Yahoo Finance Stocks Rise After Earnings, M&A News
U.S. Market
Stocks rose this morning as deals and earnings outweighed mounting Greek fears.
Initial unemployment claims were up a smaller-than-expected 11,000 last week to 278,000. The less volatile four-week moving average was down 6,500 to 292,750. Separately, Challenge, Gray & Christmas said that planned layoffs rose 63% in January from December as the fall in oil prices led to firms trying to cut costs. Both reports come ahead of the payroll and unemployment rate report due tomorrow.
Productivity dropped 1.8% in the fourth-quarter as hours worked rose 5.1% and output only rose 3.2%. Third-quarter’s productivity was revised to a 3.7% gain from the previously reported 2.3% rise,
The trade gap rose 17.1% in December from the previous month to $45.56 billion. Exports were down 0.8% as global growth slowed and the dollar strengthened while imports were up 2.2% in the month.
A meeting between the Greek and German finance ministers that highlighted the challenges facing a bailout renegotiation and yesterday’s decision by the ECB to stop accepting Greek debt as collateral sent eurozone worries higher today.
At midday the Dow and S&P 500 were each 0.8% higher while the Nasdaq was up 0.6%.
Stocks on the Move
Pfizer (PFE) said this morning that is has agreed to buy Hospira (HSP) for $17 billion cash. The offer represents a 39% premium to Hospira’s previous close and management expects the deal to add 10 to 12 cents per share in the first year. Pfizer shares were up 2.6% at midday while Hispira soared 35%.
Sprint's (S) pricing actions drove some improvement in customer growth during the fiscal third quarter, but the firm's position remains very weak. Sprint lost 205,000 net postpaid phone customers during the quarter, a nice improvement versus losses ranging from 400,000 to 700,000 per quarter over the prior year. Sprint shares were up 6.6% at midday.
Wide-moat L Brands’ (LB) fourth-quarter performance demonstrates that the company is continuing to increase both its pricing power and market share through mid-single-digit comparable sales growth and rising margins. In a manner consistent with its focus on delivering shareholder value, L Brands also announced a 47% increase in the annual dividend to $2.00 per share, a $2.00 special dividend, and a new $250 million share repurchase program. Shares were up 6% at midday.
Foreign Markets
European markets pared early losses today. In late trading, the FTSE 100 was up 0.1%, the Paris CAC was 0.2% higher while Germany’s DAX was down 0.1%.
Asian shares were mixed. The Shanghai Composite and Nikkei 225 was down 1.2% and 1% respectively while the Hang Seng was up 0.4%.
