YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks
pushed higher in broad-based fashion as participants took their cues this
session from the dollar, which was weakened despite conflicting reports about
whether Germany will lead a bailout for Greece.
Concern for the fiscal health
of Greece had sent many global participants to seek safety in the U.S. dollar
during recent sessions, such that the dollar hit a multimonth high against
competing currencies last week. However, speculation today that Greece could
receive help from Germany gave the euro strength, which dropped the Dollar
Index for a near 0.7% loss this session.
There hasn't been any official
statement regarding whether Germany will support Greece or if any plan would
offer support to other troubled European countries, like Portugal and Spain.
Notably, any such plan would likely weigh on Germany's fiscal health, but the
market still treated the notion of any such effort as a positive.
Given the greenback's weakness
this session, natural resource plays made the strongest moves. As such,
materials stocks advanced a collective 2.5%. An upgrade of Monsanto (MON
75.72, +1.51) from analysts at Bank of America's Merrill Lynch helped shares of
the seed company show leadership.
Morgan Stanley's upgrade of Caterpillar
(CAT 53.53, +2.75) helped shares of the industrial outfit log their
best session in nearly one month. The stock was a primary leader in the Dow,
which had been up more than 200 points at its session high.
Fellow Dow component Coca-Cola
(KO 54.01, +1.36) also provided leadership to blue-chips, even though it missed
Wall Street's consensus earnings estimate for the latest quarter.
Energy stocks were broadly
strong as all 39 of the components in the S&P 500 Energy Sector advanced
this session. Their collective 2.0% gain came with help from the broader market
and a 2.6% rise in oil prices to $73.75 per barrel.
This session's broad-based
advanced helped financial stocks recoup some of their losses from the prior
session. It had been whipsawed from an early gain of more than 1% to a modest
loss before it settled with a 1.1% gain. Bank of America (BAC
14.47, -0.01) and Citigroup (C 3.18, +0.03) saw mixed interest
amid news that Standard & Poor's lowered its outlook on the pair to
Negative from Stable.
A weak session for Treasuries
sent the benchmark 10-year Note down 19 ticks. A 2.83 bid-to-cover ratio and an
indirect bidder take of 51.2% in this afternoon's $40 billion auction of 3-year
Treasuries failed to offer support. The benchmark Note will be back in focus
tomorrow, when a widely-watched auction of 10-year Treasury Notes will take
place at 1:00 PM ET. An auction of 30-year Bonds will follow on Thursday at
1:00 PM ET.
Advancing Sectors: Materials (+2.5%), Energy (+2.0%),
Industrials (+1.7%), Consumer Discretionary (+1.4%), Consumer Staples (+1.4%),
Telecom (+1.3%), Financials (+1.1%), Utilities (+1.0%), Tech (+1.0%), Health
Care (+0.6%)
Declining Sectors: (None)DJ30 +150.25 NASDAQ +24.82 NQ100
+1.1% R2K +1.5% SP400 +1.2% SP500 +13.78 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1905/2.23 bln/751
NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2385/1.24 bln/666