LONDON (ShareCast) - US markets opened marginally higher but turned back following worse than expected consumer confidence data.
The Conference Board's index of consumer sentiment fell to 49.3 in June, down from a revised 54.8 in May. Economists
had been expecting a reading above 50.
Fallen insurance giant AIG was back in the news after it said its credit swaps book has seen a material devaluation which could make its next set of results grisly reading.
Apollo Group (NASDAQ: APOL - news) , which owns the University of Phoenix, surprised the market with better than expected third quarter results. The company's share shot higher, helped by the company's announcement that it intends to increase the size of its share buyback programme to $500m. Fellow education stocks such as DeVry (NYSE: DV - news) advanced in sympathy.
Computer game publisher Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS - news) was wanted after Bank of America (NYSE: IKJ - news) upgraded the stock to "buy" from "neutral".
Online tax preparation firm H&R Block advanced after announcing fourth quarter earnings per share of $2.09, beating market forecasts by a shade.
S&P 500 - Risers
Apollo Group Inc. (APOL) $71.15 +7.82%
H R Block Inc. (HRB) $16.86 +7.59%
DeVry Inc. (DV) $50.31 +5.25%
S&P 500 - Fallers
American International Group Inc. (AIG) $1.12 -95.79%
Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ: ZION - news) (ZION) $11.47 -6.30%
Expedia Inc (NASDAQ: EXPE - news) . (EXPE) $15.00 -5.78%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $57.76 +0.93%
Boeing Co (NYSE: BA - news) (BA) $43.00 +0.82%
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Caterpillar Inc (NYSE: CAT - news) . (CAT) $34.04 -2.02%
Procter Gamble Co (PG) $51.64 -1.13%
Nasdaq 100 (NASDAQ: news) - Risers
Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS) $21.49 +3.27%
Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM) $70.90 +1.81%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Expedia Inc. (EXPE) $15.00 -5.78%
Starbucks Corp (NASDAQ: SBUX - news) . (SBUX) $13.92 -4.92%
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