Analysts skeptical on Latest Eurozone News (DD, TXN, ALTR, BCSI, SEAC, ROSYY)

A day after being disappointed by the ECB, the market was much happier about the EU Summit today, as eurozone leaders agreed to sign a treaty calling for a central European authority to have greater oversight on their budgets and to make bilateral loans to the IMF for as much as 200 billion euros. While the market rallied, analysts by and large were unimpressed, citing the U.K.’s refusal to agree to the treaty (it’s in the EU, but not the eurozone), as well as no proposal to enforce the new rules and the general vagueness to come out of the meeting. Another critique is that the deal is more to prevent a future debt crisis, and that it fails to deal with the current one. We’d expect the market to continue to trade off of European headlines in the days and weeks ahead.

The Media Technology and Software Stocks Index was the top performing tickerspy Index on the day, led by SeaChange International (SEAC) with a 13% gain. The Russia Stocks and ADRs Index was the day’s worst performing tickerspy Index, with Rostelecom (ROSYY) down -4%.

Stocks soared on the day, led by a 50-point, or 1.9%, jump in the Nasdaq to 2,647. The Dow climbed 187 points to 12,184, while the S&P advanced 21 points to 1,255. Oil rose $1.07 to $99.41 a barrel, while gold added $3.50 to close at $1,716.80 an ounce.

In economic news, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary consumer confidence reading for December showed an increase to 67.7 from 64.1 in November. Economists were looking for a reading of 65.1.

In earnings news, shares of Dow component DuPont (DD) slid -3.2% after the chemicals maker lowered its 2011 profit outlook to $3.87-$3.95 a share, -10 cents lower than previous guidance and below the $4.04 a share analysts were expecting. The company cited weak demand for consumer electronics and plastics as reasons for the trimmed outlook. Nearly 70 pros held DuPont in their portfolios at the end of Q3 and nearly 1,000 tickerspy members own the stock in their portfolios.

Semiconductor maker Texas Instruments (TXN) lowered its fourth-quarter outlook to a profit of 21-25 cents a share from previous guidance of 28-36 cents a share. The company now expects revenue of $3.19-$3.33 billion, down from an earlier forecast of $3.26-$3.54 billion. Analysts were expecting a profit of 35 cents per share on revenue of $3.41 billion. Shares of Texas Instruments edged up 0.1%. Nearly 30 pros held Texas Instruments in their portfolios at the end of Q3 and nearly 560 tickerspy members own the stock in their portfolios.

Chipmaker Altera (ALTR) said its fourth-quarter revenue may fall between -13% to -16% in the fourth quarter compared with the $522.5 million posted in the third quarter. That works out to $438.9-$454.6 million. Analysts were expecting $474.8 million in revenue. The company reports fourth-quarter results next month. Shares of Altera rose 1.2%.

Shares of Blue Coat Systems (BCSI) surged 43.7% after the Internet networking and security products provider agreed to be acquired by a group led by private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $1.3 billion. Blue Coat shareholders will get $25.81 a share in cash, a 48% premium to Thursday’s closing price.

Tags: ALTR, BCSI, DD, ROSYY, SEAC, TXN