LONDON (ShareCast) - US markets enjoyed a good morning session, boosted by better than expected economic data on the jobs and retail front and some favourable broker comment.
The drop in the number of newly laid-off Americans claiming for state
unemployment benefits came in better-than-expected, according to Labor Department. Initial claims fell by 24,000 in the week ended 6 June to a seasonally adjusted 601,000, less than the 615,000 analysts had been expecting.
The government also reported that retail sales rose 0.5% in May after falling a revised 0.2% the prior month. Sales in April were originally reported to have declined 0.4%.
While its chief executive officer Ken Lewis was being grilled by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on the Bank of America (NYSE: IKJ - news) purchase of Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER - news) , the share price of Bank of America was sitting top of the Dow Jones (news) leaderboard, after Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS - news) raised its profit estimates for the bank, and broker Keefe, Bruyette and Woods upgraded the shares to 'outperform'.
Lenders Fifth Third and Regions Financial (NYSE: RF - news) are wanted after Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS - news) upgraded both stocks to 'buy' from 'neutral'. In contrast, medical insurance firm United Healthcare is the worst performing blue-chip after it was downgraded from 'perform' to 'underperform' by Oppenheimer & Co,
Price hikes helped tinned fruit and pet food supplier Del Monte post a sharp rise in earnings in the quarter to April 27. Income from continuing operations for the quarter was $68.8m, or $0.35 a share, compared to $40.7m, or $0.20 a share, in the same period the previous year.
S&P 500 - Risers
Regions Financial Corp. (RF) $4.32 +7.95%
L S I Logic Corp. (LSI (NYSE: LSI - news) ) $5.18 +7.69%
Bank Of America Corp. (BAC) $12.85 +7.26%
Huntington Bancshares Inc. (HBAN) $4.31 +6.95%
Southwestern Energy (NYSE: SWN - news) (SWN) $44.86 +5.93%
Slm Corp (NYSE: ISM - news) . (SLM) $8.62 +5.77%
Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB - news) (FITB) $7.75 +5.56%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Unitedhealth Group (NYSE: UNH - news) (UNH) $23.67 -8.01%
Marshall & Ilsley (MI) $5.99 -6.70%
Vulcan Materials Co (NYSE: VMC - news) (VMC) $41.31 -6.05%
Micron Technology (NYSE: MU - news) (MU) $5.51 -5.89%
Centex Corp. (CTX) $8.48 -5.88%
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