From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : Equities settled with modest gains as the S&P 500 rose 0.5% to close at a new all-time high while the Dow notched its first close above 15,000.
Similar to yesterday, earnings shaped the early price action in the absence of notable economic data.
The energy sector charged out of the gate as EOG Resources (EOG 135.69, +9.65) displayed notable strength after beating on revenue. The growth-sensitive sector ended with a solid gain even as crude oil ended lower by 0.7% at $95.47.
Most other cyclical sectors finished ahead of the broader market and the Dow Jones Transportation Average outperformed as well. The bellwether complex advanced 1.6% to a fresh record high as 18 of 20 components settled in the black.
Interestingly, the technology space began the day in-line with the broader market before late morning weakness in large components caused the sector to slip into the red. Apple (AAPL 458.66, -2.05), Cisco (CSCO 20.38, -0.43), and Microsoft (MSFT 33.31, -0.44) all lost between 0.5% and 2.1%.
The technology sector also pressured the Nasdaq, which was unable to climb above its morning highs.
Today's underperformance of the Nasdaq was notable as the index had led stocks higher for more than two weeks. Entering today, the index gained 7.1% since April 19 while the S&P 500 added 4.9% over that time.
Also contributing to the Nasdaq weakness was biotechnology, which lagged after Perrigo (PRGO 116.29, -2.55) missed on earnings and revenue. The broader iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 174.52, -1.43) ended lower by 0.8%.
The underperformance of biotech names weighed on the health care sector, which settled with a gain of 0.3%. Meanwhile, other defensive sectors outperformed the broader market and the telecom space ended in the lead.
In the Treasury market, the 10-yr note sold off steadily throughout the day with its yield climbing two basis points to 1.783%.
Even though today's session ended on a positive note, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 12.91, +0.25) climbed suggesting a certain measure of downside protection was in demand.
Today's volume was below average as 636 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Consumer credit increased by $8.0 billion in March. That was down from an upwardly revised $18.6 billion (from $18.1 billion) in February. The Briefing.com consensus expected consumer credit to increase by $16.3 billion.
That was the first time since September 2012 that consumer credit did not increase by at least $10.0 billion.
Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be reported at 7:00 ET.DJ30 +87.31 NASDAQ +3.66 SP500 +8.46 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1541/1.65 bln/930 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2307/636.6 mln/747
3:30 pm :
- June crude oil fell for the first time in four sessions ahead of tomorrow's inventory data. The energy component advanced to a session high of $96.26 per barrel but quickly reversed and slid to a session low of $94.92 per barrel. Despite trending slightly higher for the remainder floor trade, it settled with a 0.5% loss at $95.62 per barrel.
- June natural gas extended yesterday's losses as it pulled back from its session high of $4.00 per MMBtu set in morning floor trade. It continued to trend lower and settled with a 2.2% loss at its session low of $3.92 per MMBtu.
- June gold spent its entire floor session in the red, falling as low as $1440.40 per ounce in morning action. The yellow metal fell despite early weakness in the dollar index. Unable to gain much momentum, it settled at $1449.00 per ounce, or 1.3% lower.
- July silver also traded in negative territory today, but unlike gold, it was able to erase most of its earlier losses. It lifted off its session low of $23.40 per ounce set in morning floor trade and advanced to the unchanged line in afternoon action. It eventually settled 0.6% lower at $23.81 per ounce.
WD, a Western Digital (WDC) co, and SanDisk (SNDK) announced that the two cos are collaborating to introduce hybrid storage devices that feature flash memory technology from SanDisk hard drive technology from WD.
Riverbed Technology (RVBD) announced a new platform enabling any customer to deliver application delivery controller-as-a-service with the Stingray Services Controller.
- STMicroelectronics (STM) and Quantenna Communications have signed a non-exclusive worldwide licensing agreement giving ST the ability to integrate Quantenna IP into its array of systems-on-chips and giving Quantenna the ability to leverage the entire ecosystem of ST's entertainment, networking and security products.
- Marvell (MRVL) announced new Marvell Alaska X PHY devices optimized for 10G and 40G optical and copper applications. Co also introduced the Marvell ARMADA 375 System-on-Chip, a dual-core Cortex A9 SoC platform that builds on the ARMADA 370 and ARMADA XP families of embedded ARM processors for business networking applications.
Marvell (MRVL) announced the general availability of new devices within the Prestera CX family of packet processors.
McAfee (INTC) announced today a partnership with Fujitsu (FJTSY) to deliver McAfee Multi-Access worldwide as a preinstall on new Fujitsu consumer and business computers.
2:01AM Advanced Semi reports April net revs of NT$16.72 bln, up 12.4% YoY, down 2.4% sequentially ( ASX) 4.39 :
11:15 am Technology Sector trading flat today and behind the broader market
The tech sector is trading just lower today, trailing gains in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing weakness as well with the SOX trading 0.1% lower. Within the chip index, WFR (-3.3%) is a notable standout. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 0.3% higher today, while the QQQ and the NASDAQ are trading modestly lower on the session. Among tech bellwethers, VZ (+1.0%) is showing notable strength, while CSCO (-1.5%) is under pressure. |
