Mid-Day Market Update: Abercrombie & Fitch Drops On Weak Forecast, Aruba Networks Surges

 

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.50 percent to 13,949.45 while the NASDAQ rose 0.59 percent to 3,149.99. The S&P also surged 0.53 percent to 1,510.32.


Top Headline

Yesterday, Hewlett-Packard Co HPQ posted better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results and issued an upbeat outlook for the fiscal second quarter.

 

H-P expected FQ2 adjusted earnings of $0.80 to $0.82 per share, surpassing analysts’ estimates of $0.77 per share. It posted FQ1 adjusted earnings of $0.82 per share on revenue of $28.4 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $0.71 per share on revenue of $27.9 billion.

 

Analysts at UBS also upgraded the stock from Sell to Neutral.


Equities Trading UP

Aruba Networks ARUN shot up 21.12 percent to $25.19 after the company reported upbeat FQ2 results.

 

Shares of Infoblox BLOX got a boost, shooting up 17.65 percent to $22.53 after the company posted better-than-expected FQ2 results and issued an upbeat FY13 outlook.

 

WebMD Health WBMD was also up, gaining 23.44 percent to $20.12 after the company’s Q4 revenue surpassed analysts’ estimates.


Equities Trading DOWN

Volcano VOLC took a 12.40 percent hit to $21.61 this morning after the company reported a decline in its Q4 net income.

 

Abercrombie & Fitch Co ANF was also down, falling 7.58 percent to $45.33 after the company issued downbeat FY13 forecast.

 

Shares of MRC Global MRC were down 9.01 percent to $28.18 this morning, after the company issued downbeat FY13 forecast.


Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.04 percent to $92.80, while gold traded down 0.36 percent to $1,572.90.

 

Silver traded down 0.87 percent Friday to $28.45, while copper dropped 0.61 percent to $3.53.


Eurozone

European shares were higher following the strong IFO survey. The Ifo Business Climate index surged to 107.4 in the month of February, beating estimates of a 104.7 reading and better than last month's 104.3. German Q4 GDP was reported as contracting 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter, in line with expectations, and growing 0.1 percent on an annualized basis, also in line with expectations.

 

The European Union has cut its growth forecasts for 2013, slashing estimates to a contraction of 0.3 percent from a previously projected growth of 0.1 percent. German growth forecasts were cut to 0.5 percent from 2 percent previously and U.K. growth forecasts were cut to 0.9 percent from 1.9 percent previously.

 

The Spanish Ibex surged 2.05 percent, while the Italian MIB index jumped 1.40 percent. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 1.30 percent, London’s FTSE 100 Index surged 0.70 percent, French CAC 40 Index rose 2.25 percent and German DAX 30 index gained 1.03 percent.

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Posted In: EarningsNewsGuidanceGlobalEconomicsHotIntraday UpdateMoversTech
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