C-3PO: “How did Apple, Google & Facebook do today?” R2D2: “Bleep bleep blop bleep blip bleep blop”
Dow: 13,559 (-0.15%) S&P 500: 1,457 (-0.22%)
New England’s infamous hometown home-region NFL franchise is considered by many to be a barometer of the greatness of America (they’re the Patriots after all). And with Bill Belichick’s face still steaming red after replacement referees blew a last second call to defeat the Pats in Sunday night prime time, it comes as no surprise markets were down today (according to our vocal MarketSnacks Boston-based readership). Investors focused on the bad and ignored the good – Google’s stock reached heights not seen since before the financial crisis in 2007, but concerns on the never-ending European economic crisis was all over the market’s radar. The Dow ended down 21 points to spoil a crisp fall day in Gotham.
German CEOs are surprisingly depressed about the future
A poll taken by the Ifo Institute in Munich of Germany’s top CEOs reported business expectations at the lowest level in 2 1/2 years. German business managers see that the recession in countries like Spain, Ireland, and even Italy/France will not end soon, which is becoming a bigger threat to das Fatherland everyday. Economic slowdowns are contagious, and while Germany’s strong exporting industries have helped them fight off recession (America and China continue to fuel their addiction to sleek luxury cars and demand for German Porsches, BMWs, etc remains high), but the slowdown in Europe is catching up to them. 5 of the 17 euro currency countries are officially in recession, which hurts business that rely on European neighbors to import their German-made goods. The news of such a powerful economy’s vulnerability to the debt crisis struck angst in globally-minded investors here in the US as well as Europe.
Facebook drops and Apple slips, while Google reaches new high
It didn’t reach a Y2K level of paranoia, but tech stocks got hit hard today: the tech-focused Nasdaq stock index dropped 0.6% and of the 30 blue chip companies represented in the Dow, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Intel (INTC) led the losers. Facebook (FB) fell nearly 10% fall after esteemed financial publication Barron’s called the stock “too pricey” over the weekend considering its earnings and analysts are uncertain about its outlook (“Timeline” isn’t exactly a thriller). Facebook can’t shake the concerns that mobile phone FB access will kill ad-revenue – the iPhone 5′s got a bigger screen, but not big enough for sidebar ads we see on the desktop version. Speaking of iPhone, Apple’s done nothing but climb like a crazed monkey the last few days on iPhone 5 passion, but analysts are a fickle bunch – sales of the new iPhone reached a whopping 5 million over the opening weekend, but analysts wanted 6 million and Apple (AAPL) shares dipped 2% in response. If you google “what tech stock did well today?” the only hit should be Google (GOOG) – the phenom advanced over 2% to reach an all-time closing high of $749.38. Citibank raised their price target on the stock (where they expect the shares to be trading in the future) and investors bought it up.
Tomorrow:
- Remember all that fun housing data last week? We’ve got more for ya: S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index for July and the FHFA Home Price Index for June
- September Consumer Confidence and the Fed‘s Report on Manufacturing Activity in the Virginia Region
- And on a side note, for our north-of-Wall-Street audience, expect a lot of traffic in Midtown Manhattan thanks to the UN meetings…
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