Solid Earnings And Data Send Wall St Up For 2nd Day Running
Stocks rallied for a 2nd day on Tuesday as better-than-expected earnings and encouraging data calmed investors after the market’s recent sell-off. Rising sales of previously owned US homes and robust earnings from bellwethers representing consumer and industrial businesses, including Whirlpool Corp and Cummins, pointed to a steady rebound in demand.

The home builders received a double jolt of good news. In addition to a 1% gain in December pending sales of existing US homes, DR Horton, one of the top 5 US home builders, reported its 1st quarterly profit in almost 3 years. DR Horton’s stock gained 10.9% to US$13.21. The Dow Jones US home construction index rose 6.5%. The DJIA rose 1.09% to end at 10,296.85 while the S&P 500 gained 1.30% to 1,103.32. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.87% to 2,190.06. The S&P 500’s gain was its biggest 2-day percentage jump since October 2009, after falling 6.2% in the last 3 weeks of January.

SIA Rebounds With Strong 20% Net Profit Rise To $403.7m In 3Q10
Singapore Airlines (SIA) has confounded critics and sceptics by posting a strong 3Q10 net profit of $403.7m, up 20% on-year. The October-December quarter though, saw revenue fall 19% to $3.4b. The bottomline boost was a result of lower expenditure, a lower fuel hedging loss and payroll savings. More significantly, the net profit will help to offset almost 87% of the $466m of cumulative losses chalked up in 1H10, leaving the company with just a net loss position of $62m.

The company’s long-suffering cargo unit posted its best quarterly results in 2 years, chalking up a 3Q10 profit of $40m that shaved its loss for the 9 months to $153m. Silkair also did well, almost doubling its operating profit on-year to $23m. On aggregate, both SIA’s passenger and cargo yields rose significantly in the quarter, while unit costs were down. Looking ahead, SIA expects the recovery in passenger and cargo demand to continue, as the airline industry recovers from its worst-ever downturn.