The S&P 500 tumbled 1.2% last week to 1,064.88 as discouraging economic data on Friday and weak second-quarter revenue for key companies gave way to fears the economic recovery is stalling.
Pops and drops
Here are the five biggest S&P 500 upticks and five biggest S&P 500 drops of last week (measured Friday close to Friday close):
Winners on the week:
|
Company |
Percentage Gain on the Week |
|---|---|
|
Weyerhaeuser |
13% |
|
Motorola |
10.9% |
|
Monsanto |
9.7% |
|
Expeditors International of Washington |
7.7% |
|
Tellabs |
7.3% |
Source: Capital IQ (a division of Standard & Poor's).
Losers on the week:
|
Company |
Percentage Loss on the Week |
|---|---|
|
Lincoln National |
(11.6%) |
|
Fifth Third Bancorp |
(9.7%) |
|
Harman International Industries |
(9.3%) |
|
Masco |
(9%) |
|
Gannett |
(9%) |
Source: Capital IQ (a division of Standard & Poor's).
A closer look
Shares of Motorola surged last week, after news reports indicated the company was in talks to sell its telecommunication equipment unit to Nokia Siemens Networks. Today, Motorola confirmed those reports. This comes on the heels of Verizon's launch of the Droid X, Motorola's new smartphone, which has also boosted the company's stock. Foolish colleague Anders Bylund writes that Motorola's new phone appears to be a major contender for competition with Apple's iPhone. Anders thinks Motorola could return to its "glory days" if Verizon markets the new phone appropriately. Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to "overweight" from "underweight" on the launch of Droid X.
On the flip side, shares of Gannett sank last week, after the nation's biggest newspaper publisher reported second-quarter revenue that fell short of analysts' expectations. A major sell-off in the broader market took Gannett's shares even further down with it.
The company reported a 177% increase in net income for the second quarter, mostly thanks to cost-cutting, while revenue edged down 1.5%. Despite the revenue miss, Gannett sees positive trends at work, stating that declining advertising sales in its newspaper unit are ebbing compared with the first quarter. Management also cited an increase in sales in its broadcast division, as car companies resume spending on commercials. Gannett further noted that it hasn't seen a pullback in advertising spending, but it's keeping a close watch, given economic uncertainty.
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