Stocks Advance as Bonds Rise On Weak Housing Starts Data
April 28, 2011
Stocks managed a moderate advance on Friday, despite a weak earnings report from computer giant Hewlett-Packard. Bond investors cheered a tame report on housing starts and the dollar was mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 23.67 to 5689.45, the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index gained 2.93 to 665.21 and the New York Stock Exchange Composite moved ahead 1.74 to 355.96. Technology shares were relatively buoyant in the face of Hewlett-Packard's weak earnings report, released after the close of trading Thursday. The company said earnings for the third quarter fell to 40 cents a share, well below the 48 cents that analysts had forecast. Hewlett-Packard shares ended down 3 1/2 points in composite trading after the report was released, but on Friday its stock erased more than half of that loss, rising 1 7/8 to 41 7/8. Other computer-related stocks were mixed, and the technology-laden Nasdaq Composite Index slipped just 1.04 to 1133.65. Ali Barajas, director of technical research at A.G. Edwards & Sons, said investors focused more on gains in the bond market and on trading associated with Friday's so-called double-witching options-expiration than on the activity in the technology group. Bonds moved higher after the Commerce Department reported that new housing starts in July fell for the third-straight month to their lowest level in more than a year. Housing starts slipped 1.3% to a 1.455 million annual rate from a downward revised June rate of 1.474 million. The long bond advanced 1/2 point, or $5 for a bond with a $1,000 face amount, to yield 6.76%. Bond yields move in the opposite direction of prices. Meanwhile, speculation that the German Bundesbank may trim interest rates at its scheduled policy meeting next Thursday helped the dollar post modest gains against the mark. Lower yields in Germany would tend to cut into demand for mark-denominated assets. World-wide, stock prices rose in dollar terms Friday. The Dow Jones World Stock Index was up 0.22 to 138.90 as of 5 p.m. EDT.
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
