The following is a compilation of major earnings results released before the market opened on November 16. The retailers took the center stage, with Home Depot and Wal-Mart reporting higher quarterly profits.
S&P 500 Index is down 10.42 points, or 0.85 percent, to trade at 1,187.57 at 09:53 a.m. EDT. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 99.57 points, or 0.89 percent, to trade at 11,102.40. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.72 percent.
The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: China TransInfo Technology, Yongye International, Fuwei Films Holdings, Cerus, Urban Outfitters, Cree, Asia Entertainment & Resources, Clean Energy Fuels, and NetApp.
The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Perfect World, Netlist, China Natural Gas, Limelight Networks, A-Power Energy Generation Systems, China Sunergy, Magic Software Enterprises, Joy Global, Power-One, and Randgold Resources.
Retail giant Walmart reported 9 percent growth in its quarterly profit on strong sales at its international operations and raised its fiscal 2011 earnings outlook.
Futures on the S&P 500 are down 0.49 percent, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.55 percent and Nasdaq100 futures are down 0.73 percent.
The stage is set for another wave of mergers and acquisitions in the U.S. technology sector as the big players, who are flush with cash and looking to expand their horizon, are acquiring aggressively in quest for new products and technology.
Futures on major U.S. stock indices point to lower opening on Tuesday, with futures on the S&P 500 down 0.59 percent, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.54 percent and Nasdaq100 futures down 0.75 percent.
German sportswear giant Adidas announced on Monday to open more than 2,500 stores in smaller Chinese cities by 2015 aiming to tap the middle class market.
Standpoint Research has initiated coverage on Cisco Systems with a 'buy' rating and a price target of $24 and analyst Ronnie Moas said the market has overreacted to the company's weak outlook.
The top after-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: China Natural Gas, Rightnow Technologies, Netlist, Limelight Networks, Sinovac Biotech, Amedisys, Cray, RINO International, Ebix, and Arbinet.
The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers were: Yongye International, Gulf Resources, Urban Outfitters, CEVA, Internet Capital Group, Casual Male Retail Group, Motricity, BioScrip, Natural Alternatives International, and Power Integrations.
Prominent hedge funds loaded up on Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares in third quarter 2010, according to SEC 13F filings.
Stocks on major U.S. indices opened higher as takeovers and faster-than-estimated growth in retail sales fueled optimism in the economy.
The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Thoratec, MakeMyTrip, RINO International, Codexis, Biostar Pharmaceuticals, Coleman Cable, BSD Medical, Limelight Networks, Kaman, and Akamai Technologies.
The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Bucyrus International, Isilon Systems, Mediacom Communications, Telestone Technologies, Heartware International, GTSI, Amtech Systems, EDAP TMS, LJ International, and Joy Global.
Caterpillar Inc., which makes earthmoving machinery, agreed to buy rival Bucyrus International for a total of $7.6 billion, or $92 per share, in cash to boost its presence in the mining equipment industry.
U.S. wireless broadband and satellite network Lightsquared, owned by hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, announced the successful launch of its SkyTerra 1 commercial satellite.
Futures on major U.S. indices point to a small rebound on Monday ahead of key monthly retail sales data.
US dollar strengthened across the board on Monday on expectations of good data signaling recovery, but investors are also cautious that any negative surprise could trigger market worries about more bond buyback by the Fed, sparking off the quantitative easing (QE3) talks.
Concerns over Europe's debt risks felled Australian and New Zealand dollars - Asia Pacific's major risky currencies - on Monday, while growing fears that China may raise rates further dampened the sentiment. Market is keen on any fresh developments from Europe, with many important EU officials, including Alex Weber of ECB, scheduled to speak on the first day of the Euro Finance Week held November 15-19 in Frankfurt, Germany.
Gold registered new all-time highs over and over again in the past few weeks and hit a record high of $1424.30 on Tuesday as investors stepped up buying the yellow metal as an effective tool to avoid the risks of inflation and the uncertainties in the global economy.
Dumb money is beginning to pour into gold. However, gold fever has not yet taken over the public imagination and there are still many potential buyers on the sidelines. The rally is therefore likely to continue.
On Friday at the G20 summit, finance ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Britain issued a joint statement saying the holders of any existing euro zone government debt are safe from regulatory changes that would force them to take on additional losses.
U.S. stocks fell in early trade on Friday as speculation over interest rate hike in China and concerns about euro-zone sovereign debt weighed on the sentiment.
Euro rose across the board and pulled off 1-1/2-month lows against the US dollar and British pound on Friday on news EU leaders reassured the holders of outstanding bonds that they would not be forced to take losses. The day's gains, however, did not prevent the single currency from heading for weekly losses versus the majors as investors are still worried that Ireland may default on its bonds.
Two University of Illinois experts in bankruptcy law are saying that the legal principles applied in the bankruptcy reorganizations of GM and Chrysler were misguided, and have ultimately undermined the distributional norms of bankruptcy reorganizations.
Oracle and Apple have announced the OpenJDK project for Mac OS X, a move that will make Apple's Java technology available to open source developers.
The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Dynavox, L & L Energy, China MediaExpress Holdings, Fuqi International, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Mentor Graphics, American Capital Agency, Ascent Solar Technologies, Solarfun Power Holdings, and Power-One.
The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Finisar, Tianli Agritech, EDAP TMS, BSD Medical, Nvidia, Republic Airways Holdings, City Telecom HK, Ryanair Holdings, Magic Software Enterprises, and Globe Specialty Metals.
