Today's stock market news, Feb. 6, 2014: U.S. stocks rebounded from intraday lows on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average remained steady, finishing at 15,440, while the Nasdaq fell 0.5% to 4,011. The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% to 1,751.
U.S. stock futures were up Thursday prior to jobless claims data. According to the Challenger Job-Cut Report, the U.S. economy had 45,107 planned full-time job cuts in January, up 12% year over year. The heaviest cuts occurred in the retail sector, as consumers continue to shift toward online channels.
Five Biggest Stories in Today's Stock Market, Feb. 6, 2014
General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) announced this morning that it missed fourth-quarter earnings by a very large margin. Wall Street expected GM to earn $0.88 per share, but the company only reported $0.67. The company had been looking for good results after the recent market pullback dropped shares by 9%. Unfortunately, poor sales in Europe helped facilitate a $300 million quarterly loss. Shares of the stock are down 3.5% in pre-hours trading.
Shares of Twitter Inc. (Nasdaq: TWTR) cratered in off-hours trading by nearly 22%. The company beat street estimates of $-0.02 per share but could not stop a selloff when concerns about its user-base growth eroded investor confidence. The stock is fading as a long-term win for investors and acquiring theof being "overvalued and overhyped." What's worse, a study released yesterday by the University of Edinburgh indicates that social networking sites hinder the human ability to think analytically.
The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) announced it will purchase a 10% minority stake in Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (Nasdaq: GMCR) for $1.3 billion. Shares of GMCR rocketed more than 44% in after-hours trading, as investors swooned over the new distribution and brand power to which the company has gained access. Cola Cola's primary interest is Green Mountain's new at-home cold beverage system, Keurig Cold. Shares of Sodastream International Ltd. (Nasdaq: SODA), the primary competition in home-beverage production, tanked in post-hours trading by 10% in response. In early hours trading this morning, shares of Coca-Cola are up nearly 2%.
Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE) announced a business restructuring effort to turn around its unprofitable electronics business. The company will sell its PC business, spin off its television business by July, and cut nearly 5,000 jobs. The firm will now focus more on smartphones, another area in which the company underperformed in 2013. Sony has already warned of steep losses this quarter. Shares are down more than 6% in pre-hours trading.
Shares of Pandora Media (NYSE: P) fell more than 10% in after-hours trading on Wednesday. Even though the company reported its best quarterly profits since its IPO, the stock tanked. The company reported that active users in January fell to 73.4 million from 76.2 million in December. The company still has a P/E ratio that is in the stratosphere, and with Twitter's sharp decline, technology investors are beginning to question the long-term profitability of new service companies in the online space.
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U.S. Economic Calendar Today, Feb. 6, 2014
Challenger Job Cuts at 7:30 a.m.
December Trade Balance at 8:30 a.m.
Q4 Productivity - Preliminary Figures at 8:30 a.m.
Unit Labor Costs at 8:30 a.m.
Natural Gas Inventories at 10:30 a.m.
Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser will speak at 12:30 p.m.
Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart will speak at 1:40 p.m.
Consensus earnings per share for LinkedIn Corp. (Nasdaq: LNKD) is $0.38.
Consensus earnings per share for Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) is $1.36.
Consensus earnings per share for AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is $0.60.
Consensus earnings per share for Kellogg (NYSE: K) is $0.82.
Consensus earnings per share for NU Skin Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: NUS) is $1.91.
Consensus earnings per share for Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: DNKN) is $0.40.
Consensus earnings per share for Expedia Inc. (Nasdaq: EXPE ) is $0.86.
Others Reporting Earnings
Aaron's Inc. (NYSE: AAN) , Activision Blizzard Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), Advance Auto Parts Inc. (NYSE: AAP), Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. (Nasdaq: FOXA), RetailMeNot Inc. (Nasdaq: SALE), Fifth Street Finance Corp. (Nasdaq: FSC), Gartner Inc. (NYSE: IT), Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL), Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM), Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW), New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT), General Motors (NYSE: GM), Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE: DO)
Garrett Baldwin is a globally recognized research economist, financial writer, consultant, and political risk analyst with decades of trading experience and degrees in economics, cybersecurity, and business from Johns Hopkins, Purdue, Indiana University, and Northwestern.