Dow, S&P flat on retail view; Amazon lifts Nasdaq
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Stocks were mostly flat on Wednesday as worries about a sales forecast from Target Inc  and falling home prices were offset by gains in energy shares.
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U.S. stocks were flat on Wednesday, held back by lingering concerns about growth and investors' appetite for risk in a choppy market.
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U.S. stocks barely budged on Thursday   as mixed results from retailers, a tame inflation report, and   purchasing manager surveys prompted concerns about economic   growth and interest rates.
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U.S. stocks traded higher on Tuesday,  shrugging off rebounding oil prices, as several retailers  posted strong earnings and two reports eased worries that the  U.S. economic recovery is losing steam.
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NEW YORK - Stocks moved higher Friday as a stronger than expected retail sales report showed that higher oil prices aren't scaring consumers away from spending.    Wall Street had worried that soaring oil and gasoline prices would prompt consumers to spend less...
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NEW YORK - Stocks were narrowly mixed Tuesday as oil prices remained higher and Wall Street weighed a lackluster report on retail sales, but light volume showed that many investors remained on the sidelines.    With Hurricane Ivan threatening oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, crude futures moved higher for the second straight day, but the possibility of an increase in output from OPEC took the edge off investors' concerns...
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(InfoWorld) - The Dow Jones Industrial Average broke a record this week, but that doesn't mean that the technology sector has recovered from its half-decade hangover after the burst of the dot-com bubble. The Nasdaq has made gains in recent weeks and closed the third quarter up about 4 percent, compared with the second quarter, but it is still is about 55 percent down from its peak in March 2000. On Tuesday, the Dow hit 11,727.34, its highest point ever, and continued to climb, closing Thursday at 11,866.69. Strong retail sales, signals from the U.S. Federal Reserve that lending rates will be kept low, and generally lower oil prices (though there have been some spikes recently) have generated a feeling of optimism for business. Though there are signs that some of this optimism has spilled into the tech sector recently, IT vendors have a long way to go before they reach the exalted levels of 2000. While the Dow index measures 30 large companies, including four of the largest IT vendors (Microsoft Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., Intel Corp., and IBM Corp.) the Nasdaq is a much better bellwether for the tech sector, since it is so heavily weighted with technology companies, large and small. Thursday it closed at 2306.34, up 15.39 points for the day. But at its peak on March 10, 2000, it hit 5048.62. Corporate IT departments are still under great pressure to contain costs, so vendors aiming at the enterprise have an uphill battle. According to a CIO Magazine Tech Poll released this week, executives surveyed during the third quarter forecast IT budget increases of 6.5 percent for the next 12 months. That's down from an average 6.9 percent increase reported in the second-quarter survey. In one worrying sign, only 46 percent of the executives said they had intentions of moving to software-as-a-service (SAAS) computing architectures. SAAS has been seen as a harbinger of better times for the software industry. Other surveys are more optimistic, however. For example, The Equs Group's poll, also released this week, found that 55 percent of executives surveyed plan budget increases of 5 percent to 15 percent for 2007, and that 21 percent of the respondents forecast spending increases between 25 percent and 50 percent. Analysts at brokerages have been raising expectations on the tech sector, reasoning that some IT vendors shares have fallen so low that they are now a bargain. Also, price decreases as a result of vicious competition in the PC sector are expected to trigger a miniboom in hardware shopping at the end of the year. While it may take years for the Nasdaq to attain the level it reached in the boom years, some clarity around the next few quarters should happen in the next few weeks. In the week of October 16, financials reports should give a good indication of how end-of-year sales will shape up, especially in hardware. A variety of industry bellwethers will be reporting: Dell Inc., Intel Corp., Apple Computer Inc., Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and IBM Corp. Intel will get a chance to report whether its latest spate of product announcements, including 64-bit processors, has helped it regain market share it lost to AMD. Analysts will get a chance to press Apple about how it will weather competition from Microsoft Corp. in the music player arena, and whether a lack of a new video iPod will be a big blow.
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Investor's Business Daily - 1 Indexes opened weaker in reaction to another plunge in China&#39;s stock market. But U.S. indexes recovered, despite a jump in oil prices. The S&amp;P 500, Nasdaq and NYSE composite rose 0.2%. The Dow edged up 0.1%. But volume receded across the board. In Shanghai, stocks fell 8% in a continuing correction. The yield on the 10-year note dipped to 4.93%.
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Stocks finished largely flat on news of weaker-than-expected retail sales and a jump in oil prices.
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U.S. blue chips opened flat on Friday,  but the Nasdaq gained on earnings from Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O  late on Thursday that beat expectations.
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The Dow industrials and S&P 500 stock gauges were little changed on Tuesday as investors concluded that higher-than-expected inflation figures would not necessarily lead to higher interest rates.
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U.S. stocks headed for a largely flat open Monday following back-to-back sessions last week that brought fresh records for several major market indexes and amid word of a big buyout.
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U.S. stocks opened lower  on Thursday,  weighed by weaker-than-expected earnings from online retailer  Amazon.com Inc. AMZN.O and a government report showing U.S.  productivity growth slowed in the fourth quarter.
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U.S. stocks pared their gains and the Standard & Poor's 500 index was nearly flat on Friday, as investors sold energy shares, taking profits after several days of gains.
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Shares of Amazon.com Inc. posted a second day of gains Tuesday after a Bear, Stearns &amp; Co. analyst upgraded the stock on expectations that the company will benefit from a growing Internet retail market.
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U.S. stocks finished little changed on  Wednesday after comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve left  investors expecting a rate increase in December, while  technology stocks slid following disappointing earnings from  bellwether Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO.O.
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U.S. stocks were flat on Tuesday after  a strong opening as declines in health insurers offset  better-than-expected earnings from tech bellwethers IBM Corp.  IBM.N and Texas Instruments Inc. TXN.N.