The markets opened lower this morning as the Street prepared for a volatile week of corporate earnings reports and management guidance on earnings moving forward. Disappointing news from Citigroup sent the Dow lower in early trading while concerns about General Electricis accounting practices kept a damper on the Dow throughout the later part of the day.
Political uncertainty in Venezuela rocked the commodities markets as the countryis leftist political leader was first removed from power and then returned to the presidential palace in a matter of days. Venezuela is the third largest oil exporter to the US and the worldis fourth largest oil exporter.
Analysts and investors are looking to this weekis round of earnings reports for indications of the strength of the economic recovery and the pace at which various sectors of the economy will see revenue growth and an improvement in the quality of corporate earnings. Itis a week of show and tell. Disappointing earnings are apt to negatively impact the performance of all stocks in the corresponding sector and good news may be discounted by the market until definitive trends begin to emerge which evidence that earnings are improving on a broad scale in many sectors of the economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed at 10,093.67, down 97.15. The NASDAQ Composite Index ended Mondayis session at 1,753.78, off just 2.41 from Fridayis close. Apple opened lower this morning but was able to move back above the $25 per share threshold. AAPL ended Monday at $25.00, down $.06 on the day. On Wednesday Apple will announce its 2nd fiscal quarter results.
On Wall Street today:
Apple (AAPL) was at $25.00 when the closing bell rang, ahead of Wednesdayis earnings report.
Adobe Systems (ADBE) closed at $39.38, up $.34 in Monday trading.
Dell (DELL) ended the day at $25.98, down $.14. Last week USB Warburg cut its revenue estimates for Dell and Gateway. However, Dell continues to outperform its rivals in year-over-year unit sales increases and revenue growth in the Windows PC market.
Gateway (GTW) was at $5.74, up $.01 when traders called it a day on Wall Street. The intrepid PC mini major has spoken out in support of the dissident states in the Microsoft anti-trust trial and over the weekend aired TV spots opposing federal copyright legislation that would put new restrictions on the music recording ability of computers and digital music players.
IBM (IBM) finished Monday at $85.22, down $.38. The Armonk, NY company has launched a major ad campaign in support of its business products. Last week Big Blue issued a first quarter earnings warning and the stock is working its way back from a recent 52-week low. IBM is now one of the tech worldis biggest sellers of Linux-based solutions.
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