Dow up 72 while Apple, Google hit Nasdaq

Updated: 8:52 p.m. ET

Apple (AAPL) was down today, closing below $600 for the first time since March 23. So were Google (GOOG), Mattel (MAT) and Netflix (NFLX). Starbucks (SBUX) hit an all-time high of $62 right after today's open, but it fell back, too.

Welcome to a market that could only to be described as weird. While Apple and friends struggled, the market overall was mostly higher, thanks in part to a surprisingly strong retail sales report for March.

It's not clear if one can describe the market as giddy, given the haircuts Apple and others suffered and given the worry that March sales were a product more of warm weather than anything else. Other issues haven't gone away: Spain's debt problems, the collapse of natural gas prices and the first decline in seven months in the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index.

The result was a market that showed some strength in utility, consumer staples, financial and industrial stocks and weakness in energy, technology and consumer discretionary stocks.

The Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) closed up 72 points to 12,921. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) was off 1 point to 1,370. The Nasdaq Composite Index ($NDX), however, was down 23 points to 2,988. The Nasdaq-100 Index ($NDX) was off 29 points to 2,670. That said, Apple and Google were almost entirely the reason for the index's decline.

 Article continues below. 
Apple, down $25.10 to $580.13, subtracted more 21.4 points from the index. Apple represents about 19% of the index's market capitalization. Google, down $18.53 to $606.07,  contributed 4.4 points to the decline.

If you ignore the selling in Apple, Google, Netflix and Priceline.com (PCLN) and hot stocks like Starbucks, Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) and Panera Bread (PNRA), the market had a pretty good day.

Tuesday brings a host of earnings reports, including Coca-Cola (KO), Goldman Sachs (GS), IBM (IBM), Intel (INTC) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).  In addition, the Commerce Department will report on housing starts and building permits.

Futures trading suggests a flat open for stocks.

Exxon Mobil tops the Dow
Twenty-four of the 30 Dow stocks were higher on the day. Six stocks -- Exxon Mobil (XOM), Travelers Companies (TRV), Procter & Gamble (PG), Chevron (CVX), Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) and Home Depot (HD) -- combined to add 40 points to the index.

And 278 S&P 500 stocks were higher, led by Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) and Simon Property Group (SPG), both of which have substantial holdings of retail malls in their portfolios.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average ($DJT) was up 38 points to 5,235. The Philadelphia Banking Index ($BKX) is up a half-point to 48. Mid-cap and small-cap stocks were largely higher.

The dollar dropped against major currencies, and light sweet crude oil (-CL) in New York  rebounded from early lows, settling at $102.93 a barrel, up 10 cents. Crude in New York had traded as low as $101.80. Brent crude, the benchmark North Sea crude, was down $2.71 to $118.39.

Futures for natural gas, heating oil and unleaded gasoline were all lower.

Light sweet crude in New York moved higher after Enbridge (ENB) and Enterprise Products Partners (EPD) announced plans to start crude oil shipments on the Seaway pipeline from Cushinng, Okla., to the U.S. Gulf Coast on about May 17, according to a filing with regulators.

The pipeline will relieve supply gluts at the big storage-tank complex in Cushing and bring more crude to refineries along the Gulf Coast where much of the nation's gasoline is refined.

The ironic piece of the story: Gasoline prices in the Midwest will likely rise because the pipeline will reduce surpluses that have kept fuel prices relatively low in that region.

Gold (-GC) settled down $10.50 to $1,649.70 an ounce. Interest rates were lower with the 10-year Treasury yield down to 1.974% from Friday's 1.998%.

Energy prices -- New York close
			Mon.			Fri.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Crude oil (-CL)			$102.93			$102.83			-0.09%			4.15%
(per barrel)
Heating oil (-HO)			$3.1166			$3.1746			-1.69%			6.95%
(per gallon)
Natural gas (-NG)			$2.0160			$1.9810			-5.17%			-32.55%
(per mil. BTU)
Unleaded gasoline (-RB)			$3.2670			$3.3461			-1.24%			22.94%
(per gallon)
Brent crude			$118.68			$121.10			-3.42%			10.52%
(per barrel)
Retail gasoline			$3.9070			$3.9070			-0.46%			19.26%
(per gallon; AAA)

What's with Apple, anyway?
So, what's the problem for the Apples and Googles of the world?

The stocks may have gotten too pricey. In Google's case, add continued unease about the company's direction. Plus, Oracle (ORCL) is taking Google to court, charging that Google infringed on some of its patents while developing the Android operating system on its mobile phones. Google was off $19.17 to $605.43.

Apple, meanwhile, fell for a fifth day in a row, its longest losing streak since a seven-day slump in September and early October. It is down 9.9% from its intraday high of $644 on April 10. Two issues seem to be at work.

First is the enormous run-up in the price from last year -- 82% from its intraday low on Oct. 4 to its April 10 intraday high. Measured by its relative strength index, which measures up days against down days, the stock had become grossly overvalued. If a stock's RSI tops 70, it's considered overvalued. Apple reached 96 in mid-February and was nearly at 88 on March 27. It finished just below 40 today. The stock will be oversold once its RSI drops under 30.

There were also concerns that major telecommunications companies might be making it more expensive to upgrades phones in a bid to reduce the huge subsidies they agreed to get the phones in the first place.

(As long as we're talking about RSI values, Google ended today with an RSI of 32. It hit a recent high of 82 on March 26. Its all-time high RSI value was 97.27 on June 2, 2005, when the stock closed at $288.73.)

Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications (VZ) and Vodaphone (VOD), said last week it would charge an extra $30 for an upgrade. One analyst told The Wall Street Journal there has been talk about a new, smaller iPad that could cannibalize sales of existing iPads.

Warm weather heats up retail sales
The retail sales report was a pleasant surprise. The Commerce Department said Americans spent more on home improvement, gasoline, cars and electronics in March. The report was an indication of steady consumer confidence despite some mixed economic signals.

Sales were up 0.8% overall. Sales less autos also were up 0.8%.  Core sales (everything except autos and food) were up an annualized 8.2% in the first quarter, noted Ian Shepherdson of High-Frequency Economics. That's the best performance in two years.

The report suggested, wrote Paul Dales of Capital Economics, that "households are starting to contribute more to the economic recovery just at a time when industrial activity appears to be easing."

The report more than offset the gloom from homebuilders. The NAHB/Wells Fargo index fell back to 25 from 28 in February.

Citigroup earnings miss and non-miss

Citigroup (C) closed up 59 cents to $34. The banking giant reported a first-quarter profit of $1.11 a share, excluding one-time charges. That beat forecasts for $1 a share and the bank's 96-cents-a-share profit a year earlier. Revenue declined about 2% to $19.4 billion, less than the $19.81 billion analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected. 

Investors were cheered that Citigroup's operating profit was decent.

The strength of the report was that trading results improved from the fourth quarter.

Mattel (MAT) reported weaker-than-expected​ quarterly results. The toy maker reported a profit, excluding one-time charged, of 6 cents a share on revenue of $928.4 million. Analysts had expected 7 cents a share on revenue of $990.9 million.

The problem is that retailers have been reluctant to boost toy inventories.

Shares were off $3.12 to $31.01.

Short hits from the markets -- New York close
			Mon.			Fri.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Treasury yields
13-week Treasury bill			0.0800%			0.080%			14.29%			700.00%
5-year Treasury note			0.839%			0.855%			-19.56%			1.08%
10-year Treasury note			1.974%			1.998%			-10.92%			5.51%
30-year Treasury bond			3.114%			3.148%			-6.91%			7.79%
Currencies
U.S. Dollar Index			79.732			80.055			0.75%			-0.98%
British pound			1.5916			1.5858			-0.59%			2.44%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in pounds			£0.628			£0.631			0.59%			-2.38%
Euro in dollars			$1.31			$1.31			-1.49%			1.46%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in euros			€ 0.761			€ 0.765			1.51%			-1.44%
U.S. $ in yen			80.65			80.94			-2.82%			4.60%
U.S. $ in Chinese			6.34			6.30			0.29%			0.20%
yuan
Canada dollar			$1.001			$1.001			-0.11%			2.05%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. dollar			$1.000			$0.999			0.12%			-2.01%
(in Canadian $)
Commodities
Gold (-GC)			$1,649.70			$1,660.20			-1.33%			5.29%
(per troy ounce)
Copper (-HG)			$3.628			$3.627			-5.15%			5.59%
(per pound)
Silver (-SI)			$31.3730			$31.3900			-3.42%			12.39%
(per troy ounce)
Wheat (-ZW)			$6.1625			$6.2350			-6.73%			-5.59%
(per bushel)
Corn (-ZC)			$6.2325			$6.293			-3.22%			-3.60%
(per bushel)
Cotton			$0.8725			0.8973			-7.10%			-4.83%
(per pound)
Coffee			$1.7585			1.802			-4.95%			-23.43%
(per pound)
Crude oil (-CL)			$102.93			$102.83			-0.09%			4.15%
(per barrel)