Weekly Wrap

Here is the weekly recap from Briefing.com:

Week ending 12-Jun-09It was a relatively quiet week of trade, with the S&P 500 settling with a modest 0.4% gain.

For the week, seven of the ten sectors posted a gain, led by utilities (+3.9%). Consumer staples underperformed with a 1.3% loss.

Semiconductors had a solid showing after Texas Instruments (TXN) raised its second quarter guidance, saying all of its major product lines are growing and that manufacturing utilization has improved. The company now expects revenue of between $2.3 billion and $2.5 billion, versus the $2.2 billion consensus and the prior range of $1.95 billion to $2.4 billion. TXN forecast EPS of between $0.14 and $0.22, versus the consensus of $0.10 and the prior guidance of $0.01 to $0.15 per share. Shares of TXN rose 5.6% for the week, with the Semiconductor Index climbing 1.5%.

Meanwhile, Qualcomm (QCOM) raised its fiscal third quarter revenue and operating income guidance based on stronger-than-expected demand for the company's chipsets. QCOM rose 1.4% for the week.

In other corporate news, the Treasury announced that 10 of the 19 largest U.S. financial institutions, including US Bancorp (USB), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS), will be allowed to repay $68 billion of TARP funds.

In economic news, the Fed's Beige Book stated that there are signs that the economic decline is slowing, with several districts indicating that their expectations have improved.

Initial unemployment claims for the week ended June 6 fell 24,000 to 601,000, which was better than the consensus estimate of 615,000. Continuing claims, however, continued to rise, reflecting the weak labor market. For the week ended May 30, continuing claims rose 59,000 to 6.816 million.

The May retail sales numbers were about as expected, posting a moderate increase of 0.5% for both total sales and excluding autos. Gasoline sales, which rose 3.6%, helped boost the numbers. Excluding this component, retail sales were up 0.2%. Retail sales may be challenging over the months ahead given declining payrolls and weakening wage gains.

Treasuries had a volatile week, coming under pressure early in the week on reports that the Russian Central Bank is set to cut its Treasury holdings and a disappointing 10-year note auction. The 10-year note yield hit nearly 4.00%, but ended the week at 3.79% after a solid 30-year auction, reassuring comments from Japan and a Wall Street Journal report that the Fed may increase its purchase program.

The dollar saw swings in conjunction with Treasures, falling 0.6% for the week.
In commodity trading, oil rose 5.5%. The CRB Index rose 1.7%.