The broader markets fell for a fifth straight trading day — their worst slump of 2012 — amid rising yields on Spanish and Italian bonds and turbulence in European markets.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 213 points, or about 1.6%, and the S&P 500 dropped 23 points, or 1.7%. Over the past five trading days, the DJIA and S&P have seen respective 4.1% and 3.5% declines. Still, despite the broader bad news, a few company high points were hit Tuesday before things went south — and after.
Alcoa dropped 3% Tuesday in anticipation of its afternoon earnings report, then rebounded almost almost 5% in early after-market trading on good news. The company reported first-quarter earnings of 9 cents per share, down frrom 27 cents in the year-ago period. However, revenues of $6.01 billion topped expectations and were up from last year’s $5.96 billion, and adjusted earnings of 10 cents per share beat analyst expectations for a 4-cent loss.
Alcoa also confirmed aluminum demand growth forecasts of 7% for the year and actually boosted its expectations for the global aerospace market.
Also Tuesday, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) briefly traded around an all-time high of $643 per share, getting its market capitalization clear of the $600 billion point — only the second time a U.S. company has done so. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was the first, hitting an all-time high $618.9 billion market cap Dec. 30, 1999, while trading for $119.94 per share. Unfortunately, AAPL shares followed the rest of the market down, declining 1.2% to finish the day at $628.44.
Meanwhile, less-hyped but still-celebrated (at least among shareholders) Priceline (NASDAQ:PCLN) hit an all-time intraday high of around $775 before retreating to a 3.1% loss at $741.26. The Internet travel reservation site has been on an absolutely torrid run, up almost 60% year-to-date and more than 700% in the past three years.
Retailer Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) plunged almost 6% on news that CEO Brian Dunn had abruptly resigned — another blow to the struggling big-box store.
Investors also got news about the Facebook IPO, albeit a little fuzzy. Reports say Facebook is eyeing two potential dates in May for its initial public offering.
Three Up
- SuperValu (NYSE:SVU): Up 15.2% (81 cents) to $6.13.
- Renren (NYSE:RENN): Up 4.5% (25 cents) to $5.79.
- First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR): Up 5.9% ($1.19) to $21.38.
Three Down
- Sony (NYSE:SNE): Down 9.3% ($1.86) to $18.24.
- Michael Kors (NYSE:KORS): Down 7.8% ($3.63) to $43.17.
- Dryships (NASDAQ:DRYS): Down 7.9% (25 cents) to $2.91.
Kyle Woodley is the assistant editor of InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Check out recaps from previous trading days here.
