Choppy trading has become par for the course this week, and this morning's session has been no exception. In the first hour of trading, we've already seen a range of almost 100 points for the Dow Jones Industrials (^DJI 0.67%) as the average tries to figure out where to go next after losing more than 400 points in the past two trading sessions. Ongoing worries still have investors a bit shell-shocked, but consumer sentiment figures that showed a resilient consumer base provided some hope. Just before 10:45 a.m. EST, the Dow was up two points.
The big mover on the day was Disney (DIS -0.55%), which plunged almost 7% after releasing earnings. The company posted a 14% gain in profits and matched expectations, but revenue came in somewhat below where analysts had projected. The company's theme-park revenue was particularly light, and analysts weighed in with concerns about the current quarter. Still, longer-term trends appear favorable for the company, so long-term investors may prefer to see the drop as a buying opportunity.
Elsewhere, JPMorgan Chase (JPM 1.94%) climbed about 1.5%. The bank's plans to buy back shares helped the stock hold up well yesterday, but the longer-term concern is the extent to which a second term for the Obama administration will lead to further financial regulation, especially with former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau special assistant Elizabeth Warren having been elected to the Senate.
Finally, wireless network companies AT&T (T -1.21%) and Verizon (VZ -4.67%) both had healthy gains of around 1%. Credit agency Moody's put AT&T's debt on review for a potential downgrade, which is a constant threat given the huge amount of capital expenditure that telecoms have to spend in order to maintain and improve their networks. With Verizon suffering extensive damage from both Hurricane Sandy and a subsequent storm over the past couple of days, both companies need some time to recover.
