YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: All the
whipsaw action earlier this week left participants subdued for most of the
week's final session. That left stocks to spend most of the session trading
listlessly in a tight range.
Participants were generally
unmoved by the revised fourth quarter GDP numbers. The headline growth rate was
upwardly revised to reflect 5.9% annualized growth rate, which exceeded
expectations, but the personal consumption component increased at a
softer-than-expected clip of 1.7%. Core personal consumption expenditures
increased at a faster-than-expected quarter-over-quarter clip of 1.6%, though.
The rest of the morning's
economic data also failed to lift the mood of market participants.
Specifically, existing home sales for January made a surprise 7.2%
month-over-month drop to an annualized rate of 5.05 million units. Meanwhile,
the final February Consumer Sentiment Survey from University of Michigan was
little changed at 73.6 and in-line with expectations.
During recent months weakness
in the dollar has been cause for stock market gains, but participants shrugged
off the dollar's latest dip. The greenback had gyrated in the early going as
the euro garnered support as news that United Kingdom GDP was upwardly revised
overshadowed the latest batch of headlines regarding Greece's fiscal
woes. The greenback eventually rolled over to finish with a 0.5% loss
against competing currencies.
Financials attempted to
provide the stock market with a late lift, but the move lost momentum into the
close. Still, JPMorgan Chase (JPM 41.97, +1.33) led the
financial sector to a 0.7% gain, which was better than that of any other major
sector. Though there was no specific news item to account for strength in JPM,
it was still able to put together its best single-session percentage gain in
more than three months.
AIG (AIG 24.77, -2.74) was a laggard in the
financial sector. The booked its worst single-session loss by percent in nearly
three months after its latest quarterly results proved disappointing.
In other earnings news, a
better-than-expected bottom line from Gap (GPS 21.50, +1.11)
helped shares of the retailer put together their best single-session percentage
gain since September.
Though the broader market was
able to eke out a gain, it wasn't enough to turn stocks positive for the week.
Instead, the S&P 500 settled with a weekly loss of 0.4%. Despite that slip,
the stock market finished February with a 2.8% monthly gain.
Trading volume on the NYSE
exceeded both its 50-day moving average and its 200-day moving average as more
than 1.5 billion shares exchanged hands on the big board.
Commodities finished the month
on a strong note. As such, the CRB Commodity Index finished the session with a
1.2% gain, which helped drive a 3.5% monthly gain.
Treasuries had a relatively
quiet session. Though the benchmark 10-year Note settled off of its high, it
still netted a few ticks to push its yield back toward 3.60%.
Advancing Sectors: Financials (+0.7%), Industrials (+0.4%),
Consumer Discretionary (+0.2%), Energy (+0.2%), Telecom (+0.2%), Health Care
(+0.1%), Tech (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Utilities (-0.7%), Consumer Staples (-0.5%)
Unchanged: MaterialsDJ30 +4.23 NASDAQ +4.04 NQ100 +0.3% R2K
-0.3% SP400 +0.1% SP500 +1.55 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1231/2.26 bln/1420 NYSE
Adv/Vol/Dec 1804/1.25 bln/1219