YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Large-cap
tech rallied after it had lagged last week. That helped the Nasdaq outperform,
but it was the Dow that set a new two-year high as it advanced more than 100
points to settle just 20 points shy of the 12,000 mark.
Tech stocks were a bit mixed
in early trade, but buying quickly picked up after the sector started to run.
Tech stocks settled with a 1.6% gain.
NVIDIA (NVDA 24.73, +2.51) was a leader among
tech issues following positive mention in the financial press over the weekend.
Heavyweight tech issues Microsoft (MSFT 28.38, +0.36), Intel
(INTC 21.24, +0.42), and Cisco (CSCO 21.17, +0.44)
complemented its strength and, in turn, drove both the Nasdaq Composite and
Nasdaq 100 to their best percentage gains in three weeks. IBM (IBM
159.63, +4.13) also caught a big bid, which took the stock to a new record high
and helped drive the Dow to within just 20 points of the 12,000 line for the
first time since June 2008.
J.C. Penney (JCP 32.52, +2.18) shares made their
sharpest single-session spike in three months after the retailer said that it
will take strategic actions to maximize growth and profitability. The stock
settled comfortably above its 50-day moving average for the first time in two
weeks. The rest of the retail space failed to follow, though; they advanced
just 0.3%.
Market participants were
generally unimpressed by the latest round of earnings, which featured a bottom
line beat by Halliburton (HAL 39.55, +0.36) and in-line
results from McDonald's (MCD 75.38, +0.37). Both were relative
laggards.
Financials trailed for the
entire day. The sector's 0.1% loss was largely owed to weakness in regional
bank shares, which collectively shed 1.3%. Health care plays were also weak;
they fell to a fractional loss due to weakness in managed care, which dropped
1.0%.
Commodities finish mixed on
this quiet Monday, with industrials (+1.5%) leading advancers and energy
(-1.9%) leading the decliners.
Feb natural gas shed 3.1% to
close at $4.57 per MMBtu, marking its first down day in five sessions. It sold
off to its lowest levels, at $4.57, heading into the close of pit trade. March
crude oil settled down 1.4% to $87.87. Crude oil traded to its lowest level of
the session, at $87.27, in mid-afternoon trade, but managed to bounce off those
lows to finish the session at levels it spent the morning hours trading around.
It was a very uneventful
session for precious metals. Feb gold ended higher by 0.1% to $1344.50 per
ounce while silver shed 0.2% to close at $27.32 per ounce. Both metals have,
however, sold off to their lowest levels of the day following the close of pit
trade.
Advancing Sectors: Tech (+1.6%), Materials (+1.0%),
Industrials (+1.0%), Telecom (+0.6%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.6%), Utilities
(+0.5%), Consumer Staples (+0.4%), Energy (+0.2%)
Unchanged: Health Care
Declining Sectors: Financials (-0.1%)DJ30 +108.68 NASDAQ
+28.01 SP500 +7.49 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1721/1.89 bln/939 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec
2114/957 mln/882