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U.S. stock market report
1732 ET 03Feb2009- Earnings diary for Feb. 4 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Companies reporting earnings on Wednesday include No. 3 U.S. home builder, Pulte Homes, Web content delivery service Akamai Technologies Inc , food company Kraft Foods and media giant Time Warner Inc .
For details, see
Reuters Messaging: deepa.seetharaman.reuters.com@reuters.net
1648 ET-03Feb2009 Complex option strategy in AutoNation suggests bearish bias-analyst -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Car dealership group AutoNation Inc shares rose 3.95 percent to $9.73 but in the equity's options, a complex trade had a 'decidedly bearish tint,' said optionmonster.com analyst Chris McKhann in comments on the Web site. Optionmonster's systems showed four options trades went off within 1 minute, with sales at the bid and buys at the ask. He said they showed that one trader sold 10,000 Feb $10 puts and bought 10,000 March $10 puts. The former was below the open interest and the latter above, indicating that this was likely a roll of a bearish put position to March to allow for more time. The trader paid a net of 65 cents for the roll. Almost exactly the same time, the trader bought March $12.50 calls and sold the March $10 calls for a net credit of 55 cents. This is a bearish credit spread that profits most if AN remains below $10 at expiration. The credit is used to offset part of the cost of the roll, he said.
Reuters Messaging: doris.frankel.reuters.com@reuters.net
1622 ET-03Feb2009 Call options jump in UDN currency fund -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Option investors appear to be betting that the U.S. dollar will soften further as they load up on call options in an exchange-traded fund, based on futures and looks to replicate the performance of being short the U.S. dollar against the euro, yen, British Pound, Canadian Dollar, Swedish Krona and Swiss Franc. 'Interest is picking up in the PowerShares U.S. Bearish Dollar Index Fund, said Frederic Ruffy, option strategist at WhatsTrading.com. The ETF rose 1.32 percent to $25.30 and its March $25 calls attracted the bulk of the action, with 27,959 contracts traded vs. open interest for that strike price of 6,642 lots earlier in the session. It looks like call buyers are opening new positions in anticipation of further weakness in the greenback, Ruffy said.
Reuters Messaging: doris.frankel.reuters.com@reuters.net
1445 ET 03Feb2009-Crude oil rises on OPEC cut talks -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
March crude futures rose on Tuesday, lifted after an OPEC source said the group may consider an additional cut of 1 million barrels per day at a meeting in March if prices remain low.
The contract gained 2 percent to $40.86 a barrel while the S&P Energy sector index added 1.5 percent to 376.28.
Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1433 ET 03Feb2009-Sen. Schumer speaks against bad bank plan on CNBC -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
In an interview on CNBC, Senator Charles Schumer on Tuesday said that a plan to stabilize the U.S. banking industry by creating a bad bank would be 'hugely expensive,' and that it would be hard to value distressed assets. He said he preferred government guarantees of such assets, with the guarantees based on a third-party's estimate of the value of distressed assets several years in the future.
Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1428 ET 03Feb2009-Markets gain on strength in healthcare, tech -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Major U.S. indexes rose on Tuesday, lifted by strength in tech and healthcare stocks, which rose on strong results at Merck & Co, a Dow component. Sentiment was also boosted by December pending home sales data, which was better than expected.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.2 percent to 8,030.81 while the S&P 500 gained 1 percent to 833.34 and the Nasdaq was up 0.6 percent to 1,504.03.
Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1420 ET 03Feb2009-Thomas & Betts falls after downgrade -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shares of Thomas & Betts fell on Tuesday after Gabelli & Co downgraded the electrical components company to hold from buy, expecting weak fourth-quarter results on Wednesday. The firm forecast at least a drop of 10 percent in Thomas's 2009 revenue.
The stock slid 2.9 percent to $20.82.
Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1412 ET 03Feb2009-Harley lifts auto index, Ford, GM off after sales -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Dow Jones U.S. Automobile Index rose 4.5 percent to 33.55 on Tuesday, lifted by strength at Harley-Davidson, which offset weakness at Ford Motor and General Motors, the other two components of the group.
Ford was down 1.1 percent to $1.86 while GM, a Dow component, shed 3.5 percent to $2.79. Both companies reported declines in January sales on Tuesday.
Motorcycle company Harley-Davidson surged 16 percent to $13.74 after it announced the sale of $600 million of debt, including half to Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway.
Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1403 ET 03Feb2009-Merrill: Non-OPEC oil production may have peaked -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Merrill Lynch on Tuesday said that crude oil production from non-OPEC nations may have already peaked, nothing that oil production decline rates were a function of investment rates, as well as the size and age of oil fields. 'All these factors point to steeper oil output declines going forward,' the firm wrote.
The International Energy Agency expects an increase in non-OPEC output of 51 million barrels per day over the next seven years, the firm said, while it sees production in the range of 49 million to 50 million barrels a day in the same period.
'Should the credit crunch push decline rates to 6 percent, however, non-OPEC production could decline precipitously toward million barrels per day by 2015 from the current levels,' it wrote.
Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net Keywords: MARKETS STOCKSNEWS
COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
U.S. stock market report
1732 ET 03Feb2009- Earnings diary for Feb. 4 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Companies reporting earnings on Wednesday include No. 3 U.S. home builder, Pulte Homes, Web content delivery service Akamai Technologies Inc , food company Kraft Foods and media giant Time Warner Inc .
For details, see
Reuters Messaging: deepa.seetharaman.reuters.com@reuters.net
1648 ET-03Feb2009 Complex option strategy in AutoNation suggests bearish bias-analyst -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Car dealership group AutoNation Inc shares rose 3.95 percent to $9.73 but in the equity's options, a complex trade had a 'decidedly bearish tint,' said optionmonster.com analyst Chris McKhann in comments on the Web site. Optionmonster's systems showed four options trades went off within 1 minute, with sales at the bid and buys at the ask. He said they showed that one trader sold 10,000 Feb $10 puts and bought 10,000 March $10 puts. The former was below the open interest and the latter above, indicating that this was likely a roll of a bearish put position to March to allow for more time. The trader paid a net of 65 cents for the roll. Almost exactly the same time, the trader bought March $12.50 calls and sold the March $10 calls for a net credit of 55 cents. This is a bearish credit spread that profits most if AN remains below $10 at expiration. The credit is used to offset part of the cost of the roll, he said.
Reuters Messaging: doris.frankel.reuters.com@reuters.net
1622 ET-03Feb2009 Call options jump in UDN currency fund -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Option investors appear to be betting that the U.S. dollar will soften further as they load up on call options in an exchange-traded fund, based on futures and looks to replicate the performance of being short the U.S. dollar against the euro, yen, British Pound, Canadian Dollar, Swedish Krona and Swiss Franc. 'Interest is picking up in the PowerShares U.S. Bearish Dollar Index Fund, said Frederic Ruffy, option strategist at WhatsTrading.com. The ETF rose 1.32 percent to $25.30 and its March $25 calls attracted the bulk of the action, with 27,959 contracts traded vs. open interest for that strike price of 6,642 lots earlier in the session. It looks like call buyers are opening new positions in anticipation of further weakness in the greenback, Ruffy said.
Reuters Messaging: doris.frankel.reuters.com@reuters.net
1445 ET 03Feb2009-Crude oil rises on OPEC cut talks -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
March crude futures rose on Tuesday, lifted after an OPEC source said the group may consider an additional cut of 1 million barrels per day at a meeting in March if prices remain low.
The contract gained 2 percent to $40.86 a barrel while the S&P Energy sector index added 1.5 percent to 376.28.
Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1433 ET 03Feb2009-Sen. Schumer speaks against bad bank plan on CNBC -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
In an interview on CNBC, Senator Charles Schumer on Tuesday said that a plan to stabilize the U.S. banking industry by creating a bad bank would be 'hugely expensive,' and that it would be hard to value distressed assets. He said he preferred government guarantees of such assets, with the guarantees based on a third-party's estimate of the value of distressed assets several years in the future.
Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1428 ET 03Feb2009-Markets gain on strength in healthcare, tech -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Major U.S. indexes rose on Tuesday, lifted by strength in tech and healthcare stocks, which rose on strong results at Merck & Co, a Dow component. Sentiment was also boosted by December pending home sales data, which was better than expected.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.2 percent to 8,030.81 while the S&P 500 gained 1 percent to 833.34 and the Nasdaq was up 0.6 percent to 1,504.03.
Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1420 ET 03Feb2009-Thomas & Betts falls after downgrade -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shares of Thomas & Betts fell on Tuesday after Gabelli & Co downgraded the electrical components company to hold from buy, expecting weak fourth-quarter results on Wednesday. The firm forecast at least a drop of 10 percent in Thomas's 2009 revenue.
The stock slid 2.9 percent to $20.82.
Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1412 ET 03Feb2009-Harley lifts auto index, Ford, GM off after sales -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Dow Jones U.S. Automobile Index rose 4.5 percent to 33.55 on Tuesday, lifted by strength at Harley-Davidson, which offset weakness at Ford Motor and General Motors, the other two components of the group.
Ford was down 1.1 percent to $1.86 while GM, a Dow component, shed 3.5 percent to $2.79. Both companies reported declines in January sales on Tuesday.
Motorcycle company Harley-Davidson surged 16 percent to $13.74 after it announced the sale of $600 million of debt, including half to Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway.
Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1403 ET 03Feb2009-Merrill: Non-OPEC oil production may have peaked -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Merrill Lynch on Tuesday said that crude oil production from non-OPEC nations may have already peaked, nothing that oil production decline rates were a function of investment rates, as well as the size and age of oil fields. 'All these factors point to steeper oil output declines going forward,' the firm wrote.
The International Energy Agency expects an increase in non-OPEC output of 51 million barrels per day over the next seven years, the firm said, while it sees production in the range of 49 million to 50 million barrels a day in the same period.
'Should the credit crunch push decline rates to 6 percent, however, non-OPEC production could decline precipitously toward million barrels per day by 2015 from the current levels,' it wrote.
Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net Keywords: MARKETS STOCKSNEWS
COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.