YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: After an early slip stocks battled back to
book solid gains. The effort resulted in a multi-month closing high for the
S&P 500 and a multi-year closing high for the Dow.
Stocks were without leadership in the early going as market
participants had an underwhelming response to news that initial weekly jobless
claims remain near four-year lows. The latest tally totaled 351,000, which is
unchanged week over week, and generally on par with the 355,000 initial claims
that had been broadly expected.
Overnight news that the European Union expects eurozone
GDP for 2012 to decline by 0.3% instead of expand by 0.5%, as had been
previously projected, seemed to undermine sentiment, but only seemed to delay a
rally by the euro. By session's end the euro was sporting a 0.9% gain at
$1.337.
Although the initial inclination among traders was to sell, buyers
were quick to step back in with a bid. Momentum petered out when the S&P
500 came in contact with its weekly closing high, but a late lift took the
broad market measure to its best close in nearly 10 months and within a
fraction of its best close since 2008.
Financials were the session's top performers, although the sector
had a relatively sluggish start. Diversified financial services plays and
brokerage issues led the sector's advance in a strong follow-up to a weak
performance in the prior session. Collectively, financials climbed 1.0% for the
day.
Shares of struggling retailer Sears (SHLD 61.80, +9.72) surged as many traders cheered
the company's strategy in spite of a deep earnings miss, contributing to the Nasdaq's outperformance. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 27.05, -1.89), Kohl's (KSS 49.11, -3.08), and Target (TGT 54.50, +1.53) all posted
upside earnings surprises, but each issued downside guidance.
Even though the latest weekly oil inventory report's
bigger-than-expected build of 1.63 million barrels was regarded as a bearish
cue, oil prices extended their upward trend by climbing 1.4% to set a new
multi-month closing high of $107.89 per barrel. The energy component's climb
comes in conjunction with geopolitical concerns in
A strong auction of 7-year Notes brought Treasuries into closer
focus today. The sale drew a bid-to-cover ratio of 3.11, dollar demand of $90.2
billion, and an indirect bidder participation rate of 41.8%. For comparison, an
average of the past six auctions results in a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.83,
dollar demand of $82.1 billion, and an indirect bidder rate of 34.9%. The
benchmark 10-year Note briefly saw its yield dip below 2.00% before inching back
up to that mark by session's end.
Stocks are on the upswing as the session's end draws near. The
effort has the major equity averages near session highs, but the Nasdaq continues to outperform its
counterparts.
Even though weekly oil inventory numbers showed a
bigger-than-expected build of 1.63 million barrels, oil prices extended their
upward trend by another 1.4% to set a new multi-month closing high of $107.89
per barrel. Meanwhile, natural gas inventory showed a smaller-than-expected
draw of 166 bcf. The energy component surrendered an
early gain to log a 0.7% loss at $2.76 per MMBtu.
Precious metals performed well. Between gold and silver, though,
silver was the standout. It rallied 3.7% to $35.53 per ounce. As for gold, the
yellow metal gained 0.8% to settle pit trade at $1786.30 per ounce.
Advancing Sectors:
Financials +1.0%, Telecom +0.7%, Consumer Discretionary +0.5%, Consumer Staples
+0.5%, Energy +0.5%, Tech +0.5%, Industrials +0.1%, Materials +0.1%, Health
Care +0.1%
Declining Sectors:
Utilities -0.2%DJ30 +46.02 NASDAQ +23.81 NQ100 +0.6% R2K +1.8% SP400 +0.9%
SP500 +5.80 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1818/1.73 bln/735 NYSE
Adv/Vol/Dec 2164/763 mln/843