02.06.2008 11:17

STOCKS: weekly review

Tech stocks rallied for the fourth session in a row on Friday, on Dell's improved earnings. But the broader market struggled amid rising oil and gas prices, and a mix of economic news that did little to temper fears about a slowdown.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost a few points. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 0.2% and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.6%. For the month of May, the Dow lost 1.4%. However, the S&P 500 gained around 1% and the Nasdaq gained roughly 4.5%. Economic news for the most part fell on the better side of things this week. Durable orders, excluding the volatile transportation component, jumped 2.5%, first quarter GDP was revised upward to 0.9% from 0.6%, initial claims held fairly steady at 372K and new home sales increased 3.3% in April to an annualized (and still very depressed) rate of 526K units.

Dell reported higher quarterly sales and earnings late Thursday that topped estimates thanks to cost cutting, notebook sales and growth in markets overseas. Shares gained 5.7%.
Marvell Technology reported sales and earnings that beat forecasts, sending shares 23.3% higher in active Nasdaq trading.
In other news, United Airlines and US Airways formally abandoned plans to merge - a combination that would have created the world's largest airline, but also would have limited routes and boosted ticket prices. Shares of United parent company UAL rose modestly, while US Airways stock lost 8.3%.
The market eventually shrugged off the early indication of weakness Thursday as a drop in oil prices and positive earnings news from the likes of MasterCard (MA), Costco (COST) and Big Lots (BIG) kept buyers involved.
Retailing stocks received added attention following earnings results from Tiffany & Co and J. Crew Group. Tiffany provided an upside surprise on robust European and Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) demand. J. Crew provided an ugly full year outlook, which prompted a 21% decline in its stock.