YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The stock market scored its third gain of at
least 1% in four sessions and settled above its 50-day moving average for the
first time in more than a month as market participants pushed the major
averages higher ahead of tomorrow's highly anticipated
FOMC policy statement and press conference with Fed Chairman Bernanke.
Amid persistent macro headwinds that have made for sluggish
economic growth and precarious conditions across the eurozone
there has been growing anticipation for some sort of additional stimulus
measure to be unveiled by the FOMC tomorrow. Such a notion dropped the dollar
by about 0.7% against a basket of major foreign currencies, although most of
that came as the euro traded higher following a modest reduction in
Defensive-oriented stocks were lackluster throughout the session.
Most favor was given to Financials, which collectively climbed 1.7%. JPMorgan Chase (JPM 35.38, +0.76) CEO
Jamie Dimon was back on Capital Hill to give a testimony
to the House Financial Services Committee, but nothing was stated that
deviated from comments made to the Senate Banking Committee last week.
There was only a dearth of other corporate announcements today. FedEx (FDX 91.01, +2.50) shares fell
at the open of trade, but were quick to rally out of the red. The company
posted an upside earnings surprise, but issued downside guidance. Oracle (ORCL 27.96, +0.84) had an
in-line outlook on better-than-expected earnings.
Crude oil traded in positive territory for all of pit trade. It
touched a session high of $84.73 per barrel and a session low of $83.86 per
barrel by the afternoon. However, the energy component regained upward momentum
to settle at $84.33 per barrel for a 0.9% gain. Meanwhile, natural gas
struggled in negative territory for its entire pit session, plunging to a
session low of $2.51 per MMBtu. A rally into the
close pushed natural gas up to $2.55 per MMBtu, but
that still made for a 3.0% loss.
After a positive open precious metals extended yesterday's losses,
despite weakness in the dollar. Gold set a session high of $1631.90 per ounce
as floor trade opened, but fell to a session low of $1618.10 per ounce in
afternoon action. Its efforts to erase the loss proved unsuccessful, leaving
gold to settle for a 0.2% loss at $1623.30 per ounce. Silver touched a session
high of $28.79 per ounce, but found itself in the red by late morning action.
It dipped to a session low of $28.27 per ounce before settling with a 1.0% loss
at $28.37 per ounce.
Advancing Sectors:
Materials +2.0%, Financials +1.7%, Energy +1.4%, Industrials +1.2%, Tech +1.0%,
Health Care +1.0%, Consumer Discretionary +0.9%
Declining Sectors:
Consumer Staples -0.1%, Utilities -0.2%, Telecom -0.2%DJ30 +95.51 NASDAQ +34.43
NQ100 +1.1% R2K +1.8% SP400 +1.1% SP500 +13.20 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec
1903/1.82 bln/601 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2565/771 mln/488