NYSE---Deb (fast)
>> welcome back. we have breaking after-the-bell news from lennar, the major home builder. it’s raising its dividend. these home builders have a lot of cash on hand. they’ve been doing loot of business in the last three years doubling its annual dividend to $150 cents a share. given their high visibility, confidence and capacity to generate stable earnings and cash flow they felt it was an appropriate time to increase their cash dividend. the dividend yield is at 1.35%, higher than the average .31% dividend yield for the 14 companies in the s&p home builder index. lennar shares are up 58% year to date, just off an all time high of $81, back on june 17th according to bloomberg data. taking a look at today’s market action, the dow and s&p didn’t gain back all of yesterday’s losses. deborah kostroun is at the big board with more on today’s big movers. deb.
>> in fact, lane, what we did see, the dow jones industrial average average here and our volume at the new york stock % -pexchange, a little light once again in today’s session. many traders looking at the fact that we gained―we gained back 40 points after losses yesterday. we look like we have momentum in this market. jack ablin, chief investment officer at harris trust and savings bank talking about the market, he actually manages about $30 billion. he said a lot of really good news on the earnings front with the exception of verizon today. the g-7 an overhanging story even though the dollar actually gaining a little ground late in the day. also john bartlett, director of economics at customers trust company and manages about $10 million. he thinks we are probably going to see a sideways motion in the averages in general, maybe for the next month or so. he says then we’ll likely see a big movement upward in a modest way. he says a lot of money sitting on the sidelines because investors are concerned whether the market rally is sustainable. and until they are convinced, he says likely that cash going to be staying on the sidelines. today what we did see, pretty much gains through most of the session. we added onto that as the dollar turned around a little bit. however, it was the hotel, restaurant and leisure index that actually led the s&p 500. this typically doesn’t happen but it was really marriott and starwood performing quite well. they rose on optimism that a lot of corporations likely going to be spending more on travel in the fourth quarter, and also into next year. and in fact both those stocks , starwood and marriott, closing at their highest level in about 17 months. so performing quite well in today’s session. as we were talking about looks like maybe some businesses might be increasing their business spending in the fourth quarter, that’s something that a lot of trades are already focusing in on as the third quarter really is winding down. we are focusing in on the fourth quarter. as we look at some of the companies and what they’ve been saying about their earnings, so far many traders are saying it doesn’t look all that bad with the third quarter earnings, what they will likely be, given the fact not many companies are saying they will not be meeting their expectations t hotel stocks performing quite well. semiconductors, another area of the market that once again performed quite well, right behind those hotel stocks to perform well. also retail names like autozone. they increase, of course, closing at a record high in today’s sessions this after their earnings looking very good. also tobacco stocks , a little bit mixed. prices of marlboro and camel expected to rise five cents next week according to analysts at smith barney.
>> california just became the proud owner of a fuel cell powergenration plant courtesy of catter pillar and fuelcell energy. the los angeles sanitation district bought this plant to save on utility costs. checking the stock ‘s performance in after-hours trading, fuelcell energy up 12%, 1.33. caterpillar shares are currently unchanged. delivery of the plant is expected in the fourth quarter of next year. caterpillar and fuelcell energy teamed up in april of last year to create a more efficient fuel cell power plants. recent economic reports indicate that u.s. growth sicking up, thanks in part to consumer purchases. increased defense spending and a pickup in corporate investments. but there has been a price to pay here. federal budget deficits are swelling t chairman of the white house council of economic advisors says the faster economic growth can only help trim the deficit.
>> there is no question that it will help. the president is very committed to getting the bungt budget deficit down. he wants to shrink it in half over the next five years. it will happen through two channels, first by getting growth up and bringing revenues in, and it will happen in addition by keeping spending under control.
>> he is expecting better growth around the corner, but not jobs.
>> we haven’t turned the corner on hiring yet. the president is very committed to getting jobs growing. we have the policies in place to 0 that. labor markets are often a lagging indicator. our estimate lags three to six months behind activity. firms want to see customers coming through the door and increasing production plans before hiring new workers. i think we’ll start seeing that before the end of the year.
>> u.s. has lost 2.7 million jobs since january, 2001, when president bush was sworn into office. the nasdaq continues to outperform the broader markets this year. we’ll get a fresh outlook on tech stocks with walter price with the pimco rcm global technology fund coming up next.
