Friday was a fitting capstone to a week where headlines were dominated by a
swath of disappointing quarterly earnings reports, most marked with gloomy
forecasts of things to come. Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM ) continued its
seemingly year-long descent down the sadness spiral after the bell Thursday with
an anticipated poor third-quarter report , unexpectedly low guidance for the
fourth quarter and a final bomb: the announcement that the release of its
BlackBerry 10 phones would be pushed back to the end of 2012. RIMM shares
plummeted 11% on Friday to $13.44 the stock's lowest finish of the year and
down 75% from the start of 2011. Third-quarter earnings of $1.27 per share were
seven cents better than expected by Wall Street analysts, but the $265 million
total still was down 71% from the same period a year ago. Revenues of $5.2
million also slightly missed expectations. RIM's fourth-quarter revenue
guidance was set around $4.6 billion to $4.9 billion, while Wall Street expects
$5.2 billion. The real kicker, however, was that announcement about BlackBerry
10 phones being delayed. Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said the company had to push back
the launch because its still waiting for LTE-capable chipsets. Investors took
the news poorly because it means RIM must continue to languish with its
lackluster BlackBerry 7 OS. Earlier in the week, other major players saw bad
things in their crystal balls. Intel (NASDAQ: INTC ) lowered its fourth-quarter
revenue estimate from $14.7 billion to $13.7 billion on Monday, with the company
citing disruptions from massive flooding in Thailand, which has rocked numerous
sectors , including hard-drive makers. Best Buy (NYSE: BBY ) was hammered on
Tuesday after saying it expected profit margins to fall by about 0.5% across
2012, in addition to announcing 13% drop in fiscal Q3 profit. And First Solar
(NASDAQ: FSLR ) started a solar-sector avalanche after lowering fiscal year
guidance for the third time in 2011. Here were some of the other big financial
headlines of the week: Gold Breaks 200-Day Moving Average Gold has been one of
2012's biggest winners, but this week the yellow metal found itself dragging
against a relative bottom. Gold prices cracked the $1,600 point Wednesday, and
more important, breached its pivotal 200-day moving average for the first time
in almost three years. The major investment trusts took one on the chin this
week, with the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD ) and iShares Gold Trust (NYSE: IAU )
shedding almost 7% in the past five days. The biggest question on the minds of
many investors is "Where will gold go next?" While fundamentals actually
point to a continued downtrend into the $1,400s, many predict that a continued
lack of confidence in financials and the European recovery will produce a
rebound sooner than later. Big Moves in Big Pharma Pfizer (NYSE: PFE ) made a
pair of announcements earlier this week specifically designed to enrich its
shareholders . The company expanded its share repurchase program by $10 billion
with plans to buy back about $5 billion worth in 2012 and also announced a 10%
boost to its quarterly dividend. Pfizer now will pay out 22 cents per share for
a supple 4% dividend yield. On Thursday, health care device and supply company
Covidien (NYSE: COV ) announced it would spin off its pharmaceuticals business
this comes off the heels of Abbott Laboratories ' (NYSE: ABT ) similar move in
October. Not only was the announcement well-received by COV investors, who
carried shares up 3.5% Thursday, but also for shareholders in Sanofi (NYSE: SNY
), GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK ) and Novartis (NYSE: NVS ) all of which could be
breakup candidates. Three Up for Friday Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX ):
Up 7.89% ($2.48) to $33.91. Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE ): Up 6.58% ($1.74) to $28.20.
Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS ): Up 4.85% ($1.12) to $24.19. Three Down
for Friday Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD ): Down 8.18% ($4.12) to $46.25. Nokia
(NYSE: NOK ): Down 3.91% (19 cents) to $4.67. Accenture (NYSE: ACN ): Down 3.35%
($1.88) to $54.25. As of this writing, Kyle Woodley did not hold a position in
any of the aforementioned stocks. Check out our list of previous IP Market
Recaps .
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