Posted on: Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Stocks up modestly as investors await earnings
By Michael J. Martinez
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Investors burdened by angst about upcoming earnings reports shrugged off a spate of mergers and acquisitions news yesterday, leaving stocks with only modest gains.
That helped take the edge off of oil prices, which topped $47 per barrel for the first time since Dec. 1 before falling substantially in late trading. A barrel of light crude settled at $45.33, down 10 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
But while the markets rose in somewhat uncertain trading, analysts said earnings reports were foremost on investors' minds — especially corporate profit outlooks for 2005, which could include how companies feel about the prospects for inflation.
"We're doing all right for now, but earnings will really determine where we're going to go," said Peter Cardillo, chief strategist and senior vice president at S.W. Bach & Co. "And the key with earnings will be guidance for 2005. How concerned is corporate America about inflation? That's the big question."
Inflation likely will continue to be a critical concern on Wall Street through earnings season, as companies discuss their forecasts for 2005. If companies are concerned that interest rates will rise quickly in response to a falling dollar and mounting inflationary pressures, then stocks could fall, putting a definitive end to the markets' postelection rally that sagged last week.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 8 to 5 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 1.95 billion shares, compared with 1.89 billion on Friday.
A flurry of merger activity — a buyout of video rental chain Hollywood Entertainment Corp., reported merger talks between Wells Fargo & Co. and British financial giant Barclays PLC and a deal in the wireless telephone sector — was seen as a sign that the economy would remain strong to support such deals.
