YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The broad market spent most of the morning in
the red with a narrow loss, but it mustered a modest gain in afternoon trade.
Despite its effort, though, the stock market finished flat.
Financials offered leadership for most of the session, but the
broad market was generally reluctant to follow. Still, the sector scored a 0.7%
gain with help from shares of regional banks, along with diversified financial
services players. Multi-line insurers remained weak, however.
Energy stocks were a heavy drag in the early going. The sector's
slide to a loss in excess of 1% marked an extension of the downside action that
it experienced in the second half of last week. Energy stocks actually overcame
the selling pressure to fully reverse the losses and poke into positive
territory before easing back to a 0.2% loss. In the backdrop, constant oil
futures prices extended their Friday fall by violating a 200-day moving average
and setting a 2012 low of a little less than $95.40 per barrel this morning,
but prices recovered in afternoon action. The June contract settled with a 0.6%
loss at $97.87 per barrel. It is down nearly 8% month to date.
Tech stocks, which collectively represent the largest sector by
market weight, were largely lackluster. The sector suffered a 0.3% loss, which
may not be very severe, but it stands as the worst showing of any major sector
for the session.
The dollar managed to muster a very modest gain of about 0.1%
against a basket of major foreign currencies. Its overnight gains were pared as
concerns seemed to cool over the implications of a
political shakeups in Europe, where polls showed that
Crude oil extended losses from the overnight session in morning pit
trade, touching a new 2012 low of $96.41 per barrel for the June contract.
However, the energy component climbed back to cut its loss, settling 0.6% lower
at $97.87 per barrel. It is down nearly 8% since May 1. Natural gas, on the
other hand, spent its entire pit session in positive territory. It chopped
around between $2.30 per MMBtu and $2.35 per MMBtu, finishing floor trade with a 2.2% gain at $2.33 per MMBtu. Since its recent low on April 19, its price is up
more than 16%.
Gold and silver spent the entire pit session in negative territory,
dropping as low as $1632.20 per ounce and $29.67 per ounce, respectively, in
morning action. However, the precious metals cut some of those losses so
that gold settled pit trade 0.4% lower at $1639.20 per ounce, while silver
booked a 1.2% loss by closing at $30.06 per ounce.
Advancing Sectors:
Financials +0.7%, Telecom +0.4%, Health Care +0.2%, Consumer Staples +0.1%
Unchanged: Materials,
Consumer Discretionary
Declining Sectors:
Utilities -0.2%, Energy -0.2%, Industrials -0.2%, Tech -0.3%DJ30 -29.74 NASDAQ
+1.42 NQ100 +0.1% R2K +0.3% SP400 +0.4% SP500 +0.48 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1372/1.74 bln/1125 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec
1624/754 mln/1373