Friday’s Market Recap: Stocks Close Slightly Lower In Low Volume Trading

In low volume trading, as many have started the holiday weekend early, the markets were down with the Dow (^DJI) closing at 8277.32.  The NASDAQ (^IXIC) was down 0.19% closing at 1692.01, with the S&P (^GSPC) down 0.15% closing at 887.00.  The 10-year saw the yield fall to 3.45% as prices fell.  Oil and gold were both up, settling at $61.67 and $958.90 respectively.

In earnings news, Autodesk (ADSK) announced earnings after hours yesterday; the company reported a loss of $32.1 million, or $0.14 per share falling from a profit of $94.6 million the same period the year prior, while also missing the street’s estimate of $0.08 per share.  The software maker saw revenue slip to $425.8 million this fiscal quarter as costs and poor tech spending, caused by the poor economy, hampered the company’s bottom line.  Shares of Autodesk stock were up significantly in after hours yesterday and over 10% today as the company announced plans to cut costs by eliminating 430 jobs.  Investors reacted favorably to the news feeling that shares are currently undervalued and that cost controls will help Autodesk weather the environment successfully until the economic rebound.  Autodesk is forecasting revenues for the current quarter between $395 million and $420 million, with earnings falling between $0.15 and $0.20 per share.

Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) was up 10% today after announcing earnings after hours yesterday, when the company reported a profit of $26 million, or $0.21 per share.  In trading the stock was down 6% yesterday before earnings were released, and after they were released investors bought shares of the company sending them up 20% after hours.  Revenue dropped from $11.1 billion to $10.1 billion, but was offset by the company improving its profit margins as they were able to effectively cut costs in the quarter.  Sales fell 7.4% for Sears Holdings, with declines at Sears and Kmart, down 11.7% and 2.1% respectively.  Sears cut inventories last quarter to $9.5 billion and cut its total dent to $3 billion, both moves will make managing the current climate easier for the retail giant.  The company also announced that it had secured a new line of credit for $1.7 billion through March 2010 and $2.4 billion through March 2012.

In automotive news, Ford Motor Company (F) extended it deadline for workers to accept a job buyout plan by five weeks, allowing its employees more time to decide whether or not to accept the package.  Ford offered the package to almost all of its 42,000 employees except a few hundred employees who have specialty jobs.  The buyout for those who are eligible for retirement would be $40,000 for skilled workers and $20,000 for production workers, while it would be $50,000 for those with at least one year of work for the company would receive $50,000 or a two-year educational package with $15,000 for tuition assistance.  Ford has been cutting jobs since 2005 in an effort to strengthen its books, and many believe that this extension was given because not enough employees have accepted the deal.  Ford currently is the best positioned US automaker, with Chrysler already having filed for bankruptcy and GM’s (GM) bankruptcy more then likely happening.

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