US stocks end lower on a lackluster trading day

Barring Dr Reddy's Labs, Indian ADRs end strictly lower

U.S. stocks ended lower at Wall Street on Tuesday, 11 March 2014 as investors appeared to take a pause in a day light on economic data releases. Energy and materials stocks led broad-based losses on the benchmark S&P 500. Equities indices started the day with modest gains and spent the first two hours of action in the neighborhood of their flat lines.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 67.43 points, or 0.4%, lower at 16,351.25. The Nasdaq Composite fell for the fourth consecutive day, ending down 27.26 points, or 0.6%, at 4,307.19. The S&P 500 ended the day 9.55 points, or 0.5%, lower at 1,867.62, retreating from a record closing level reached on Friday.

The Ukraine matter is still a worry among traders and investors and has moved closer to the front burner of the market place.

U.S. economic data released Tuesday was on the light side and failed to move the markets. Wholesale inventories increased 0.6% in January after increasing an upwardly revised 0.4% (from 0.3%) in December. The consensus pegged inventory growth at 0.4%. Inventory growth in the durables sector slowed, increasing 0.4% in January after a 1.2% gain in December. Nondurable inventories rose 0.8% in January after falling 0.9% in December. Unfortunately, the strong gain in inventories was likely not planned. Sales, which edged up a slight 0.1% in December, crashed in January and fell 1.9%.

Among individual stocks, retailers were in the spotlight. Shares of American Eagle Outfitters tumbled 7.8% after fourth-quarter profit and outlook disappointed. Shares of Urban Outfitters fell 4.3% after the company reported results on Monday that revealed a drop in fourth-quarter same-store sales late Monday. But Macy's and J.C. Penney rallied after an upgrade from analysts.

Shares of Dick's Sporting Goods rose 4.3% after the company posted results that largely met forecasts.

Treasuries held modest intraday losses, but jumped to highs as the market slid into the red. The benchmark 10-yr yield ended lower by two basis points at 2.76%.

Bullion prices ended mixed at Comex on Tuesday, 11 March 2014. Gold prices ended the U.S. day session moderately higher Tuesday, on some more safe-haven demand that surfaced amid the simmering geopolitical situation in Ukraine. Gold futures on Tuesday settled near $1,350 an ounce, scoring a second-consecutive session gain as worries over Ukraine and concerns surrounding a slowdown in Chinese economic growth lifted the metal's safe-haven appeal for investors.

Gold for April delivery rose $5.20, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,346.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange after earlier touching a high of $1,353. May silver shed 9.5 cents, or 0.5%, to $20.815 an ounce after a minor loss in the previous session.

Crude oil futures fell more than 1% on Tuesday, 11 March 2014 to settle at their lowest level in a month with traders unable to fully shake off worries about a slowdown in China's economy and betting on a rise in weekly U.S crude inventories. Crude for April delivery fell $1.09, or 1.1%, to settle at $100.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Indian ADRs ended mostly lower on Tuesday. In the IT space, Infosys was down 0.03% at $59.63 and Wipro shed 0.88% at $13.53. In the banking space, ICICI Bank was down 0.75% at $40.95 and HDFC Bank fell 2.25% at $37.37. In the other sectors, Tata Motors slipped 1.44% at $33.59 and Dr Reddy's Laboratories rose 1.74% at $44.38.

Participation was below average with 630 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while the Treasury Budget for February will be reported at 14:00 ET.

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