Milder Contraction Of Services Sector Boosts Markets
While the services sector contracted again in February, the Institute for Supply Management's services index fell less than expected to boost the markets higher during the midday. The Dow leaped 153 points to 6879 while Nasdaq jumped 34 points to 1355.
Fitch Ratings cited the slump in Las Vegas locals market for downgrading Boyd Gaming's (NYSE: BYD) issuer default rating, senior credit agreement and senior subordinated debt.
U. S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) slashed its quarterly dividend from 42.5 cents per share to 5 cents per share in order to save over $2.6 billion annually.
On the upside
ADC Telecommunications (Nasdaq: ADCT) widened first quarter losses but the results topped analyst estimates and revenue rose.
NASA partnered with Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) to develop a monitoring platform to record and analyze climate change.
First quarter earnings rose to beat expectations for Joy Global (NYSE: JOYG) as original equipment sales climbed and margins improved.
On the downside
Fitch Ratings cited the slump in Las Vegas locals market for downgrading Boyd Gaming's (NYSE: BYD) issuer default rating, senior credit agreement and senior subordinated debt.
U. S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) slashed its quarterly dividend from 42.5 cents per share to 5 cents per share in order to save over $2.6 billion annually.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks climbed 8 points to 369.
