By The Numbers
- Friday, 2 Mar 2012 5:43 PM ET
Photo: Oliver Quillia for CNBC.comIs Tech Rally Confusing?Technology stocks have been gaining momentum in 2012, up eight of the last nine weeks. However, over the last 12 months, consumer discretionary and health-care companies have really powered the rally.
So far this year, the Nasdaq Composite [.NCOMP Loading... ()
] posted a gain of 11 percent, compared to an 9 percent increase for the Standard & Poor's 500 and a 6 percent return for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Similarly, the Nasdaq 100 [.NDX Loading... ()
], a measure of the largest non-financial firms listed on the Nasdaq exchange, is up 14 percent year-to-date. - Friday, 2 Mar 2012 3:22 PM ETBy: Giovanny Moreano
Comstock | Getty ImagesTrading volume in Sara Lee [SLE Loading... ()
] rose 280 percent over its 10-day average, as the food and drink company announced a special $3 dividend at the end of June, following a spin-off of its coffe and tea business.
Here's a look at other stocks in the S&P 1,500 index [.SPSUP Loading... ()] displaying unusual volume in Friday's trading session.
» Read More - Thursday, 1 Mar 2012 4:43 PM ETBy: Giovanny Moreano
Franz Aberham | Getty ImagesAfter a turbulent after-hours session that sent oil prices surging, prices have come off their highs after CNBC's Sharon Epperson confirmed with Saudi sources that reports of a pipeline explosion were false.
Crude oil for April delivery traded as high as $110.55 a barrel in electronic trading Thursday.
The last time oil futures [CLCV1 Loading... ()] crossed the $110 mark was back in May 4, 2011.
The rise in crude prices in the past five months has been steep. Since October 4, when crude fell to a one-year low of $74.95, prices for the commodity have increased about $35, or 47 percent. - Thursday, 1 Mar 2012 12:48 PM ETBy: Giovanny Moreano
Nicholas Kamm | Getty ImagesWal-Mart Stores [WMT Loading... ()
] announced Thursday it is boosting its annual dividend to $1.59 a share, a nearly 9 percent increase from the previous year. Will the dividend increase help its stock performance?
So far this year, shares of the world’s biggest retailer are down about 1 percent, compared with a 6 percent increase for the Dow Jones Industrial Average[.SPX Loading... ()].
In fact, Wal-Mart is one of only two Dow industrial components with shares trading lower year-to-date. (Verizon Communications [VZ Loading... ()] is the other company, with a loss of 4 percent.) - Tuesday, 28 Feb 2012 6:08 PM ETBy: Giovanny Moreano
Mike Finn-Kelcey | Age Fotostock | Getty ImagesFebruary 29 is a leap day, a date that is added to the calendar every four years, also called a leap year.
Could there be a correlation between leap years and market performance?
Since 1972, there have been 10 leaps years and the S&P 500 [.SPX Loading... ()
] posted an average gain of 6 percent during those years, compared to an average return of 8.7 percent during non-leap years.If you take out 2008, a leap year that came at the height of the recession and saw the S&P drop 38.5 percent, the average during leap years jumps to 10.9 percent, beating the average in non-leap years.
- Tuesday, 28 Feb 2012 2:14 PM ET
Don Farrall | Digital Vision | Getty ImagesWhen you think of cash-rich companies, the first name that may come to mind is Apple.
But relative to its size, is Apple holding more cash than its peers? The answer, perhaps surprisingly, is no.Apple, [AAPL Loading... ()
] the darling stock of retail investors and hedge funds, made waves in the past quarter when its cash number was reported to be at $97.6 billion.
This amount, however, includes cash, short-term and long-term investments, with the latter not always being as liquid as the first two.On Monday, the CNBC Analytics team published a list of “10 Cash-Rich Companies," which compared cash and short-term investments of individual companies to their assets. Since cash holdings can vary significantly by industry, the slideshow isolated firms with the largest cash holdings within all 10 S&P 500 sectors.
Apple, however, did not make it to the list. - Tuesday, 28 Feb 2012 10:47 AM ETBy: Giovanny Moreano
Source: GamestopGamestop [GME Loading... ()
] short-interest reached nearly 38 percent of its float, putting the retailer of video game products at the top of the most shorted stocks in the S&P 500 index.
First Solar, which used to have the highest short interest, is now in fifth place.
Among the most shorted stocks, R.R. Donnelley & Sons [RRD Loading... ()] has seen the largest increase in short interest so far this year, up 105 percent, while that of First Solar [FSLR
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()
] decreased the most, down 21 percent. - Monday, 27 Feb 2012 2:13 PM ETBy: Giovanny MoreanoComstock | Getty Images
Trading volume in Whirlpool [WHR Loading... ()
] jumped nearly 150 percent over its 10-day average, as the manufacturer of home appliances posted one of the largest percentage increases at the NYSE.
Here's a look at other stocks in the S&P 1,500 index [.SPSUP Loading... ()] displaying unusual volume in Monday's trading session.
» Read More - Friday, 24 Feb 2012 9:58 AM ET
Getty ImagesThe Russell 2000, an index of 2,000 small-capitalization stocks, could be the next index to post a record high.
The small-cap![[cnbc explains]](http://media.cnbc.com/i/CNBC/Sections/News_And_Analysis/_News/_CNBC_EXPLAINS/_IMAGES/CNBC_explains_icon1.gif)
benchmark is currently trading within 4.2 percent of its closing high of 865.29 set back in April. It has climbed 36 percent since its lows in early October. That compares to the Dow Jones Industrial Average [.DJI
Loading...
()
], which hit 13,000 earlier this week for the first time since 2008, but is still 8.3 percent from its record high in October 2007.
Driving the Russell 2000’s [.SPX Loading... ()] recent surge are a handful of stocks posting gains of more than 150 percent since October. - Thursday, 23 Feb 2012 3:11 PM ETBy: Giovanny Moreano
So far this earnings season, 446 companies in the S&P 500 index reported fourth-quarter results. Of those firms, 63 percent beat their estimates, while 26 percent missed and 11 percent matched.
Getty Images
The earnings surprise factor stands at 4 percent, while revenue, on average, has come 1 percent above estimates. Year-over-year revenue growth is 7 percent.
Compared to the same period a year ago, financial and utility companies have taken the lead, showing EPS growth above 17 percent, respectively.
On the other side of the spectrum, material and consumer staple firms have shown the least growth, down 23 percent and 14 percent, according to Thomson Reuters.
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