U.S. stocks are mostly up today as news of increased production and lower-than-expected inflation eased the market’s concerns over disappointing quarterly announcements. Manufacturing in the U.S. continues to produce, growing for the ninth consecutive month. Meanwhile, inflation rose only 0.1 percent last month. Experts expected a 0.2 percent rise. However, the numbers are not counting the growing cost of basic goods like food and gas prices, which are rising quite sharply. So, there’s that. Both Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) disappointed Wall Street with quarterly results that failed to meet expectations. Toymaker Mattel (NYSE: MAT) saw a nice pop in share price after the company’s Q1 came in-line with forecasts.
Major U.S. Stock Indices
DJIA: 12,365.03 (+0.30 percent)
S&P 500: 1,322.11 (+0.57 percent)
Nasdaq: 2,768.11 (+0.29 percent)
Russell 2000: 833.03 (+0.67 percent)
In other news:
- Wall Street mourns a tough loss. Respected investment strategist Joe Battipaglia of Stifel Nicolaus died at age 55 from an apparent heart attack. [Fox Business]
- Anyone interested in timing the stock market? Despite repeatedly being warned of the dangers, investors always get reeled back in trying to buy low and sell high. [Marketwatch]
- Twitter is getting a giant dose of fail whale from the press.Burned investors and forgotten co-founders are just the tip of the #twittertrouble iceberg. [Business Insider]
- Class warfare: The top 1 percent don’t just make a disproportionate amount of the nation’s wealth, they also control a disproportionate amount of influence to protect that wealth. [Economist]
- Countrywide continues to come back and bite Bank of America. This time, the subprime mortgage business was a significant factor in the bank’s 36 percent drop in Q1 earnings.
Check back as more news develops.
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