With Greece, after much sound and fury, agreeing to another round of austerity cuts to keep the EU bailout money flowing and congressional Republicans agreeing to an extension of the payroll tax cut yesterday, the markets were poised to build on yesterday's workman-like gains. Unfortunately, rising retail sales numbers (0.4%) didn't meet Wall Street's expectations (0.8%) and persistent eurozone worries outside of Greece are dragging markets lower.
Let's take a closer look at how the three major indexes are faring this morning.
|
Index |
Gain / (Loss) |
Gain / (Loss) % |
Ending Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) | (37.58) | (0.29%) | 12,836.46 |
| Nasdaq (INDEX: ^IXIC) | (13.06) | (0.45%) | 2,918.33 |
| S&P 500 (INDEX: ^GSPC) | (6.06) | (0.45%) | 1,345.71 |
Source: Yahoo! Finance.
All three indexes are down, with the S&P 500 edging out the Nasdaq as the early loss leader. The Dow is performing better, likely due to several strong individual performances.
For instance, aerospace conglomerate Boeing (NYSE: BA) signed the largest commercial order in the company's 96-year history, sending shares up 0.4%. Indonesia's Lion Air has placed a $22.4 billion order for a mix of 230 737s and an option for 150 more aircraft. Asia is becoming increasingly important for Boeing, as the company predicts not only that one out of three aircraft needed in the next 20 years will call that part of the world home, but that the region will be responsible for 50% of its defense segment revenue.
On the Nasdaq, one of the worst performers is Zipcar (Nasdaq: ZIP), which is down 13% on poor earnings guidance. The company is blaming slow adoption in Britain for its wider-than-anticipated loss of around $4.5 million, when analysts had expected breakeven results. Revenue came in $300,000 short of expectations at $62.9 million. For investors who loved the stock at the IPO price, now could be time to get a significantly lower cost basis, but concerns remain over the company's ability to fend off competitors while scaling out profitably to more than a few large cities.
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