U.S. equities shit the bed…DOW down 121, NASDAQ down 30, S&P down 12
“2:30 pm : Selling has started to accelerate, driving stocks down to new session lows and leaving the major market averages with large losses.
Tech stocks continue to be hit with the brunt of the selling effort; the sector is now down 1.7%. To be fair, though, Industrials aren’t much better off as they grapple with a 1.5% loss. DJ30 -120.34 NASDAQ -32.32 SP500 -13.22 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 900/1.32 bln/1525 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1145/450 mln/1815
2:00 pm : Stocks continue to trade in weak fashion, leaving the major equity averages to fractionally extend their session lows. The broad-based S&P 500 hasn’t been in positive territory for about two hours.
Telecom, up 0.2%, and Health Care, up 0.1%, make up the only two major sectors that have managed to maintain any kind of a gain. Tech is leading the other eight sectors lower with its drop to a 1.1% loss. DJ30 -69.56 NASDAQ -17.05 SP500 -7.13 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1000/1.24 bln/1405 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1255/420 mln/1660
1:30 pm : Tech stocks continue to come under pressure. The sector, which is the largest by market weight, is now down 0.7% for the day. Only Industrials, off by 0.8%, are in worse shape. Qualcomm (QCOM 63.38, -3.60) continues to weigh heavily on the Tech space — the stock has slumped in excess of 5% to a new monthly low because the company’s underwhelming forecast has overshadowed its better-than-expected earnings results.DJ30 -58.62 NASDAQ -11.51 SP500 -5.65 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1150/1.12 bln/1250 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1440/375 mln/1460
1:00 pm : Listless trade has left the major equity averages to plod along with modest losses for the second straight session.
Stocks have struggled to establish a clear direction in today’s trade. The mood ahead of the open was mixed because of eurozone concerns tacitly communicated by the euro’s retreat. A disappointing weekly jobless claims count further undermined confidence that had been built initially with help from a big batch of better-than-expected earnings reports from a broad range of industry bellwethers.
Disappointment related to the latest Philly Fed Survey and monthly existing home sales numbers after the open stirred a flurry of selling that dropped the major averages into the red for modest losses. Stocks managed to rebound from there, but the move proved unsustainable amid a lack of leadership. The Nasdaq is now at a session low, while both the S&P 500 and Dow test their depths of the day.
The broad market may be down with a modest loss, but shares of online retailer eBay (EBAY 40.59, +4.72) surged to a new multi-year high in response to its latest quarterly report, which featured an upside earnings surprise. The company also raised its forecast for fiscal 2012.
Dow components American Express (AXP 57.65, -0.39), Travelers (TRV 62.30, +2.83), Verizon (VZ 38.30, +0.64), and DuPont (DD 52.39, -0.88) all posted upside earnings surprises of their own. Fellow blue chip Bank of America (BAC 8.84, -0.08) gapped higher at the open because of a positive response to its report, but shares have since faltered. Morgan Stanley (MS 17.98, +0.32) has maintained some of its gain after pulling back from its opening level. DJ30 -35.73 NASDAQ -6.54 SP500 -3.81 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1110/1.04 bln/1270 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1345/355 mln/1550
12:30 pm : The Nasdaq has notched a new session low, although its loss remains relatively modest. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is quickly approaching the depths that it set in the early going, but the Dow has yet to test its daily low.
Shares of Bank of America (BAC 8.86, -0.06) are in the red with a modest loss after a sharply higher open that came in response to its latest quarterly report. A positive response to the latest numbers from Morgan Stanley (MS 17.85, +0.19) also helped shares of the investment bank and brokerage outfit open higher, but the stock has moved down from that mark. Collectively, Financials are down 0.3% today. DJ30 -42.77 NASDAQ -6.44 SP500 -4.61 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1130/960 mln/1215 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1360/325 mln/1525
12:00 pm : The major stock averages continue to muddle along in mixed fashion. The lackluster action is largely owed to ongoing listlessness.
Although the broad market has been without much direction today, shares of eBay (EBAY 40.90, +5.03) are up 14% to trade at multi-year highs following the release of the online retailer’s latest quarterly report, which featured better-than-expected results for both the top and bottom line. The company’s second quarter forecast was actually in line with what Wall Street had already projected, but management did raise its outlook for fiscal 2012. Several analysts upgraded shares of the stock following the report’s release.
Despite strength in shares of EBAY, the Consumer Discretionary sector is down 0.5% for the day. In the prior session Consumer Discretionary stocks actually booked the only major gain of any major sector. DJ30 -2.65 NASDAQ +4.35 SP500 -1.02 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1320/830 mln/1005 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1585/285 mln/1245
11:30 am : Stocks are on the slide again. The action has taken both the Dow and the S&P 500 back to the flat line after they had worked their way up to a modest gain. The stock market’s inability to sustain a gain comes amid a continued lack of leadership.
With stocks struggling to find direction Treasuries continue to hold on to slight gains. The benchmark 10-year Note is up only a handful of ticks, but the move has been enough keep the Note’s yield near its monthly low of about 1.95%. DJ30 +0.90 NASDAQ +9.39 SP500 +0.07 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1510/705 mln/770 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1815/245 mln/990
11:00 am : A dose of disappointing data prompted stocks to retreat earlier, but they have since bounced back into positive territory. Overall gains remain modest, though.
For the second straight session the broad market is without a legitimate source of leadership. Tech and Financials, arguably the two most influential sectors, are both up a rather tepid 0.3%. Energy has a narrow lead over most of the other sectors, but its 0.4% gain is still too modest to inspire broader buying interest. Meanwhile, Telecom’s 0.7% gain has mattered little to many market participants due to the sector’s lack of weight. DJ30 +39.12 NASDAQ +20.61 SP500 +4.00 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1525/600 mln/715 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1910/205 mln/870
10:35 am : The CRB Index is now up 0.3%. Earlier this morning it was down narrowly.
Oil continues to contend with moderate selling pressure, which has left contracts priced with a 0.3% loss at $102.35 per barrel.
Meanwhile, natural gas prices were down narrowly at about $1.95 per MMBtu a few minutes ago, but since the release of the latest weekly inventory report they have moved modestly lower to $1.94 per MMBtu for a 0.6% loss. Weekly inventory data showed a build of 25 bcf when a build of 30 bcf had been broadly anticipated.
Precious metals prices were up only fractionally about 90 minutes ago. From there they bounced higher, but a pushback by sellers has forced prices off of session highs. Gold prices now trade at $1647.50 per ounce for a 0.5% gain, while silver sits at $31.86 per ounce with a 1.2% gain. Helping the case for precious metals, the dollar has declined to a fractional loss against a collection of competing currencies after it had been bid higher this morning. DJ30 +2.34 NASDAQ +20.26 SP500 +1.36 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 830/410 mln/1340 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1040/145 mln/1685
10:05 am : Stocks have faltered following a flurry of data, which was generally disappointing.
The Philadelphia Fed Survey for April fell to 8.5 from 12.5 in the prior month, but had been generally expected to decline to just 10.3.
Existing home sales hit an annualized rate of 4.48 million units during March, but that is down from the pace of 4.60 million units posted in the prior month and also less than the rate of 4.62 million units that had been broadly anticipated.
Leading Indicators for March increased by 0.3%, which is slightly greater than the 0.2% increase that had been forecasted, on average, among economists polled by Briefing.com. DJ30 -50.78 NASDAQ -2.17 SP500 -4.32 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1415/220 mln/675 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1750/80 mln/900
09:45 am : The Dow and S&P 500 are currently narrowly above the neutral line, but the Nasdaq has mustered a modest gain with help from eBay(EBAY 39.73, +3.86), which has sprinted out to a 10% gain with help from a pleasing quarterly report. In contrast, Qualcomm (QCOM 64.00, -2.98) has slumped in response to its latest quarterly results.
As a reminder, 10:00 AM ET brings the latest existing home sales numbers, the latest Philadelphia Fed Survey, and monthly Leading Indicators.DJ30 14.01 NASDAQ +1.35 SP500 +10.20 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec NA/NA/NA NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec NA/NA/NA”
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