U.S. stocks wavered on Friday amid mixed economic data and lusterless corporate earnings.
At the close in New York, the Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) was up 17 points at 4,887, the S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) rhad risen nine points to 2,033 while the trusty old Dow Jones Industrial (INDEXDJX:.DJI) gained 74 points at 17,218.
On the data front, industrial production in September skidded 0.2%, in line with forecasts. Consumer sentiment, meanwhile, advanced in October, the first rise in four months. Job openings declined in August after touching an all-time high in the previous month.
On the earnings front, toys maker Mattel (NASDAQ:MAT) made a surprise appearance in the vanguard of advancing blue-chips, dragging rival Hasbro (NYSE:HAS) – up 2.9% - along with it.
The Barbie doll and Hot Wheels maker missed its earnings estimates in results published after the bell last night, but investors seem not to be in a mood to throw their toys out of the pram, with the shares up 6.1% at US$23.90.
Satellite navigation device maker Garmin (NASDAQ:GRMN) was in hot pursuit of the Hot Wheels firm with a rise of 5.7% to US$34.13, having taken a shellacking earlier yesterday after lowering earnings guidance.
Another stock that took a belting yesterday was hard disk maker Seagate Technology(NASDAQ:STX) after a disappointing trading update, but unlike Garmin, there was no recovery for it today, and it has shed US42.62 to trade at US$48.82.
Investors were tucking into Yum Brands (NYSE:YUM) after the fast food company appointed activist investor Keith Meister to its board.
The move sparked speculation that the company will spin off its China business.
Radius Health (NASDAQ:RDUS) was wanted after, as reported on our sister site in the UK yesterday, talk that Irish pharma giant Shire (LON:SHP) is lining up a bid for the US firm.
Shire is rumored to have appointed advisers to work on a potential US$90 per share bid for Radius, which is developing therapeutics for patients with osteoporosis and other serious endocrine-mediated diseases.
A Shire spokesperson said: "We don't comment on rumor/speculation."
Proactive Investors also called Radius, but at the time of going to press no-one was available to comment.
Radius is thought to be among alternative acquisition candidates that Shire may target if it fails in its US$30bn bid for US rival Baxalta.
General Electric (NYSE:GE) was up 3.2% at US$28.89 after a solid performance in what chief executive and chairman Jeff Immelt said was “a volatile environment” in the third quarter.
Underlying earnings per share, at 29 cents, were better than the figure of 25 cents analysts had penciled in for the industrial giant.
Third quarter results from technology firm Honeywell (NYSE:HON) were a mixed bag, with earnings ahead of Wall Street’s expectations and sales below them.
The maker of aviation components and control systems’ earnings per share of US$1.60 topped the consensus forecast of US$1.55, but revenue of US$9.61bn was down 5% year-on-year and less than the US$9.85bn analysts had predicted.
The shares were on offer at US$96.92, down 2%.