Report From Europe: An Apple a Day Keeps the Bears Away

The Mole submits: U.S. stocks rose for a second day, erasing earlier losses as speculation the Federal Reserve will take steps to spur lending and an increase in building permits sent homebuilders and commodity producers higher and in doing so brushed off a nasty housing starts number and underwhelming numbers from Goldman Sachs (GS). Yes on another day at the funfair the rollercoaster that is the Dow these days finished up 0.7% Tuesday after dipping as much as 1.4% earlier. Tech talisman Apple (AAPL), Yahoo (YHOO) and AIDS drug maker Gilead Sciences (GILD) (which missed EPS estimates and reduced guidance) were among the companies that posted quarterly results after the official close of U.S. exchanges today. The maker of the iPhone had already risen 2.6% during regular trading. After hours, it said earnings per share in Q3 continue to bear fruit and were $3.51, beating the $3.11 average analyst estimate. The company said it expects fourth quarter per share profit to be about $3.44, below the $3.83 predicted by analysts. Apple has beaten expectations in each report since 2003. The shares advanced 4.1% in extended trading. So good news for ARM, the UK designer of semiconductors used in the IPhone, and Infineon (IFNNY.PK), who make chips for Apple. But Yahoo sank 4.5% in trading after the close as the owner of the second most used search engine in the U.S. reported Q2 sales excluding revenue passed on to partner sites of $1.13 bn. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was $1.16 bn. Turning to hump day and stocks catching the eye in Europe include GKN which is up 8% after saying its trading performance has “continued to improve strongly” during the second quarter of 2010 and that the company will report H1 2010 profits of at least £170m. Condom king SSL is ahem up 33% after Reckitt Benckiser (RBGPF.PK) agreed to buy the firm for £2.54bn. Chemicals company Johnson Matthey (JMPLY.PK) is better by 2.5% on news Chairman John Banhan said quarterly sales to July were up 32% and Q2 would be “significantly stronger.” Other notable movers in London were Galiform (who own Howden Joinery builders are up 4.5%) after news their H1 2010 profits had increased to £21.6m from £4.7m in the same period last year. But online grocer Ocado is getting hosed and is down 10% on its first day of trading after some serious skepticism over valuations led the company to reduce the price of its IPO. Over on the Dax, VW (VLKAF.PK) is advanced 2.5% on news that it will probably start building an engine plant in Mexico in September.Complete Story »