YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks ended the day mixed as the Dow
advanced 0.6% and the Nasdaq
fell 0.8%. The broad-based S&P 500 finished little changed with a loss of
0.1%. Equities opened on session highs following the strong retail sales data,
but fell to their lows shortly after the business inventories and NAHB Housing
Market Index data. The major indices then climb higher over the remainder of
the session which forced the mixed close. European fears were back on the minds
of traders as Spanish CDS hit a record high and the Spanish 10-yr yield rose to
6.111%.
Shares of Citigroup (C
34.04, +0.63) rallied 1.9% despite the company missing on both the top and
bottom lines. The banking giant announced earnings per share of $0.95 on
revenues of $19.41 billion as both numbers missed their consensus estimates by
fairly wide margins. The Capital IQ Consensus estimate was calling for earnings
of $1.00 per share on revenues of $19.94 billion. Credit Value Adjustment/Debt
Valuation Adjustment was a negative $1.3 billion during the first quarter,
resulting from the tightening of the company’s spreads, compared to -$256
million in the prior year.
European financials erased cut early losses despite the Spanish jitters. Banco Santander (STD 6.43, +0.03), Barclays (BCS 13.56, -0.04), and Deutsche Bank (DB 44.40,
+0.10) closed mixed during
Shares of homebuilders ended higher following this morning’s disappointing NAHB
Housing Market Index number with the SPDR
S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB 20.80, +0.07) up 0.3%.
Endocyte
(ECYT 7.62, +3.82) gained 100.5% after Merck
(MRK 37.95, +0.17) announced it purchased the rights to Vintafolide,
the company’s experimental cancer drug for as much as $1 billion. The drug is
currently being evaluated in a Phase III clinical trial for platinum-resistant
ovarian cancer and a phase II trial for non-small cell lung cancer.
Mobile phone ringtone maker Vringo (VRNG 3.97, +0.93) rose
30.6% following a disclosure filed by Mark Cuban which indicates he owns a 7.4%
stake in the company.
Technology giants Apple
(AAPL 580.13, -25.10) and Google
(GOOG 606.07, -18.53) saw under notable selling pressure with both Nasdaq heavyweights losing in
excess of 3.0%.
YPF Sociedad
Anonima (YPF 19.50, -2.45) was
under heavy selling pressure on reports the Argentine government will attempt
to take a stake of as much as 50.01% in the company. The government says the
takeover would be in “public interest.” There had been reports circulating
early in 2012 suggesting a move like this may occur at some point in the
future.
The dollar index finished lower near 79.55 after pushing above the
80.00 level in early trade. Driving the dollar weakness was strength in the
euro (+0.5%) and the yen (+0.6%). Treasuries ended with small gains as light
buying in the 10-yr dropped its yield 2.4 basis points to 1.974%.
Tomorrow morning, results from the
following big names are scheduled to be released: Coca-Cola Co. (KO 72.44, +0.50), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS 117.73,
+2.64), Johnson & Johnson
(JNJ 63.98, +0.44), Omnicom Group
(OMC 49.19, +0.46), Northern Trust
(NTRS 46.16, +0.46),
Crude oil chopped around the $102.20 per barrel level after after briefly sliding into negative territory and touching
a session low of $101.82 per barrel. It regained momentum heading into the
close, climbing back into the black and posting a modest 0.1% gain at $102.92
per barrel. Natural gas spent the better part of its floor trading recouping
morning losses and steadily trending upwards. It settled just below its session
high of $2.03 per MMBtu, booking a gain of 2.0%.
Despite a continued decline in the dollar, precious metals were not able to
bounce back from their early morning selloff. Gold remained in negative
territory for its entire session, dipping as low as $1644.20 per ounce. It then
chopped around the $1650.00 per ounce level and settled with a loss of 0.6%.
After hitting a session high of $31.70 per ounce in floor trade, silver gave up
its morning gains and spent the remainder of its session chopping around near
the flat line. The white metal closed pit trade at $31.38 per ounce, or down
0.1%.
Tuesday will see housing starts and
building permits at 8:30 am ET, as well as industrial production and capacity
utilization at 9:15 am ET. DJ30 +71.82 NASDAQ
-22.93 SP500 -0.69 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1320/1.53
bln/1184 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1728/735.6 mln/1305