United Parcel shares retreat a second straight session on Friday, company held liable for cigarette shipments in New York

On March 24th United Parcel Service Inc (UPS) was found liable by a federal judge for the illegal shipment of hundreds of thousands of cartons of untaxed cigarettes in New York.

United Parcel shares closed lower for a second consecutive trading session on Friday. The stock went down 0.57% ($0.60) to $105.05, after touching an intraday low at $104.80, or a price level not seen since February 24th ($104.77). In the week ended on March 26th the shares of the package delivery company lost 2.87% of their market value compared to a week ago, which marked the first drop in the past three weeks and also the worst performance since the week ended on February 5th. The stock has extended its slump to 0.67% so far during the current month, following a 3.09% drop in February. The latter has been a third consecutive month of decline. For the entire past year, United Parcel shares gained 19.13%.

According to allegations, UPS has shipped over 683 000 cartons of “contraband” cigarettes to unlicensed wholesalers, retailers and residences from smoke shops on Indian reservations. The company was also accused of violation of federal laws preventing racketeering and cigarette trafficking, along with the public health law in New York.

“UPS largely relied on its size and weak internal procedures to excuse blatantly culpable conduct”, US District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan wrote, cited by Reuters. “But there were many, many people within UPS who consciously avoided the truth, for years.”

In a response, UPS said that Forrests decision was being evaluated. The company also said it was pleased that its present tobacco compliance program was found “adequate”.

However, UPS argument for capping any payout has been rejected by the federal judge. Forrest also rejected the states and citys request for injunctive relief and for appointing a monitor.

Daily and Weekly Pivot Levels

With the help of the Camarilla calculation method, todays levels of importance for the United Parcel stock are presented as follows:

R1 – $105.15
R2 – $105.24
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $105.34
R4 (Long Breakout) – $105.62
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $105.96
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $106.09

S1 – $104.95
S2 – $104.86
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $104.76
S4 (Short Breakout) – $104.48
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $104.14
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $104.01

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for United Parcel Service Inc (UPS) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $106.01
R1 – $107.21
R2 – $109.36
R3 – $110.56
R4 – $111.75

S1 – $103.86
S2 – $102.66
S3 – $100.51
S4 – $98.35