Stocks ended the day higher, but just barely. Boosted by housing data and the Apple announcement, the major indexes finished the day slightly higher. The Dow closed up 6 points to 13,293. The Nasdaq 100 finished the day up 23 points to 3,078. The S&P 500 rounded out the day’s modest gains, up 5.5 points to ,409.
The Nasdaq today was buttressed by the two-fold Apple announcement. First they announced a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share. The second part of the announcement was a stock buy-back program. Some analysts said that Apple went and made dividends cool again. Other analysts say that it is possible for Apple to stretch its run to $700 per share. That would make the stock look even more toppy than it does now.
The rest of the market spent the day digesting the first in a series of housing data points to be released this year. With housing sentiment number coming in high, there is hope that the lagging housing market could be joining the recovery.
The one caveat to the recovery that analysts are quick to point out is rising energy prices. Already skyrocketing gas prices could start to pinch the consumer’s pocket and throw inflationary models out of whack. Toss in some good old fashioned geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and it makes for one giant caveat.
The summer driving season is not even upon us and you already see $4 per gallon gas throughout the nation. Not only does it make for bad election year optics, but eventually these numbers will show up in the previously rosy consumer confidence numbers and CPI.
Stocks to Watch
Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLDX) closed Monday up 2.68% at $4.60. CLDX traded higher than average volume today with 1.3 million shares traded. After the market closed Celldex stock spiked to $4.95, a gain of more than 7%. CLDX shares have jumped more than $1 a share since March 6. The company has a market cap of 262.94 million.
Focus Media Holding Limited (NASDAQ:FMCN) closed up 4.60% today at $28.03. Focus Media stock jumped another 4% in after hours on fourth quarter results. The company posted EPS of $0.70 per American Depositary Share (ADS), beating estimates of $0.61 per ADS. Total net revenue increased 22% to $256.4 million, analysts were expecting $225.1 million. The company has a market cap of 3.75 billion.
Michael Kors Holdings Limited (NYSE:KORS) fell 2% on Monday and closed at $45.32. After hours trading was a bit friendlier with a rise over more than 4%. This move higher in after hours comes as the company raised guidance for the fourth quarter. Fourth quarter EPS forecast is now $0.14-$0.16. It was forecasted to be $0.10-$0.12. The company has a market cap of 8.66 billion.
DHT Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:DHT) finished Monday up 18.40% at $1.48. After hours saw DHT give up all those gains and fell nearly 20% at $1.19. DHT was in a steady uptrend over the past week moving from $1.0 to nearly $1.50. DHT saw heavy volume today with 5.5 million shares traded, well above its daily average of 1.3 million shares. The company has a market cap of 95.39 million.
Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) shares are falling in after hours and are down more than 4% at $32.95. Adobe said its first quarter net income fell 21% due to higher operating costs. The company posted EPS of $0.37, well below analysts estimates of $0.57 per share. The company has a market cap of 17.04 billion.
Regency Energy Partners (NYSE:RGP) shares have fallen 4% in after hours trading at $24.32. RGP’s drop comes as the company announces public offering of 11 million shares. Regency traded 819 thousand shares today, more than double its daily average. The company has a market cap of 3.99 billion.
About Martin Stephenson
