by Jack Lee
The sudden waterfall drop in the DOW has slowed to a downward stair stepping. This continued sell off since late January still appears to be based on a mix of opinions about future growth and trepidation over further real estate declines. A faltering consumer confidence is underscoring the losses and adding to the chaos.
The market action today has been firmly in the red all morning and the DOW is currently off about 100 points on a mix of news that was mostly good, but negative sentiment still seems to be in control. Business inventories declined 0.2% in December, exactly opposite of the consensus estimate of a 0.2% increase. Retail sales rose .05% for January and that beat estimates that called for .03%.
On the downside Ingersoll Rand reported earnings today and they missed the consensus estimate. They are saying they are seeing some improvement in 2010, but its still mixed picture of activity across its end markets.
On a brighter note Agilent Technologies beat estimates today by 5%. Agilent reported fiscal first quarter earnings of $0.38 per share, $0.06 better than the First Call consensus of $0.32. Revenues rose 9.4% year-over-year to $1.22 billion; the consensus called for $1.18 billion. CEO Bill Sullivan said, “. . our orders suggest that the momentum will continue at a moderate pace, with broadening of the recovery across most markets..”
It would appear the free fall in the DOW is probably over and we can see the stair step effect taking shape as the market firms up and a bottom is beginning to form. However, investors should still be exercising extreme caution. The bottom that we see forming is very fragile and it won’t bear the weight of much bad news.