FOX Business: The Power to Prosper
Stocks jumped at Wednesday's opening bell as the bulls celebrated the lowest level for initial jobless claims since July 2008 by quickly recovering a chunk of Tuesday's tumble.
Today's Markets
As of 9:33 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 94.60 points, or 0.85%, to 11030.18, the Standard & Poor's 500 advanced 10.88 points, 0.92%, to 1191.61 and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 31.41 points, or 1.26%, to 2426.52. The FOX 50 added 6.22 points, or 0.73%, to 854.28.
In addition to the unexpected plunge in weekly jobless claims, Wall Street was cheering upbeat news on the retail front from Tiffany (TIF: 60.43 ,+2.04 ,+3.49%) and Guess (GES: 48.60 ,-0.12 ,-0.25%) and looking ahead to a key report on consumer sentiment.
The early bullishness allowed Wall Street to recapture a portion of Tuesday's 142-point slide on the Dow, which was fueled by worries about tensions in Asia, debt troubles in Europe and the widening insider-trading probe on Wall Street.
Due to Thanksgiving, which will close the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday and result in a shortened-session on Friday, Wall Street had four major economic reports to digest on Wednesday. The holiday is also likely to result in thinner trading volumes that can increase volatility.
The rally picked up steam after the Labor Department said initial jobless claims dropped last week by 34,000 to 407,000 -- the lowest level since July 2008. Wall Street had been bracing for a modest rise in claims. The four-week moving average of claims slid to the lowest level since August 2008, the month before the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
The government also said personal spending grew by 0.4% in October, matching estimates and marking the fourth-straight monthly increase. Personal incomes climbed 0.5% after flatlining in September.
However, the economic news wasn't all bullish as the Commerce Department said durable goods orders dropped by 3.3% in October -- the biggest drop since an 8% nosedive in January 2009 during the depth of the recession. Excluding transportation, orders slid 2.7%, the worst decline since March 2009.
Later on Wednesday Wall Street could be moved by a new report on November consumer sentiment set to be released at 9:55 a.m. ET.
U.S. markets also cheered signs the holiday-shopping season is off to a strong start as Tiffany and Guess surged after unveiling forecasts for the full year that would beat Wall Street's expectations.
Meanwhile, Wall Street continues to keep an eye on Europe, where the euro bounced off of two-month lows. The currency has been slammed this week as the markets turn their attention away from bailed-out Ireland and begin to focus on debt-ridden Portugal and Spain. Wall Street tends to move in the same direction as the euro because a cheaper dollar helps exports. The euro was up 0.17% to $1.3386.
Commodities ticked higher thanks to the currency rebound. Crude oil rose 33 cents a barrel, or 0.41%, to $81.58. Copper jumped 1.08% to $3.7515 a pound. Gold slid $2.00 a troy ounce, or 0.19%, to $1,377.70.
Corporate Movers
Deere (DE: 76.83 ,+0.52 ,+0.68%) swung to a stronger-than-expected profit of $1.07 a share, compared with estimates for 95 cents. Revenue soared 35% to $7.2 billion, solidly exceeding the Street’s view of just $6.25 billion. However, Deere projected 2011 net income of $2.1 billion, which would be well below estimates for $2.42 billion.
Tiffany (TIF: 60.43 ,+2.04 ,+3.49%) beat the Street with a 27% rise in third-quarter profits and an adjusted profit of 46 cents a share. Analysts had called for EPS of just 37 cents. Sales climbed 14% to $681.7 million, topping the Street’s view of $653 million. Tiffany also upped its full-year EPS guidance above consensus estimates and said the start to the holiday-shopping season is "exceeding our expectations."
Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) jumped 2% after the enterprise software giant was awarded $1.3 billion by a jury after an intellectual property dispute with rival SAP (SAP: 47.99 ,-0.72 ,-1.48%). The settlement may have been the largest-ever for copyright infringement.
Global Markets
The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 1.05% to 5639.27, France's CAC 40 gained 0.75% to 3752.63 and Germany's DAX soared 1.63% to 6814.25.
In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 lost 0.84% to 10030.10, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.56% to 23023.90 and China's Shanghai Composite added 1.12% to 2859.94.
