US stocks managed to pare most of their losses going into close on Monday, 30 January 2012 but still ended little lower at the end. While financial sector weighed on stocks for almost the entire day, a pull up by the technology sector helped stocks pare most of their intra day losses. Investors remained concerned regarding latest developments in the euro zone. The dollar firmed up and commodities ended mildly lower.
For the day, that ended on Monday, 30 January 2012 2011, Dow ended lower by 6.74 points or 0.05% to end at 12,653.72. The Nasdaq lost 4.61 points or 0.2% to end at 2,811.94. The S&P 500 lost 3.32 points or 0.25% to end at 1,313.01. Dow was trading lower by 131 points earlier during the day. Nasdaq was also trading lower by 34 points earlier during the day.
Seven out of ten economic sectors ended lower led by financial, utilities and consumer staples sectors. While technology and telecom sectors were the sole gainers, materials sector ended unchanged. Dow components had a mixed finish. While Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase led the decliners, tech and telecom heavyweights like IBM, Microsoft and Verizon led the winners.
Financial sector failed to take part in the stock market rebound. In turn, tech stocks led from the front.
In the currency market on Monday, the Dollar Index, which weighs the strength of dollar against basket of six other currencies rose by almost 0.3%.
There were fresh developments coming out of the European Union debt crisis on Monday. Reports said Greeces private sector and government talks on debt restructuring have made some progress but still have not come to a complete resolution, with patience growing thin among the participants. But as per latest reports, European leaders gathered in Brussels on the heels of Greece saying would not accept budgetary supervision as a condition of receiving more financial help. Greeces efforts to restructure it debt have made little progress so far.
There was a fairly well subscribed Italian debt auction Monday, but bond yields in Portugal rose to Euro era highs of around 16% on Monday. There was yet another European Union summit meeting scheduled for Monday afternoon. The Euro currency was under some pressure Monday, which has in turn helped to boost the U.S. dollar index.
Among economic reports expected for the day on Monday, the Commerce Department reported that U.S. consumer spending came to a virtual standstill in December after climbing 0.1% the month before. U.S. consumers spent less in December and saved more as their incomes rose sharply. The report showed that personal income jumped 0.5% last month, while personal spending fell less than 0.1%. Market had forecast income to rise by 0.4% and spending by 0.1%. Disposable income, the money left over after taxes climbed 0.3% last month, adjusted for inflation. The more cautious approach to spending helped consumers boost their savings rate to 4.0% from 3.5% in November.
Crude prices ended lower on Monday, 30 January 2012 at Nymex. Prices ended lower following lingering concerns in the euro zone debt crisis and higher dollar. Light and sweet crude for March delivery fell $0.78 (0.8%) to $98.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday.
Precious metal prices ended little lower on Monday, 30 January 2012 at Comex. Comex February gold futures prices ended the U.S. day session slightly lower on a mild corrective and profit-taking pressure after prices last Friday hit a seven-week high. The higher U.S. dollar index and weaker crude oil prices also affected prices. Support for the metals came amid tensions in the euro zone. Gold for April delivery ended lower by $1 or 0.1%, to end at $1,734.4 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday. It fell to a low of $1,718.8 and rose to a high of $1,742.8 during intra day trading. On Monday, silver prices for March delivery fell $0.26 or 0.8% to end at $33.53.
For every 11 shares gaining, 19 fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where 744 million shares traded. NYSE composite volume was about 3.6 billion
Indian ADRs ended lower on Monday. In the IT space, Wipro was down 2.2% at $10.72, Patni was down 1.6% at $18.25 and Infosys was down 0.04% at $54.29. In the Banking space, HDFC Bank was down 2.2% at $30.61 and ICICI Bank was down 1.9% at $34.61. Among others, Sterlite was down 4.6% at $9.14, Tata Motors was down 1.3% at $23.58.
For tomorrow, employment cost index is the only economic report expected for the day. Other than that, earning reports will also continue to pour in.
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