With an autumn rally in full swing, traders were hungrily looking at the 11,000 level for the Dow Jones industrial average. But the market couldn’t breach that level during an abbreviated holiday week, finishing at 10931.62.
In Illinois, Deere & Co. stood out among the winners. Its shares pushed higher even though the Moline-based farm equipment maker posted fourth-quarter profits that tumbled 35 percent from a year ago. The results, at 96 cents a share, were substantially better than the 79 cents most Wall Street analysts were anticipating. Deere said revenues were nearly flat.
“We’re pleased the company remained solidly profitable for the quarter, even though our results were affected negatively by substantial production cutbacks,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Robert W. Lane.
Deere said a 10 percent dip in fourth-quarter farm equipment sales will likely carry into 2006, partly because of higher fuel and fertilizer costs, as well as tax incentives that are ending.
Its stock finished at $67.68, up 19 percent from a 52-week low of $56.99.
Shares of Sara Lee Corp. edged higher after the Chicago-based food conglomerate said it is selling its European nuts business for $152 million to PepsiCo Inc.
Sara Lee, which is undergoing restructuring, said it is concentrating on boosting sales of its U.S. deli meats, Jimmy Dean breakfast foods, Senseo coffee, and Kiwi shoe polish.
Stock of Sara Lee ended at $18.11, up 5 percent from a recent low of $17.31.
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And the stock of Boeing Co. soared to a new 52-week high as orders poured in for 112 new airplanes, worth as much as $13.7 billion, widening its lead over European rival Airbus SAS in the race to build commercial jetliners.
Chicago-based Boeing’s stock finished at $69.06, up 39 percent from a 52-week low of $49.52.
On the downside, it was a tough week for shares of the Chicago Board of Trade, the nation’s second-biggest futures market, after an analyst with Banc of America Securities recommended selling the high-flying stock on concern that rising interest rates may slow exchange growth.
Michael Hecht told clients that rate pressures and a slowing mortgage market could crimp business at the exchange, where 80 percent of trades involve interest-rate contracts.
Investors may also be counting on someone to acquire the exchange, which isn’t likely in the near term, he wrote.
“There will be opportunities to purchase Board of Trade shares at lower levels in the future when the risk/reward equation is more favorable to investors,” Hecht said.
Board of Trade shares have nearly doubled from the $54 price at the exchange’s initial public offering last month. They finished at $104, off 23 percent from a recent peak of $134.50.
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