Stocks Rise Despite Smaller Intel Forecast
NEW YORK - Stocks rose in early trading Friday as Wall Street reconciled itself with Intel Corp.‘s tightened forecast and a recent runup in energy prices.
Oil and gas prices were higher in premarket activity but fell slightly despite a snowstorm in the Northeast that was expected to drive a spike in heating fuel demand. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas lost 13.4 cents to $14.86 per 1,000 cubic feet, and a barrel of light crude dropped 6 cents to $60.60.
Broader stock indicators were also higher. The Standard & Poor‘s 500 index was up 2.07, or 0.16 percent, at 1,257.91, and the Nasdaq composite index added 4.20, or 0.19 percent, to 2,250.66.
Intel trimmed $200 million from both the high and low ends of its fourth-quarter sales estimate, narrowing its forecast to a range of $10.4 billion to $10.6 billion. Intel‘s revision, which fell slightly below Wall Street expectations, follows a sharpened outlook at rival Texas Instruments and improved guidance from Xilinx Inc. Intel fell 23 cents to $25.47, while TI gained 25 cents to $32.88 and Xilinx rose 51 cents to $26.53.
Merck & Co. slipped 71 cents to $28.97 after the New England Journal of Medicine New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday said researchers failed to disclose that three patients suffered heart attacks in a 2000 Merck-funded study of its Vioxx Vioxx painkiller. Meanwhile, jurors in the first federal Vioxx trial were to continue deliberating whether Merck failed to warn about the drug‘s risks.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 0.99, or 0.14 percent, to 686.21.
Oil and gas prices were higher in premarket activity but fell slightly despite a snowstorm in the Northeast that was expected to drive a spike in heating fuel demand. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas lost 13.4 cents to $14.86 per 1,000 cubic feet, and a barrel of light crude dropped 6 cents to $60.60.
Broader stock indicators were also higher. The Standard & Poor‘s 500 index was up 2.07, or 0.16 percent, at 1,257.91, and the Nasdaq composite index added 4.20, or 0.19 percent, to 2,250.66.
Intel trimmed $200 million from both the high and low ends of its fourth-quarter sales estimate, narrowing its forecast to a range of $10.4 billion to $10.6 billion. Intel‘s revision, which fell slightly below Wall Street expectations, follows a sharpened outlook at rival Texas Instruments and improved guidance from Xilinx Inc. Intel fell 23 cents to $25.47, while TI gained 25 cents to $32.88 and Xilinx rose 51 cents to $26.53.
Merck & Co. slipped 71 cents to $28.97 after the New England Journal of Medicine New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday said researchers failed to disclose that three patients suffered heart attacks in a 2000 Merck-funded study of its Vioxx Vioxx painkiller. Meanwhile, jurors in the first federal Vioxx trial were to continue deliberating whether Merck failed to warn about the drug‘s risks.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 0.99, or 0.14 percent, to 686.21.
posted by Chris Placitella at 6:15 AM
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