“1:30 pm : Stocks have started to move up from afternoon lows, enabling the Dow and S&P 500 to reclaim part of their gains. The Nasdaq remains mired in negative territory with a modest loss, however.
Results from an auction of 2-year Notes were released about 30 minutes ago, but they haven’t done much to drive action in either the equity market or the Treasury market. The offering produced a bid-to-cover ratio of 3.76, dollar demand of $131.6 billion, and an indirect bidder rate of 32.1%. For comparison, the prior auction produced a bid-to-cover of 3.69, dollar demand of $129.2 billion, and an indirect bidder participation rate of 34.1%. An average of the past six auctions gives a bid-to-cover of 3.69, dollar demand of $129.2 billion, and an indirect bidder rate of 34.3%. DJ30 +89.15 NASDAQ -8.33 SP500 +5.25 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1555/490 mln/905 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1990/335 mln/940
1:00 pm : The major equity averages have been mixed almost all session, but have turned lower in recent trade.
The broad market was up only narrowly in the early going, but was helped higher by some solid new home sales numbers that featured a strong upward revision to prior month figures. The latest consumer confidence reading was less impressive.
Financials and Energy, up 0.9% and 0.8%, respectively, have been key drivers in the broad market’s efforts to trade higher, but Telecom is actually the top performing sector. Telecom stocks are collectively up almost 3%.
The Telecom sector’s strength stems from a big move by integrated player AT&T (T 31.79, +1.18), which is up sharply on the back of better-than-expected earnings results. However, comments made by management regarding the pace of connections of the company’s products to those ofApple (AAPL 557.41, -14.29) have caused shares of AAPL to falter. Weakness in AAPL shares and disappointment over the latest reports fromNetflix (NFLX 88.15, -13.69) and Symantec (SYMC 16.18, -1.89) have caused the Nasdaq to lag almost all session.
Meanwhile, positive responses to reports from blue chips 3M (MMM 88.85, +1.72) and United Technologies (UTX 80.11, +0.36) have helped the Dow rise above the other major equity averages. DJ30 +75.76 NASDAQ -10.51 SP500 +3.76 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1590/815 mln/845 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2045/305 mln/875
12:30 pm : The broad market has entered into a sideways drift that has left it holding on to a solid gain of about 0.5%. Its largest sector, Tech, continues to slog along with a modest loss, but Financials and Energy, up 1.1% and 0.9%, respectively, have been sources of strength.
An improved mood among market participants has prompted many to rotate out of the dollar, which had benefited from demand for safety during the prior day of trade. The dollar is currently down 0.3% against a collection of competing currencies, but it is essentially flat for the week. DJ30 +99.26 NASDAQ -2.01 SP500 +6.60 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1645/720 mln/780 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2120/275 mln/775
12:00 pm : Tech stocks continue to trail the rest of the market. Down 0.4%, Tech is the only major sector in negative territory. That sort of weakness has weighed heavily on the Tech-rich Nasdaq, which has lagged its counterparts since the open.DJ30 +105.16 NASDAQ -0.68 SP500 +7.01 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1650/655 mln/760 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2085/250 mln/780
11:30 am : The Dow and S&P 500 are both at their best levels of the day, but the Nasdaq has yet to mirror the move.
Among the major sectors, Telecom is in the strongest shape. The sector’s 3.0% gain comes with help from AT&T (T 31.88, +1.27), which is up more than 4% to trade near its one-month high after the integrated telecom outfit posted some pleasing numbers for its latest quarter.
Telecom stocks also displayed occasional strength last week. In fact, from last week through today, the Telecom sector is up nearly 4%, while the S&P 500 is up only fractionally in that same time. DJ30 +114.24 NASDAQ +2.51 SP500 +7.91 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1615/550 mln/735 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2090/210 mln/755
11:00 am : The Dow has extended its climb so that it now sits at a session high with a gain greater than 100 points. However, the Nasdaq Composite has drifted down to the neutral line. The divergence comes after a handful of blue chips outperform on the heels of some better-than-expected earnings reports, but names like Netflix (NFLX 88.42, -13.42) and Symantec (SYMC 16.36, -1.71) descend for sharp losses after making disappointing announcements related to earnings and guidance.DJ30 +112.24 NASDAQ -0.44 SP500 +7.27 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1430/415 mln/860 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1915/165 mln/875
10:30 am : Strength in the commodity complex has the CRB Index up 0.7%.
Oil has been a source of strength; the energy component was last quoted with a 0.7% gain at $103.80 per barrel. Earlier this morning oil prices pushed past $104 per barrel, but stayed there for only a few minutes.
Gold prices are also up nicely. The yellow metal was last priced at $1646 per ounce, which makes for a 0.8% gain. Gold prices were around $1650 per ounce at session highs roughly 30 minutes ago. DJ30 +106.22 NASDAQ +3.14 SP500 +6.95 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1465/290 mln/775 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1940/120 mln/755
10:05 am : Stocks have pushed higher in recent trade. The move comes immediately after the release of the latest dose of data.
New home sales hit an annualized pace of 328,000 in March. That bested the clip of 318,000 that had been broadly anticipated. What’s more, prior month numbers were revised upward to reflect an annualized pace of 353,000.
The Consumer Confidence Index for April was also just released. It eased back to 69.2 from 70.2 in the prior month. The consensus call among economists polled by Briefing.com was for a reading of 69.5 for April. DJ30 +86.95 NASDAQ +1.94 SP500 +5.82 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1065/130 mln/1060 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1445/70 mln/1170
09:45 am : Leading its counterparts, the Dow is up solidly in the early going. Its strength comes as blue chips like 3M (MMM 88.90, +1.77) andAT&T (T 31.63, +1.02) jump sharply on the back of better-than-expected earnings results. Fellow Dow component United Technologies (UTX 79.74, -0.01) is stuck near the neutral line, despite an upside earnings surprise of its own.
On the way are the latest monthly numbers on new home sales and the latest reading on consumer confidence — both are due at 10:00 AM ET. DJ30 +54.64 NASDAQ -5.47 SP500 +2.07 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec NA/NA/NA NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec NA/NA/NA”
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