Having been closed for the first two days of the week because of Hurricane Sandy, Wall Street returned in indecisive mood, with negative news-flow coming out of the Eurozone initially weighing on sentiment before a late rally saw the S&P Composite index return to square one.

Germany´s Finance Minister reportedly said that it is unlikely that the Troika of international lenders will receive the final report on Greece before the next Eurogroup meeting of finance ministers on November 11th to 12th.

Big Apple, sour Apple

With the New York Stock Exchange running on back-up generators, trading resumed as promised after the longest unscheduled interruption to trading on the exchange since 1888.

Traders had a bit of catching up to do, particularly with regards to consumer technology giant Apple, where Chief Executive Tim Cook shuffled his management pack earlier this week. John Browett, the highly regarded Briton poached at great expense this year from UK electrical goods and warranties seller Dixons, got the heave-ho from his job as Apple's head of retail operations, while Scott Forstall, the bod in charge of Apple's iOS operating system division, paid the price for his decision to ditch Google Maps and replace it with a less than warmly received bug ridden in-house alternative on the new iPhone.

Car makers General Motors and Ford both released better than expected quarterly results. Meanwhile, proving that it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good, do-it-yourself retailers Home Depot and Lowe´s were wanted on expectations they will benefit from a wave of household repairs in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

Power line contractor Quanta Services, which might also expect to enjoy a boost to business from post-hurricane repairs, was sharply higher after better than expected results.

Insurance group Genworth Financial powered ahead after third quarter earnings surpassed market expectations, but money-transfer specialist Western Union was chased out of Dodge after cutting profit guidance for 2013.

The force is with Disney

LucasFilm, the company responsible for box office hits such as Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark is to become part of the Walt Disney empire. The Mickey Mouse company is paying $4.05bn to get its hands on the rights to Darth Vader and Indiana Jones.

In other merger news affecting the film business, video streaming firm Netflix shot up after activist investor Carl Icahn bought almost 10% of the company's shares.

NAPM Chicago below 50

The employment cost index for the third quarter showed a 0.4% quarter-on-quarterly gain in the three months to September, slightly below the 0.5% economists had foreseen.

The Chicago NAPM regional manufacturing sector purchasing managers´ index for the month of October has come in at 49.9 (just below the contractionary level of 50), versus last month´s reading of 49.7 (Consensus: 51). The new orders sub-index however actually moved up, to 50.6 from 47.4 in September.

"In our view, current levels of correlation are not consistent with recessionary conditions, and we believe that local trends will play a more prominent role in these regional indices over the medium term," suggested Barclays Research.

Consultancy ADP has revised down its estimate for September private sector payrolls to 88,200, from 162,000 before, due to the application of a new methodology.

Little movement in other asset classes

10-year US Treasuries fell by 7/64 dollars, with yields firming to 1.69% from 1.68% overnight as a result.

West Texas sweet light crude for December delivery rose 56 cents on the day to $86.24 a barrel.

S&P 500 - Risers
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $79.24 +13.88%
Quanta Services Inc. (PWR) $25.93 +9.87%
Genworth Financial Inc. (GNW) $5.96 +8.76%
Ford Motor Co. (F) $11.16 +7.72%
Federated Investors Inc. (FII) $23.24 +5.49%
Eaton Corp. (ETN) $47.22 +4.65%
Leggett & Platt Inc. (LEG) $26.53 +4.45%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $12.35 +3.69%
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) $11.41 +3.54%
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) $68.81 +3.49%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Western Union Co. (WU) $12.73 -29.01%
QEP Resources Inc (QEP) $29.00 -7.88%
JDS Uniphase Corp. (JDSU) $9.69 -6.15%
VeriSign Inc. (VRSN) $37.07 -5.89%
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $62.79 -5.85%
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (JCP) $24.01 -5.70%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $90.38 -5.12%
United States Steel Corp. (X) $20.39 -3.59%
Metropcs Communications Inc. (PCS) $10.21 -3.59%
NetApp Inc. (NTAP) $26.91 -3.48%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $61.38 +2.23%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $9.32 +2.19%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $41.68 +1.26%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $28.54 +1.17%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $24.87 -2.20%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $49.12 -1.92%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $13.85 -1.70%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $44.52 -1.46%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $21.63 -1.46%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $45.63 -1.13%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $79.24 +13.88%
Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM) $7.93 +4.69%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $12.35 +3.69%
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $44.70 +3.38%
Flextronics International Ltd. (FLEX) $5.77 +1.94%
Apollo Group Inc. (APOL) $20.08 +1.83%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $121.07 +1.77%
Infosys Technologies Ltd. (INFY) $43.42 +1.76%
Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (MRVL) $7.89 +1.74%
Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) $98.43 +1.54%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $106.73 -6.25%
VeriSign Inc. (VRSN) $37.07 -5.89%
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $62.79 -5.85%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $90.38 -5.12%
NetApp Inc. (NTAP) $26.91 -3.48%
Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB) $138.21 -3.30%
Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $28.09 -2.87%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $44.65 -2.64%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $48.28 -2.58%
Garmin Ltd. (GRMN) $38.00 -2.54%

JH

Related share prices