Qwest Communications (Q Quote) swung to a fourth-quarter profit of $194 million, or 10 cents a share from the year-ago period. Results beat the Thomson First Call average estimate of 8 cents a share. However, revenue was flat compared to a year ago, and Qwest lost 9 cents, or 1.1%, to $8.16.
PepsiCo (PEP Quote) said it had a fourth-quarter profit of $1.78 billion, or $1.06 a share, up 61% from a year earlier. Excluding items, the company earned 72 cents, matching estimates. After opening higher, the stock gave back $1.19, or 1.8%, to close at $63.31. After the market closes, Broadcom (BRCM Quote) will report fourth-quarter earnings results. Commodities finished a choppy session with gains. Oil was higher by $2 to close at $59.71 a barrel, its highest level of the year. Gold ended with a gain of $5.50 to $662.80 an ounce, and silver added 11 cents to $13.82 an ounce. On the economic calendar, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims rose by 3,000 to 311,000 last week. Elsewhere, the Commerce Department said wholesale inventories fell 0.5% in December. Economists expected a 0.6% rise. Stocks were falling in Europe, where London's FTSE 100 was lower by 0.4% to 6346 and Frankfurt's Xetra DAX was down 0.6% at 6877. As for Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rose 0.4% to 17,406, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 1% to 20,655.- Loading Comments...
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| Dow Jones | S&P 500 | NASDAQ | 10-Year Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10,270.47 | 1,093.48 | 2,167.88 | 34.29 |
Oil *
75.55
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UP
73.00
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UP
6.24
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UP
18.86
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DOWN
0.17
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10 Yr
3.43%
SPDR Gold
109.74
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+0.72%
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+0.57%
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+0.88%
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-0.49%
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