Subject:  U.S. stocks end up slightly, Boeing soars |
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Date Posted: 14:29:30 10/29/03 Wed
U.S. stocks end up slightly, Boeing soars
By Reuters
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
NEW YORK - Stocks rose a little in active tradingWednesday as companies continued to beat profit forecasts and investors eyed key production and jobs data due on Thursday.
Better-than-expected results from Boeing Co.fueled the rise in the Dow Jones industrial average (DJIA: chart, news) .
``Today was earnings driven,'' said Owen Fitzpatrick, head of the U.S. Equity Group at Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management. ``So you get very specific in terms of which names moved.''
On the downside, shares of oilfield services provider Halliburton Co. and engineering company Fluor Corp.
fell after disappointing quarterly numbers.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 26.22 points, or 0.27 percent, at 9,774.53. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index (SPX: chart, news) closed up 1.32 points, or 0.13 percent, at 1,048.11. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index
was up 4.3 points, or 0.22 percent, at 1,936.56.
Stocks had shot higher on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve said it would keep interest rates steady at their 45-year lows.
Trading was active, with 1.5 billion shares changing hands on the New York Stock Exchange and almost 2 billion on Nasdaq. Advancers outnumbered decliners 7 to 4 on the NYSE, and about 5 to 3 on Nasdaq.
Long-distance phone company AT&T Corp. kept a lid on the Dow's gains as its stock fell sharply after industry sources said merger talks with BellSouth fell through.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ: chart, news)also weighed on the Dow after U.S. regulators warned of side effects with its newest heart device.
Gilead Sciences Inc.hit the biotech sector after it reported disappointing sales of its HIV drug Viread late on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Boeing, the biggest percentage gainer in the Dow, rose $2.46, or 6.8 percent, to $38.50. Earlier, Boeing said its profit fell sharply amid weak sales in its commercial jet unit but still surpassed analysts' expectations. Its stock scored its biggest one-day jump in more than two years.
AT&T shares dragged the Dow back, falling 87 cents, or 4 percent, to $19.07, while J&J shares dropped $1.06, or 2 percent, to $49.48.
Halliburton shares dropped 56 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $23.52, while Fluor shares fell $3.29, or 8.3 percent, to $36.59.
Shares of Fannie Mae , the No. 1 U.S. home finance agency, finished down 2.4 percent, or $1.80, at $73.10 after the company said it would correct errors about income in the tables accompanying its Oct. 16 earnings release.
Gilead sank 12.6 percent, or $7.46, to $52.00, and was among the Nasdaq's most actively traded stocks. The Nasdaq Biotech Indexfell 0.6 percent.
http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/business.bg?articleid=653
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