S&P 500: Wells Fargo & Co in upgrade Print
Written by Sam Coventry   
Tuesday, 09 February 2010 11:53

S&P 500 Index futures sharply higher, but it is a mixed bag for US banking stock with Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase futures lower.

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The S&P 500 Index (INDEXSP:.INX) closed 0.89% lower at 1,056.74 on Monday the 8th Feb.

Pre-Market notes


Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) was upgraded by Australian investment bank Macquarie.

Macquarie set a new price target higher at 36.

Wells Fargo & Co closed 3.61% lower at 26.43 yesterday.

S&P 500 futures are higher by a robust 0.63% at 11:45 GMT. A look at European markets shows a strong performance by the banking sector.

Should the sentiment translate across the Atlantic it would could prove wise to bet that Wells Fargo & Co will open higher considering the size of the falls recorded yesterday.

On the other hand, peers of Wells Fargo are experiencing mixed fortunes on the futures exchange in Frankfurt.

Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) is higher 0.05%  while Citigroup (NYSE:C) is lower 0.94% while JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) is lower 0.76%.

Yesterday's trade


The major averages accelerated to the downside going into the close, ending the session near their worst levels of the day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 103.84 points or 1.0 percent at 9,908.39, the Nasdaq Composite fell 15.07 points or 0.7 percent to 2,126.05 and the S&P 500 Index lost 9.45 points or 0.9 percent to close at 1,056.74.

CIT Group (CIT) edged down by 0.5 percent after it appointed former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain as its Chairman and CEO. Thain will replace Peter Tobin, who was appointed on an interim basis after long-time CEO Jeffrey Peek resigned on January 15th.

Thain was ousted from Bank of America (BAC) about a year ago after investors expressed displeasure over the bonuses paid to executives at Merrill Lynch and his lavish spending on redecorating his office when the company was grappling with huge losses.

Shares of Hasbro (HAS) closed up by 12.7 percent after the toy maker reported fourth quarter net earnings that surged up 77 percent to $165.56 million or $1.09 per share from $93.58 million or $0.62 per share in the year-ago quarter. Analysts had expected the company to earn $0.81 per share.

Hasbro also reported net revenues for the quarter of $1.38 billion, up 12 percent from $1.23 billion in the same quarter last year. On average, analysts had estimated revenues of $1.34 billion.

Additionally, CVS Caremark reported fourth quarter net income that rose to $1.05 billion or $0.74 per share from $949 million or $0.65 per share in the same quarter last year. Excluding items, the company reported earnings of $0.79 per share, a penny above analyst estimates.

The drug store operator also said its net revenues increased to $25.82 billion from $24.14 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $26.22 billion for the quarter.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 09 February 2010 12:00 )
 
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