Portfolio Crafter – Market Commentary 7/6/05
July 6th, 2005 / 10:22 pm / by portfoliocrafter
Today, the Dow finished session down triple digits due to record-high crude price. The index was down 101.12 points, to close at 10,270.68. Oil futures marked their first-ever close above $61 a barrel as a consequence of bad weather that shut down oil and gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Therefore, crude for August delivery climbed high to close at $61.28 a barrel, up $1.69, or 2.8 percent. Besides, the Nasdaq fell 10.10 points, to close at 2,068.65. Meanwhile, the S&P closed at 1,194.94, after falling 10.05 points.
UnitedHealth Group Inc., the second U.S. medical insurance company, announced that it will buy PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. for $8.14 billion. Also, UnitedHealth will exchange 1.1 of its shares plus $21.50 cash for each share of PacifiCare. This acquisition will help UnitedHealth profit as Medicare, which is the government medical program. Shares of PacifiCare jumped $9.57, or 13 percent, to close at $82.85 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, while shares of UnitedHealth dropped 27 cents to close at $52.96.
Aeropostale Inc., the retailer of teenage apparel, cut its second-quarter forecasts making its shares drop about 7 percent. Aeropostale stock dropped $2.36, to close at $31.45. The company announced that earnings this quarter will be about 19 cents a share, which is a lower result than its previous estimate of 23 cents. In general, U.S. stocks fell due to high energy prices, which curb corporate profits and consumer spending.
Among Dow components, Walt Disney announced that it is beefing up an operation in order to launch a national U.S wireless service for families, especially for children. Shares of Disney closed down 25 cents, to close at $24.79. Morgan Stanley’s shares also closed down. The stock ended down 41 cents at $53.36. Finally, shares of General Electric also fell 40 cents, to close at $34.32, after the company’s finance division announced that it will acquire $1 billion in aircraft assets from CIT Group.
All the best,
Manuel Jesus-Backus
The Portfolio Crafter
