YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Sellers were stirred to action by
disappointing economic data from both Europe and
Sentiment soured ahead of the open as market participants responded
to news that
Given the decidedly negative implications of such news, a
better-than-expected initial jobless claims tally was shrugged off. Consistent
with recent trends, the latest tally fell to a multi-year low of 348,000, which
is less than the 355,000 initial jobless claims that had been broadly expected.
Once trade opened, the broad market chopped its way down to a loss
of almost 1% before it found support. Its attempt to work its way upward
eventually lost momentum and gave way to renewed selling, but all three major
equity averages managed to hold the session lows set in the early going. That
gave confidence to some traders, who bid stocks higher in a late flurry of
buying.
Despite the late lift, Consumer Staples and Utilities were the only
two sectors to settle in positive territory. They eked out gains of only 0.2%
and 0.1%, respectively.
Cyclical plays performed poorly throughout the entire session; some
of their losses were tied to weakness among commodities. As such, the Energy
sector fell more than 2% so that it is now down more than 4% in only three days
as another concerted selling effort took crude oil to $105.37 per barrel for a
1.7% loss. Oil prices actually probed a monthly low near $104.50 per barrel
prior to the close of pit trade, while natural gas prices fell nearly 4% to
$2.27 per MMBtu for a lifetime closing low on the
April futures contract.
FedEx (FDX
92.50, -3.32) shares fell hard to a fresh weekly low, despite an upside
earnings response. Discover Financial
(DFS 32.49, +0.85) shares rallied to a strong gain after opening the day in the
red amid what was initially an underwhelming response to the
better-than-expected bottom line results that the firm reported. Nike (NKE 110.99, +0.55) overcame
selling pressure to score a solid gain ahead of its latest quarterly report.
The dollar gave up an early gain to trade near the neutral line for
most of the session, but the yen rallied sharply. By session's end it was up
1.0% against the greenback, putting the currency at 82.50 yen per dollar.
Overall weakness in the commodity complex dropped the CRB Index for
a 1.2% loss today. It is now on pace for a weekly loss of 1.8%, which stands as
its worst weekly performance in about two months.
Another concerted selling effort took crude oil to $105.37 per
barrel for a 1.7% loss. Along the way it probed a monthly low near $104.50 per
barrel. Playing a part in oil's latest leg lower -- the energy component has
fallen about 4% in only three days -- were reports that review of permit
applications for the southern leg of the Keystone Pipeline will likely be
expedited.
Natural gas also spent all of pit trade in the red, dropping to a
session low of $2.25 per MMBtu before booking a 3.8%
loss at $2.27 per MMBtu, which stands as a lifetime
closing low for the April contract. Weakness was exacerbated by news that
weekly inventories experienced a bigger build than what had been widely
expected.
Precious metals prices were also clipped. Gold prices descended as
low as $1627.50 per ounce before rebounding. The yellow metal settled with a
0.5% loss at $1641.80 per ounce. Silver slumped to $31.40 per ounce for a 2.6%
loss.
Advancing Sectors:
Consumer Staples +0.2%, Utilities +0.1%
Declining Sectors:
Consumer Discretionary -0.2%, Tech -0.3%, Health Care -0.3%, Telecom -0.5%,
Industrials -1.1%, Financials -1.4%, Materials -1.6%, Energy -2.1%DJ30 -78.48
NASDAQ -12.00 NQ100 -0.2% R2K -1.0% SP400 -1.1% SP500 -10.11 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 777/1.50 bln/1719 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec
740/763 mln/2243