Weak Earnings and the Credit Card Rally Loses Steam: Market Recap

Yesterday’s report that fourth-quarter GDP unexpectedly contracted compounded pessimism surrounding some weak earnings released on Thursday, pulling the markets down for the day.

At the close: DJIA: -0.36%, S&P 500: -0.26%, NASDAQ: -0.01%.

On the commodities front, Oil (NYSE:USO) fell 0.51 percent to $97.44 per barrel. Precious metals were also down, with Gold (NYSE:GLD) falling 1.01 percent to $1,664.60 per ounce, and Silver (NYSE:SLV) falling 2.23 percent to $31.46 per ounce. The yield on the 10-year T-bill fell 0.007 points to 1.986 percent.

Here’s your Cheat Sheet to today’s top stock stories:

The Blackstone Group (NYSE:BX) didn’t do too bad for itself last year, with the last quarter and the whole year showing increased performance from the year earlier. Some might chalk it up to the private equity industry’s revival, others might go with wise investment, but either way, Blackstone has shown great performance in the last quarter. Blackstone’s earnings for the fourth quarter were up at about $670 million — a 43 percent increase from the same period a year earlier. Annual earnings reached about $2 billion — a 30 percent increase from 2011… (Read more.)

Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) found itself facing a less-interested market in the most recent quarter, and posted reduced performance Thursday, reporting October-December quarterly earnings before the bell. Dow Chemical’s earnings on revenue reached $0.33 per share in the quarter; revenue was $13.2 billion. These values fell slightly below analysts’ expectations in a Reuters consensus estimate, which had Dow Chemical earning $0.34 a share on revenue of $13.7 billion, excluding items… (Read more.)