From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : The stock market made a steady march higher for the first part of the session, but its gains faded so that listless trade turned into a mixed finish.
Trade opened with a loss of roughly 1% as global indices moved lower amid renewd selling pressure, which came about as concerns grew over the ability of eurozone countries to remedy the fiscal problems that have put them on tenuous financial footing. There are also concerns related to how efficiently funds pledged for eurozone countries by the European Union and International Monetary Fund can be dispensed.
Despite the weak start, stocks were able to gradually chop their way into higher ground. At its session high, the S&P 500 was up almost 1%. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq climbed as much as 1.3%.
Financial shares and tech issues helped push the broader market to its session high -- the financial sector was up 1.2% at its best level and the tech sector was up as much as 1.1%. However, both sectors retreated to a 0.5% loss.
Without the leadership of the two heaviest weighted sectors, overall trade turned listless and broader market gains faded into the close.
Save for precious metals plays, natural resource stocks came under the most pressure.
As such, energy stocks fell to a 0.8% loss. Their weakness was exacerbated by a pullback in oil prices, which closed pit trade with a 0.6% loss at $76.37 per barrel after it had swung from a marked loss to a strong midsession gain. Weekly oil inventory data is due tomorrow morning at 10:30 AM ET.
The materials sector shed 1.1% as steel stocks sank 3.8% and diversified metals stocks slid 3.0%. However, gold stocks gained 4.9% as gold prices pushed 1.7% higher to close at $1220.30 per ounce, but extended the move in electronic trade to set a new all-time high above the $1235 mark.
Gold's gain came without regard for a stronger dollar, which advanced 0.4% against a basket of foreign currencies. Many point to the dollar's strength and gold's gain as a sign that market participants want safety in the wake of the stock market's recent swings. Moreover, even though the Volatility Index (VIX) moved 2.2% lower in its second straight downturn, it is up more than 40% from its 52-week low in mid-April and well above its 200-day moving average.
Participation remains strong. With more than 1.5 billion shares exchanging hands on the NYSE this session, trading volume met or exceeded its 200-day moving average for the eighteenth time in 19 sessions.
Treasuries had a quiet session that saw the benchmark 10-year Note finish a couple of ticks higher after it oscillated along the neutral line for the better part of the session. It showed little reaction to a $38 billion auction of 3-Year Notes that produced a yield of 1.41% and a bid-to-cover of strong 3.3, which was well above recent averages. Indirect bidders accounted for 50.7%, which was below recent averages.
Advancing Sectors: Utilities (+0.2%)
Declining Sectors: Materials (-1.1%), Energy (-0.8%), Tech (-0.5%), Financials (-0.5%), Industrials (-0.2%), Health Care (-0.2%), Telecom (-0.1%), Consumer Staples (-0.1%)
Unchanged: Consumer Discretionary DJ30 -36.88 NASDAQ +0.64 NQ100 -0.1% R2K +0.9% SP400 +0.3% SP500 -3.94 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1600/2.48 bln/1065 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1706/1.46 bln/1355
4:37PM SMTC Corp reports Q1 EPS from cont. operations of $0.14 vs. ($0.06) in the prior year's quarter; revs grew 37% to $61.4 mln (SMTX) 3.60 +0.18 :
4:31PM Photronics expands credit facility from $50 mln to $65 mln (PLAB) 5.08 +0.18 :
4:28PM American Science & Engineering beats by $0.36, beats on revs (ASEI) 76.86 +2.00 : Reports Q4 (Mar) earnings of $1.34 per share, $0.36 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.98; revenues rose 24.4% year/year to $71.3 mln vs the $64.3 mln consensus. The Company reported Q4 bookings down 27% YoY to $43,123,000.
4:11PM Sunpower falls ~5.4% to around $14.60 following Q1 earnings report... note, co guided Q2 EPS well below consensus (SPWRA) 15.44 +0.15 :
4:09PM Sunpower misses by $0.03, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; reaffirms FY10 EPS in-line, revs in-line (SPWRA) 15.44 +0.15 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.05 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 worse than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.08; revenues rose 64.1% year/year to $347.3 mln vs the $346.6 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.05-0.12, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.25 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q2 revs of $380-420 mln vs. $437.15 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co reaffirms in-line guidance for FY10, sees EPS of $1.25-1.65, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.43 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees FY10 revs of $2.0-2.25 bln vs. $2.08 bln Thomson Reuters consensus.
10:43AM ON Semiconductor prepaid and terminated its $169.75 mln term loan and terminated $25.0 mln undrawn revolver (ONNN) 7.85 +0.03 :
9:17AM On The Wires : SunPower (SPWRA) announced its new SunPower Oasis Power Plant, the industry's first modular solar power block that scales from 1-megawatt ac distributed installations to large central station power plants... |
