YAHOO[BRIEFING.COM]:
Stocks were unable to hold early gains as sellers entered the action and pushed
the Dow below its November lows. The Dow logged its lowest intraday level and
closing level since 2002.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 has managed to hold above its November
closing low of 752. Traders have their set on 800 as a key technical level
since a break above 800 could prompt short-covering, while a test and failure
to break above 800 could lead to fresh weakness. This session's weakness came
after stocks began the session with broad-based gains.
Stocks had been up more than 1% in the early going. The initial
advance was largely attributable to short-covering as that followed flat
trading in the prior session. However, a renewed selling effort in financial
stocks fueled pressure in the broader market.
Financials were up much as 2.4%, but finished 5.2% lower. Dow
components Bank of
Fellow Dow component General
Electric (GE 10.06, -0.49) also registered a new multiyear low.
Market participants have been treating it like a financial stock given the
company's exposure to capital and financial markets.
Prudential (PRU
19.02, -3.59) was one of the session's weakest performers following Fitch's decision
to downgrade Prudential's debt rating and commercial paper rating. Though there
was concern the company could lose access to the Fed's commercial paper funding
facility, reports indicated Prudential has access to the commercial paper
program through its insurance arm.
Technology (-3.3%), which is the largest sector in the S&P 500
by market weight, also underperformed the broader market. Its weakness largely
hinged on a disappointing quarterly report from Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 31.39, -2.69), which headlined a
mixed batch of corporate announcements.
Hewlett-Packard issued a mixed earnings forecast, which
overshadowed in-line quarterly earnings results. CVS Caremark (CVS 28.71, +1.72) and Newmont Mining (NEM 40.79, -1.97)
announced better-than-expected quarterly earnings. Noble Energy (NBL 49.94, +1.30) also
beat expectations, but Apache (APA
66.67, -0.42) missed. Sprint Nextel (S
3.25, +0.54) posted a loss, but it wasn't as bad as expected. Coca-Cola (KO 43.30, +0.62) increased
its dividend, while CBS Corp (CBS
4.97, -0.16) slashed its dividend in the face of better-than-expected earnigns.
Economic data also remains uninspiring. Initial jobless claims
totaled 627,000, topping the 620,000 claims that were expected. Initial claims
were unchanged week-over-week, while the four-week moving average moved up to
619,000 from 608,500.
Continuing claims reached record highs of 4.99 million. Economists
forecast 4.81 million continuing claims. The four-week moving average for
continuing claims stands at 4.84 million, up from 4.75 million.
Jobless claims were a drag on the January index of leading economic
indicators, which increased 0.4%, exceeding the consensus forecast of a 0.1%
increase. An increase in the money supply proved to be the main driver lifting
the index, but the increased money supply contributes to inflationary concerns.
Producer prices, which measure inflation, increased more than
expected in January. The January PPI and core PPI were up 0.8% and 0.4%,
respectively. DJ30 -89.68 NASDAQ -25.15 SP500 -9.48 NASDAQ
Adv/Vol/Dec 892/2.05 bln/1788 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 856/1.49 bln/2215