US stocks end modestly lower hit by technology sector
For the week, the Dow industrials ended lower by 20.1 points or 0.2%. For the week, the S&P index lost 4.4 points or 0.3%. Nasdaq scored a loss of 6.7 points or 0.2% for the week.
On Monday, 10 December 2012, equities were little changed. With no economic data to digest, investors expressed caution after Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti announced plans to submit his resignation upon the successful approval of the country's budget. Hewlett-Packard rose by 2.6% following earlier rumors which suggested activist investor Carl Icahn was building a stake in the company.
Tuesday's session was relatively quiet as the major averages followed an upbeat open with a climb to their respective highs. At noon, House Speaker John Boehner said he remains hopeful a budget deal will be reached, but first, Democrats and the President need to outline specific spending cuts. The comments had little effect on the markets as equities continued holding at their best levels.
Wednesday began on a slightly higher note in anticipation of the latest policy statement from the Federal Reserve. The major averages spiked to session highs upon the release of the central bank's directive. However, stocks surrendered all of their gains, and the S&P 500 finished flat. As expected, the Federal Open Market Committee held its Federal Funds Rate steady at 0-0.25%. In addition, the Fed announced 'Operation Twist' will be replaced by a Treasury purchasing program with an initial rate of $45 billion per month. Also of note, the key interest rate is expected to remain at exceptionally low levels until a target unemployment rate of 6.5% is reached.
On Thursday, the major averages began on a mixed note before selling pressure pushed the key indices to their respective lows. Shortly before noon, House Speaker John Boehner addressed the media in Washington. During his remarks, the speaker suggested President Obama is not serious about cutting spending, and the White House is willing to go over the fiscal cliff. Mr. Boehner's remarks had little impact on the markets, which continued pushing to fresh lows.
U.S. stocks declined on Friday, 14 December 2012 with the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 halting their longest stretch of weekly gains since August, as investors fixated on the lack of a federal government budget deal and ignored upbeat economic reports in the U.S. and China.
Equities spent the day in the red as weakness in shares of Apple weighed on the markets throughout the session. The S&P 500 held near its opening levels until the final hour when selling pressure pushed the benchmark index to a loss.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 35.71 points, or 0.3%, to 13,135.01. The Nasdaq Composite lost 20.83 points, or 0.7%, to 2,971.33. The the S&P 500 index declined 5.87 points, or 0.4%, to 1,413.58, with technology the leading laggard and natural-resources the best performing of its 10 major industry groups.
The technology sector was the biggest laggard due to underperformance from Apple and its suppliers. Earlier, UBS lowered its price target for AAPL to $700 from $780 due to an expected decline in iPhone and iPad shipments. The largest tech company settled lower by 3.8% on the day the iPhone 5 began selling in China.
At Wall Street, data showed that November consumer prices decreased by 0.3%, which was below the consensus. Friday's reading follows the 0.2% increase recorded during the prior month. In addition, core prices rose by 0.1% which was in-line with expectations.
Industrial production increased during November by 1.1%, which was better than the 0.1% increase that had been expected. The reading follows the revised 0.7% decrease recorded during the prior month. Also, Capacity utilization hit 78.4%, which was better than the 77.9% expected was up from the revised prior month reading of 77.7%.
Abroad, business conditions for Chinese manufacturers improved further in December, pushing an initial reading of HSBC's Purchasing Managers' Index to a 14-month high. Released Friday, HSBC's so-called "flash" manufacturing PMI for December � a closely watched indicator of the world's second-largest economy � came in at 50.9, compared to a final print of 50.5 for November and 49.5 for October.
A reading above 50 signals an improvement in activity, while one under 50 represents contraction.
Among major stocks under focus, Best Buy shares declined 15% after the electronics retailer said it had prolonged the time frame for co-founder Richard Schulze to make a buyout offer until after the holiday season. Also, Adobe Systems shares rose 5.7% after the software company reported sales and profit exceeding Wall Street's forecasts.
The dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, fell by 0.4% on Friday.
Bullion prices stayed steady at Comex on Friday, 14 December and ended with modest losses. Prices fell in the wake of the U.S. Federal Reserve's recent decision on monetary policy and worries linger over the fiscal cliff. Gold prices on Friday settled below $1,700 an ounce, nearly flat for the session but down for the week. February gold added 20 cents to settle at $1,697 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It held tight to a small trading range of between $1,694 and $1,701.90. Prices lost 0.5% for the week.
March silver finished lower on Friday, down 6 cents, or 0.2%, at $32.30 an ounce, pulling back from a high of $32.80. That was its lowest settlement in more than a month. For the week, it lost 2.5%.
Crude-oil futures finished higher on Friday, 14 December 2012 at Nymex scoring a weekly gain as they drew support from signs of strength in the Chinese economy and as ongoing violence in Syria fed concerns over oil supplies from the Middle East.
Light and sweet crude Oil for January delivery gained 84 cents, or 1%, to settle at $86.73 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The move on Friday brought week-to-date gains for oil to 0.9%.
For every seven stocks that gained, eight fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where composite volume neared 3.2 billion.
Indian ADRs ended mixed on Friday. In the IT space, Infosys was down 0.2% and Wipro was up 0.3%. In the telecom space, MTNL was up 5.2% and Tata Communication was down 0.2%. In the banking space, ICICI Bank was down 1.45% and HDFC Bank was down 0.53%. In the other space, Tata Motors was up 0.9% and Sterlite Industries was up 3.3. Dr Reddys was down 0.7%.
For the year, Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 are trading higher by 7.5%, 14.1% and 12.4% respectively. On Monday, 17 December 2012, in terms of economic data, December Empire Manufacturing Index will be reported at 8:30 ET and October net long-term TIC flows will be released at 9:00 ET.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News