U.S. stocks stumbled Wednesday on concerns from stronger-than-expected economic data, although a slip in the price of oil trimmed losses. The Dow fell 16.17, or 0.14%, to 11,400.28, while the Nasdaq composite index was off 5.87, or 0.25% at 2,303.97. Crude oil futures traded down $2.33 to $72.28 a barrel. In economic news, the Commerce Department on Wednesday reported new orders for U.S.-made factory goods increased 4.2% in March, led by strong demand for airplanes, machinery, electronics and petroleum. It was the largest gain in 10 months and surpassed economists' expectations of 3.7%.
Shares of Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) slipped 3.3% to $56.21 after the world's largest consumer-goods company said its third-quarter profit rose 37%, helped by the Gillette acquisition, price increases and cost controls. Sales, though, fell short of expectations.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) shares fell 3% to $23.31 following a Wall Street Journal report that the software giant may buy a stake in Internet company Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO). Shares of Yahoo added 1% at $32.16.
Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) Wednesday reported a 59% jump in its first-quarter net profit on increased revenue generated by its film and television studios, cable-television networks and cable systems. Revenue at its AOL unit, however, continued to decline. Time Warner stock was off 1.3% at $17.19.
Shares of Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) rose 1% to $51.55 after the company upped its third-quarter earnings outlook by $0.02 a share to $0.38 to $0.40 a share, from $0.36 to $0.38. Qualcomm also sees revenue at the high end of its earlier range of $1.77 to $1.87 billion.
Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE), after Tuesday's close, said its quarterly results will come in at the low end of its previous forecast on weaker-than-expected demand in Europe and North America. Adobe was also downgraded by CIBC World Markets to "sector perform" from "sector outperform," citing concerns that a slowdown in demand may hurt August results. Its shares dropped 8.5% to $35.10.
Powerwave Technologies (NASDAQ: PWAV), after Tuesday's closing bell, reported a first-quarter net loss of $2.28 million, or $0.02 a share, compared with net earnings of $5.37 million, or $0.05 a share, a year ago. Excluding items, the company earned $0.03 a share. Revenue rose 19% to $193.1 million from $162.2 million. Analysts expected earnings of $0.07 a share on revenue of $196 million. Powerwave stock shot up nearly 12% to $11.97.
FedEx (NYSE: FDX) was downgraded by Morgan Stanley to "equal weight" from "overweight," saying the stock is nearing its price target of $120 sooner than expected. FedEx shares lost 1.2% to $114.66.
Shares of Motorola (NYSE: MOT) were upgraded to "buy" from "neutral" at Banc of America Securities, but its price target of $25 was unchanged. It said Motorola should rebound from recent weak performance due to increasing "value share" gains and new products. Its stock climbed 3.2% to $21.93.
Small-cap movers on Wednesday included shares of Hooper Holmes (AMEX: HH), which surged 15% after the provider of outsourced risk assessment services for the life insurance industry named Michael Shea chief financial officer, effective May 8. As well, Kforce (NASDAQ: KFRC) shares jumped 13% after the company reported first-quarter earnings of $6.1 million, or $0.15 a share, on revenue of $222.3 million. On the downside, shares of NPS Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: NPSP) plummeted 39% after the firm said its first-quarter loss narrowed to $0.83 a share from $1.16 in the year-earlier period.
In commodities trading, natural gas fell $0.14 to $6.606 per million British thermal units. Unleaded gasoline was off $0.0894 at $2.0857 per gallon, while June heating oil lost $0.0756 to $2.0032. The price of gold gained $1.10 at $668.50. July silver slipped $0.415 to $13.795. July platinum finished $1.30 higher at $1,186.70 an ounce, while June palladium eased $4 to $382.35. Copper, meanwhile, closed up $0.0285 at $3.305 a pound.
Commodities Weigh on TSX Canadian stocks dropped Wednesday as traders took some profits in the red-hot natural resources. Toronto's S&P/TSX composite was down 78 points, or 0.6%, at 12,196.15, while the TSX Venture Exchange moved 26 points lower to 3,114.68. Energy stocks were off 1.4% as crude oil futures traded down $2.33 to US$72.28 a barrel. Gold shares, meanwhile, slipped 1.3% even though the price of gold gained $1.10 to US$668.50. Mining issues also lost more than 1.5%.
Bell Canada parent BCE Inc. (TSX: T.BCE) posted a first-quarter profit of $477 million, or $0.52 a share, from a year-earlier $474 million, or $0.51 a share, despite an $88-million charge for restructuring. BCE shares edged $0.22 lower to $27.30.
Shares of newspaper and romance-novel publisher Torstar Corp. (TSX: T.TS.NV.B) slipped 5.6% to $21.75 after the company reported first-quarter earnings of $9.8 million, or $0.13 a share, down from $21.1 million, $0.27 a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue slipped to $357.1 million from $358.8 million.
Enbridge (TSX: T.ENB) said its first-quarter earnings declined to $190.9 million from a year-earlier $220.6 million, but the company said it will build a $250-million crude-oil terminal at Hardisty, Alberta. Enbridge stock crept up $0.26 to $33.39.
Ottawa-based Orezone Resources (TSX: T.OZN) has invested $1,000,000 in PMI Ventures (TSX: V.PMV), a Vancouver-based junior gold explorer with projects underway in Ghana. Shares of PMI jumped 9.4% to $0.35, while Orezone shares fell 6.4% to $2.19.
After Tuesday's close, MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (TSX: T.MDA) posted a first-quarter profit of $19.9 million, or $0.47 a share, compared with $14.7 million, or $0.37 a share, during the same period a year ago. Analysts expected $0.42 a share. Revenue rose to $233.4 million from $201.4 million. Its stock was off 1% at $50.36 on Wednesday. The Canadian dollar traded at US$0.9039, up 0.01 of a cent.
DOW Price at posting:
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