent. Investment bank Credit Suisse cut its price target on PH to $144, from $148. Their current rating is "outperform." PH closed at 123.49.
Margot Crabtree is president of Trade Trends, Inc., a financial data services provider. She has been offering market analysis with customized stock indices and financial commentaries since 1999. For additional information, visit www.tradetrendsonline.com.