- Commentary -

July 16, 2009 (FinancialWire) (By Philip Holmes) — Stocks ended dramatically higher Wednesday after Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) turned in a dandy Q2 filing and investors heard decent numbers on manufacturing and mixed news from the Fed.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended the trading day at 8,616.21, up 256.72 points, while the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index surged 26.84 points, to 932.68. The Nasdaq composite index gained 63.17 points on the trading session, to close at 1,862.90.

Chipmaker Intel wowed investors by beating forecasts, citing strong demand for PCs. The company is looking to book Q3 revenue in the $8.1 billion to $8.9 billion range.

U.S. industrial production is still falling, but less than expected, according to the newly-released New York Fed Empire State manufacturing index. Key measures were down 0.4% for June, beating an expected a -0.7% drop.

Minutes of the Fed’s June 23-24 open market policy meeting were released on Wednesday. CNNMoney’s Chris Isidore called it a “bad news and good news” report, as the policy makers worried over stubbornly rising unemployment but predicting a return to overall economic growth in 2010.

There was also a ray of sunshine from the financial sector. From American Express, in particular. The Don’t Leave Home Without It company said that fewer of its customer accounts are winding up as write-offs these days.

BusinessWeek’s Jessica Silver-Greenberg, citing Bloomberg data, reports that debt collection costs for the credit card industry fell from May to June, from 10 percent to 9.9 percent.

Several factors are being cited as causes for this rash of responsibility, chief among them that the credit issuers are getting a lot more picky about whom they’ll extend credit to. Risky accounts are being cancelled, new credit is issued more carefully and credit limits are being lowered.

Also cited: the Obama Administration’s moves to rein in the freewheeling, and deceptive, billing practices used by the credit issuers to jack up short term profits.

Whatever the reason, falling delinquencies amid rising unemployment sends the signal that the consumer credit industry can survive catastrophe still unwinding in the economy. The fine print on that finding is that the industry can do so without whole new agencies created to regulate its practices.

The FirstAlerrt(tm) Economics Calendar lists Weekly Initial Jobless Claims at 8:30 a.m. EDT, the Philadelphia Fed Index for July at 10 a.m. EDT and Treasury auctions 30-year bonds at 1 p.m. EDT.

The FirstAlerrt(tm) Events Calendar showcases ELN Sareholders Meeting; FSLR at Intersolar North America Conference.

The FirstAlerrt(tm) Money Index is an indicator of the depth of market direction or indirection. While not always including the same stocks, the NYSE/NASDAQ/AMEX 25 Most Actives and NYSE/NASDAQ/AMEX greatest Percentage Losers and Percentage Winners (weighted against pure monetary loss/gain) indicate the direction in which the mass of money is flowing, as well as the general focus of the market. Of the Most Actives, last session’s trading showed 24 advancers versus 1 decliner. Volume leaders were led by Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) trading 67,511,800 shares closing  at $3.17 (up 8.6%), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) trading 63,525,689 shares closing at $18.05 (up 7.2%) and the PowerShares QQQ Trust Series 1 (NASDAQ: QQQQ) trading 58,430,320 shares closing at $36.92 (up 3.4%). Of last session’s Greatest Percentage Losers, stocks taking the greatest monetary losses were led by Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (NYSE: FAZ) trading on volume of 9,238,624 shares (losing $184.2 million), 3PAR, Inc. (NYSE: PAR) trading on volume of 910,500 shares (losing $106.2 million) and Direxion Daily Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (NYSE: BGZ) trading on volume of 2,649,394 shares (losing $30.4 million). Of last session’s Greatest Percentage Winners, stocks making the greatest monetary gains were led by Targacept, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRGT trading on volume of 2,325,854 shares (gaining $104.6 million), Brigham Exploration Co. (NASDAQ: BEXP) trading on volume of 1,915,113 shares (gaining $49.8 million) and Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACHN) trading on volume of 47,178 shares (gaining $15.6 million).

FirstAlerrt(tm) Website of the Day: http://www.space.com/spacewatch/050805_perseid_guide.html

Quote of the Day: “In spite of the cost of living, it’s still popular.” Kathleen Norris

Today is: President’s Day in Botswana.

Happy Birthday: Roald Amundsen, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Kathleen Norris, Orville Redenbacher, Barbara Stanwyck, Ginger Rogers, Bess Myerson, Margaret Smith Court, Stewart Copeland, Phoebe Cates, Will Ferrell, Corey Feldman, Adam Scott.

Today in History: The first banknotes in Europe were issued by the Swedish bank Stockholms Banco in 1661. Father Junipero Serra, in 1769, founded Mission San Diego de Alcalá, the first mission in California, which later evolved into the city of San Diego. The signing of the Residence Bill in 1790 established a site along the Potomac River as the District of Columbia. Comet Swift-Tuttle was discovered by Lewis Swift in 1862. The Atomic Age began in 1945 when the United States successfully detonated a plutonium-based test nuclear weapon at the Trinity site near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

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