YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The broad market spent the session bouncing
along in negative territory. Its inability to push into positive territory left
it to book a modest loss.
Stocks slid at the open of trade as market participants responded
to weakness among Europe's major bourses, which were imbued by renewed concerns
about
Financials staged a mid-morning rebound that fizzled out when the
sector came in contact with the flat line. It fell from there and spent the
rest of the day dragging along with a sizable loss. It settled the day down
0.8%. BlackRock
(BLK 196.01, -5.80) was among the poorer performers in the Financial
sector following the firm's latest quarterly report. PNC Financial (PNC 63.78, +0.37)
surrendered some of its gain, but still settled in positive territory following
the release of its latest earnings results. Both outfits reported upside
earnings surprises.
Both Intel (INTC
27.95, -0.52) and IBM
(IBM 200.13, -7.32) bested what Wall Street had expected of their earnings
results, but neither attracted buyers. Instead, their weakness weighed on the
Tech sector, which suffered a 0.8% loss. Better-than-expected bottom line
results helped both Seagate Technology
(STX 28.96, +1.07) and Yahoo!
(YHOO 15.49, +0.48) stage impressive advances, though.
Energy stocks managed to finish the day with only a 0.2% loss,
despite lower oil prices. Crude oil futures contracts closed pit trade with the
energy component priced at $102.67 per barrel, which makes for a 1.5% loss. Oil
prices had actually pared losses in the minutes that immediately followed a
bearish weekly inventory report. Oilfield services outfit Halliburton (HAL 34.17, +1.51) was a
standout in the space, thanks largely to a positive response to its
better-than-expected earnings report.
Earnings from Abbott Labs
(ABT 60.46, +0.03) were also in play today. The stock experienced some whipsaw
swings in the first half of the day, but ultimately finished a few cents
higher.
Select shares of hotels, resorts, and casinos players helped the
Consumer Discretionary sector put together a 0.2% gain, while Internet retailer
eBay (EBAY 35.87,
-0.21) traded lower ahead of its quarterly report. Consumer Discretionary
stocks made up the only major sector that was able to settle in positive
territory, but their general lack of weight undermined their ability to lift
the rest of the market.
Overall weakness in the commodity complex caused the CRB Index to
suffer a 1.0% loss, which marks its third decline in just four days.
Crude oil prices sank deeper into the red following inventory data
that showed a greater-than-expected build of 3.9 million barrels (the general
consensus called for a build of 1.6 million barrels). The energy component set
a session low of $102.19 per barrel only minutes before settling floor trade
with a 1.5% loss at $102.67 per barrel. Meanwhile, natural gas prices spent the
majority of pit trade in positive territory, setting a session high of $1.99
per MMBtu, but the gains proved unsustainable. As
such, the energy component declined during afternoon trade to settle the
session unchanged at $1.95 per MMBtu.
Precious metals extended losses in choppy trade. More specifically,
gold prices settled pit trade with a 0.7% loss at $1640.00 per ounce, or
fractionally above its session low of $1639.50 per ounce. Silver traded up
slightly in the last half hour of pit trade to settle at $31.49 per ounce, but
it still booked a 0.6% loss. Its session low was set at $31.34 per ounce.
Advancing Sectors:
Consumer Discretionary +0.2%
Declining Sectors:
Consumer Staples -0.1%, Energy -0.2%, Materials -0.3%, Utilities -0.3%, Health
Care -0.3%, Industrials -0.4%, Telecom -0.5%, Tech -0.8%, Financials -0.8% DJ30
-82.79 NASDAQ -11.37 NQ100 -0.3% R2K -0.9% SP400 -0.4% SP500 -5.64 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 746/1.59 bln/1734 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec
988/721 mln/2002