Closing Bell Summary - January 6, 2009

Tuesday’s session brought sporadic trading as the markets tried their best to maintain a buyers mentality throughout much of the session, but fell off their session highs by the close of trading. With a handful of economic reports released during the day, investor intently got in on bargains as the major indices shot higher at the open and later on in afternoon trading. However, by the sound of the closing bell, the markets could not keep the momentum going, paring back on their gains. At the close the Dow Jones Industrial average added 62.21 points, or 0.69%, to close at 9,015.10, after being up more than 135 points during the session. Additionally, the broader market indicator fell from their highs at the close, as the S&P 500 index added 7.25 points, or 0.78%, to end at 934.70, coming off its high point of a 16 points gain. Finally, the NASDAQ composite index closed higher as well, adding 24.35 points, or 1.50%, at 1,652.38, after it had risen by as many as 37 points.

With only two big-named companies reporting earnings before the opening bell today, the first to announce was Acuity Brands Inc. (AYI), which is comprised of the Acuity Lighting Group and Acuity Specialty Products. The Acuity Lighting Group is the world's largest lighting fixture manufacturer and includes brands such as Lithonia Lighting, Holophane, Peerless, and Hydrel. Acuity Specialty Products is a leading provider of specialty chemicals and includes brands such as Zep, Enforcer, and Selig. In their statement, Acuity confirmed that for the company’s 1Q, AYI posted net income of $19.42M, or $0.48 per share, compared to a profit of $31.07M, or $0.72 per share from a year ago, a decline of more than 37%. During the recent period, AYI recorded overall sales of $452.03M, down 11% from last year’s sales totals of $508.87M. On average, analysts were looking for the lighting manufacturer to post earnings of $0.76 per share on total revenues of $461.33M. As the overall economic and business environment continues to challenge companies, AYI foresees numerous hurdles in the upcoming 2Q. By the close of the trading session, shares of AYI slipped after the company’s announcement, dropping 0.7%, or $0.26, to close out at $35.10 per share. Discover more about Acuity Brands Inc. at Reuters

The second company to release their earnings information before the market’s opening was Neogen Corp. (NEOG). Neogen develops, manufactures, and markets a diverse line of products dedicated to food and animal safety. The company's food safety segment consists primarily of diagnostic test kits and related products, including dehydrated culture media, marketed to food producers and processors to aid in the detection of food borne bacteria, natural toxins, food allergens, drug residues, pesticide residues, plant disease infections and levels of general sanitation. Early this morning, the company affirmed their findings that showed that the company’s profits for the 2Q increased considerably, marking the 63rd consecutive quarter in which the company was profitable. For the quarter, NEOG booked net income of $3.9M, or $0.26 per share, versus a profit of $3.3M, or $0.22 per share from a year ago, an increase in profits of 18%. As for total revenues, they jumped from $27.2M to $31.2M, an advance of nearly 15%. The key catalyst to the company’s increase in overall sales came from their food safety segment, which saw sales increase from $14.5M to $15.4M. In the meantime, analysts within the industry were looking for NEOG to post earnings of $0.25 per share on overall revenues of $32.3M. At the sound of the closing bell, shares of NEOG traded in the green, adding $0.14, or 0.5%, to conclude at $26.14 per share. Find out more about Neogen Corp. at Forbes

It seems apparent that OPEC’s production cuts may be taking hold, as the price of oil concluded slightly lower by the end of Tuesday’s session. The price for a barrel of light, sweet crude for February delivery settled at $48.58 a barrel, down $0.23, but not before reaching $50. The increase in the price comes after OPEC cut more than 4M barrels of oil per day. Since hitting a low of $33.87 a barrel on December 19, oil has increased over 40%. In additional NYMEX trading, gasoline futures added $0.0668 to $1.189 a gallon. Heating oil jumped $0.05 to $1.6268 a gallon while natural gas for February delivery slipped $0.089 to $5.983 per 1,000 cubic feet.

With investors unsure about the direction of the markets, much of the capital traded was going into the safety of government-backed Treasury bonds. By the conclusion of the trading session, the benchmark 10-year note traded flat at 111 2/32, as its yield remained that same as yesterday’s 2.48%. Meanwhile, the 30-year note inched forward by 3/32 to 128 19/32 as its yield advanced to 3.02%, up from Monday’s 3.01%. Finally, the 2-year note fell 2/32 to 100 4/32 with its yield increasing to 0.80%, higher than yesterday’s 0.79%.

In the arena of currency trading, the Dollar continues to advance against the Euro in trading today, as the European currency sits and waits for the European Central Bank to cut rates once again, further devaluing the monetary staple. By late afternoon, the 16-nation Euro bought $1.3482, down from last night’s price of $1.3602. The Euro dipped as low as $1.3312 before recovering slightly. Adversely, the greenback managed to lose ground on England’s currency, as the British pound bought $1.4879, up from yesterday’s value of $1.4723. Finally, the Dollar also advanced versus Japan’s currency as well, buying 94.13 Japanese yen, compared to yesterday’s price of 93.21.

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