| Stocks Kickoff May With a Big Rally |
| May-01-2012 |
| Keywords: stocks rally, manufacturing report, april, china, auto sales |
A surprise rise in manufacturing activity sparks a rally on Wall Street. Investors are cheering news that the ISM Manufacturing Index rose to a better than expected 54.8 in April from 53.4 in March. Economists were expecting a slowdown to 53.
That was welcomed news after several regional reports, Empire State Manufacturing Survey and the Chicago PMI, came in well below Wall Street estimates.
Today's news on manufacturing helped to offset a less than inspiring report on construction spending. The Commerce Department showed construction spending rose just 0.1% in March, a slower pace than the 0.5% economists had expected. Improvement nonetheless compared to the nearly 1.5% decline reported in February.
The major automakers also report monthly sales data that proved mixed. Chrysler's sales in April rose to 141,165 units, a 20% increase from the same month in 2011. Ford, meanwhile, reported a 5% drop to 180,350. General Motors posting a even larger decline, down 8.2%.
On the corporate front, Pfizer topped profit targets, posting adjusted first-quarter earnings of 58 cents a share. But the health-care giant's revenue came in at a weaker than expected $15.4 billion. The Dow component also said forecast lower than expected full-year profits, projecting earnings of between $2.14 and $2.24 a share.
Commodities ending the day mixed. Crude-oil futures ended at their highest in five weeks. Oil for June delivery rose $1.29, or 1.2%, to settle at $106.16 a barrel. That was the highest for a most-active contract since April 27. June natural gas rallied 3.8% to end at $2.37 per million British thermal units, the highest since late March.
Today's better than expected ISM Manufacturing numbers pushing gold prices modestly lower. Gold for June delivery retreated $1.80, or 0.1%, to $1,662.40 an ounce. Copper and platinum bucked the downward trend. July copper rose 1 cent, or 0.4%, to end at $3.84 a pound. |
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Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 1:00 PM Email to a friend |
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