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Friday, June 27, 2014

STOCKS CLIMB, NASDAQ LEADS: Here's What You Need To Know

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Closing Bell

June 27, 2014

Markets finished the day higher, but finished the week mixed, with Dow lagging the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.

First, the scoreboard:

Dow: 16,851.84,+5.7, (0.03%)
S&P 500: 1,960.96, +3.7, (0.2%)
Nasdaq: 4,397.93, +18.9, (0.4%)

And now, the top stories of the day:

1) The University of Michigan's final consumer sentiment survey for June came in at 82.5, better than the 82.0 that was expected by economists. The final reading was also better than the 81.2 preliminary reading reported two weeks ago. Following the report, Cooper Howes at Barclays said, "Consumer perceptions of current conditions have been steadily grinding higher in recent years as housing and labor markets have continued to improve, and we expect this trend to persist as the unemployment rate falls further this year and wage growth picks up." Howes added that the housing market has also been bolstering consumer confidence. "Another factor boosting consumer confidence has been the housing market recovery. After a soft first few months of the year, both new and existing home sales picked up significantly in May, and this improvement was reflected in the June survey of consumer sentiment as more than half of consumers reported positive views of home selling conditions for the first time since 2006."

2) GoPro rallied for the second straight day, closing up 15% after gaining as much as 20% in its second day as a public company. As of its closing price today, GoPro's market cap is more than $4 billion, or more than that of U.S. Steel. Yesterday, BI's Julie Bort noted that GoPro founder's Nicholas Woodman's entire family became millionaires after the company went public, and today was another huge day for them.

3) Du Pont shares fell more than 3.5% after the chemical and agricultural giant last night said that its earnings in the second quarter and fiscal year will be lower due to the harsh weather and soybeans. The company said last night, "Given favorable soybean economics, soybean sales volumes in North America are higher than expected. However, the higher soybean volume will not fully offset the decline in corn volume, especially given the transition under way in the company's soybean lineup to newer, higher performing products. The company believes this is a short-term negative trend, and there will be strong demand for its next generation soybean products. The revised outlook also reflects lower than expected crop protection herbicide sales, largely due to weather."

4) Crumbs Bake Shop last night disclosed that effective July 1, the company's stock will be delisted from the Nasdaq. We covered the decline of Crumbs here and here.

5) Zillow was in focus after influential short-selling firm Citron Research published a report that was critical of the company's recent agreement with Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

6) Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas published a research note today that wondered if auto dealers aren't cutting deals on the sales floor that may not translate to top-line gains for car makers. Jonas says in his note that, "We think more attention should be paid to the risk of consumers being taken out of their normal trade cycle, creating a vacuum."

7) The Russell Indexes, including the closely followed Russell 2000, completed their annual reconstitution after the market close. If you're wondering what the Russell Reconstitution is, or why it matters, we've got you covered.