The Closing Bell, 11/5: Garmin, KC Southern roll

Thursday was all about a bounce-back for Garmin Ltd., which fell steeply the previous day on concerns about holiday-season sales of its navigational devices.

The Olathe-based company's shares declined 15 percent Wednesday, but regained some of that loss on Thursday.

Garmin closed at $28.14, up $1.30.

Following Wednesday's earnings report, shares in Garmin were downgraded to "underperform" from "sector perform" by RBC Capital Markets.

"It's getting really crowded out there and the core market for personal navigation devices may see dramatic changes as Smartphones, with turn by turn navigation,increasingly compete with Garmin," the analysts wrote.

The other big story of the day involved Kansas City Southern. Shares in the railroad company closed at $27.83, up $1.37.

The stock has gained 15.6 percent, or $3.75, over the past three days following Berkshire Hathaway's $34 billion buyout offer for rival Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.

Other gainers Thursday were Cerner, up $1.38, UMB, up $1, and Layne, up $1.71.

Also:

--Leggett & Platt declared a dividend of 26 per share for the fourth quarter, payable Jan. 15, 2010.That's up 4 percent from the same period a year ago.

--Crown Media Holdings, which is primarily owned by Hallmark Cards Inc., narrowed its loss for the third quarter to $10.2 million on revenues of $62.8 million.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average jumped 200 points Thursday to its first close above 10,000 in two weeks, while the Nasdaq composite index led major indexes with a gain of 2.4 percent after Cisco, the maker of computer-networking gear, predicted its revenue would grow.

The Labor Department said the number of newly laid-off workers seeking unemployment benefits fell to 512,000 last week, the lowest level since January and fewer than economists had forecast. Initial claims are considered a gauge of the pace of layoffs.

The report unleashed a wave of optimism about the government’s monthly report on employment Friday, which will shape trading because of the ties between joblessness and consumer spending. Economists say spending must increase for the economy to mount a sustained recovery. Analysts project that the unemployment rate rose to 9.9 percent in October.

The biggest jump in productivity in six years drove hopes that lower costs will boost corporate profits. The report also illustrated, though, that many employers remain reluctant to hire.

The government said the amount of output per hour worked rose 9.5 percent in the July-September quarter.

Meanwhile, retailers posted sales gains for the second straight month in October after watching business slide for more than a year. The retail industry posted a 2.1 percent sales gain for October, according to an International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs tally. Investors are looking for any sign that consumers are willing to spend more as the holiday shopping season approaches.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 203.82 points, or 2.08 percent, and closed at 10,005.96.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 20.13 points, or 1.92 percent, and closed at 1,066.63. The Nasdaq composite index climbed 49.80 points, or 2.42 percent, and closed at 2,105.32.

An early reading of the KansasCity.com index of 145 regional companies showed a gain of 11.47 points, or 1.94 percent, at 603.48.

Among Kansas City area companies of interest:
I Cerner Corp. closed at $77.00, up $1.38.

I Capitol Federal Financial closed at $29.71, up 13 cents.

I Commerce Bancshares Inc. closed at $38.77, up 86 cents.

I DST Systems Inc. closed at $43.15, up 92 cents.

I Garmin Ltd. closed at $28.14, up $1.30.

I Great Plains Energy closed at $17.23, up 30 cents.

I H&R Block Inc. closed at $18.72, up 53 cents.

I Kansas City Southern closed at $27.83, up $1.37.

I Sprint Nextel Corp. closed at $2.83, down 8 cents.

I UMB Financial Corp. closed at $39.52, up $1.00.

I Waddell & Reed Financial Corp. closed at $29.69, up 98 cents.

I YRC Worldwide Inc. closed at $1.29, up 5 cents.

The Closing Bell is compiled from staff and wire reports by Steve Rosen. Call him at 816-234-4879 or send e-mail to srosen@kcstar.com. A recap of the day’s markets activity is available in the Business section of The Kansas City Star.