Stocks End Little Changed After Volatile Day
U.S. Market
Stocks ended little changed after a volatile trading day as Greek worries continued to be in focus.
Eurozone finance ministers are meeting today to discuss the Greece bailout which is due to expire at the end of the month. The new Greek government is looking to renegotiate austerity measures and other conditions of the bailout, while many other stakeholders are looking to largely extend the current terms.
At market close the Dow and S&P 500 were flat while the Nasdaq was up 0.3%.
Stocks on the Move
PepsiCo (PEP) enjoyed decent year-over-year volume gains in the fourth quarter, with snacks posting a 2% improvement and beverages up 1%. We're particularly encouraged by share gains in Frito-Lay North America, the largest portion of the snack division, although solid gains in AMEA (up 8%) and Europe (up 3%) also contributed. In beverages, the company saw carbonated drink volume decline in the United States but enjoyed domestic noncarbonated performance slightly ahead of Coca-Cola KO and drove Latin American organic beverage growth of 3%. Core operating margin improved 32 basis points in 2014. Shares were up 2.5% at market close.
Time Warner (TWX) said its revenue fell 1% to $7.53 billion in the fourth-quarter from the year-ago period. The drop was driven by declines at the Warner Brothers movie studio offset partially by rises at HBO and Turner cable networks. Shares were up less than 0.5% at midday as management boosted its dividend and provided inline earnings guidance for 2015.
