Stocks see first losses in 3 weeks
Late-day selling pushes the Dow down 17 points; the major averages suffer small declines for the week. The iPhone fans line up for blocks as the new phone goes on sale. Housing shares rise. Hopes build for a Spanish bailout. Gold and oil move higher.
By Charley Blaine Sep 21, 2012 1:02PM
Updated: 8:08 p.m. ETStocks suffered their first losses in three weeks as today's modest rally ran out of gas.
The Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) flirted with finishing at a five-year high but came up short. The Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX) just missed closing at a 12-year high.
Instead of investors wondering if stocks will reach and then move above their 2007 highs, they'll be wondering for the weekend at least if the big rally that started in June has peaked.
The market's fade came despite big gains for housing shares and the usual euphoria surrounding the first day of sales of Apple's (AAPL) iPhone 5.
Apple shares closed up $1.39 to $700.10 after hitting a new intraday high of $705.07. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimated lines around Apple stores in New York, Boston and Minneapolis were 83% bigger than they were a year ago when the iPhone 4S was released and predicted sales this weekend would top 8 million units. Sprint Nextel said some of its East Coast stores were sold out by midafternoon.
The Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) closed down 17 points to 13,579. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) was basically unchanged at 1,460. The Nasdaq closed up 4 points to 3,180, just short of a 12-year high, set on Wednesday.
Article continues below.The Nasdaq-100 Index ($NDX), heavily influenced by Apple, was down slightly to 2,862.
The Dow finished the week with 0.1% loss, its first in three weeks. The S&P 500 was off 0.4%, with the Nasdaq down 0.1%. Still, the major averages are still up nearly 4% for the month.
Gold (-GC) and crude oil prices in New York and London also were higher as the dollar moved lower against major currencies. Gold settled up $7.80 to $1,778 an ounce. Crude oil (-CL) in New York was up 47 cents to $92.89 a barrel.
| Markets for the week | ||||||||||||
| 9/21/2012 | 9/14/2012 | % chg. | YTD chg. | |||||||||
| Dow Industrials | 13,579.93 | 13,593.37 | -0.10% | 11.15% | ||||||||
| S&P 500 | 1,460.16 | 1,465.77 | -0.38% | 16.11% | ||||||||
| Nasdaq | 3,179.96 | 3,183.95 | -0.13% | 22.06% | ||||||||
| Russell 2000 | 855.87 | 864.70 | -1.02% | 15.51% | ||||||||
| Crude oil | $92.89 | $99.00 | -6.17% | -6.01% | ||||||||
| (per barrel) | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00% | 0.00% | ||||||||
| U.S. Dollar Index | 79.40 | 78.84 | 0.71% | -1.40% | ||||||||
| 10-yr. Treasury | 1.76% | 1.87% | -5.88% | -5.93% | ||||||||
| Gold | $1,778.00 | 1,772.70 | 0.30% | 13.48% | ||||||||
The Apple excitement initially gave stocks a boost. The Dow was up as many as 50 points early in the day. The market was also helped by a Financial Times report that European officials will unveil a bailout plan for Spain on Monday. European stocks mostly finished higher.
The market was buffeted by a number of technical forces. Kraft Foods (KFT), up 18 cents to $41.78, leaves the Dow after today because it's splitting itself in two. It will be replaced Monday by health-insurance giant UnitedHealth Group (UNH).
Plus there were multiple options expirations and a rebalancing of the S&P 500.
Still, the finish will give market bears something to talk about. The fades for the Dow and the S&P 500 at the end of the day were not something to be happy about. In addition, a weak performance today and this week for the Dow Jones Transportation Average ($DJT) will almost certainly raise the question about whether the big rally since June can be sustained.
Lastly, and this is important: The S&P 500 has struggled with resistance at 1,460 to 1,465. The index's Sept. 14 close of 1,466 was its best finish since Dec. 31, 2007.
| Energy prices -- New York close | ||||||||||||
| Fri. | Thur. | Month chg. | YTD chg. | |||||||||
| Crude oil (-CL) | $92.89 | $92.42 | -3.71% | -6.01% | ||||||||
| (per barrel) | ||||||||||||
| Heating oil (-HO) | $3.1177 | $3.0930 | -1.97% | 6.98% | ||||||||
| (per gallon) | ||||||||||||
| Natural gas (-NG) | $2.8850 | $2.7970 | 3.07% | -3.48% | ||||||||
| (per mil. BTU) | ||||||||||||
| Unleaded gasoline (-RB) | $2.8195 | $2.7809 | -5.16% | 6.10% | ||||||||
| (per gallon) | ||||||||||||
| Brent crude | $111.42 | $110.03 | -2.75% | 3.76% | ||||||||
| (per barrel) | ||||||||||||
| Retail gasoline | $3.8330 | $3.8460 | 0.10% | 17.00% | ||||||||
| (per gallon; AAA) | ||||||||||||
AT&T, Verizon, Sprint rise on iPhone mania
For most of the day, the Apple excitement extended to the U.S. companies that will support the phone. AT&T (T) closed up 14 cents to $38.08 after reaching as high as $38.58. Verizon Communications (VZ) added 15 cents to $45.64. AT&T was the sixth-best Dow performer, with Verizon the seventh.
Sprint Nextel (S) added 21 cents to $5.65, fifth-best among S&P 500 stocks. MetroPCS Communications (PCS) was the fourth-best S&P 500 performer, up 44 cents to $11.63, because it has a new phone to tout: ZTE's Anthem 46 smartphone.
But a loser today was Research In Motion (RIMM), down 45 cents to $6.46 after the company's network was hit by a three-hour service outage in Europe and Africa today. RIM, which reports fiscal-second-quarter results after Thursday's close, was the worst performer among Nasdaq-100 stocks. The shares fell 14.6% this week and are off 55.5% for the year.
Trying to work out a bailout plan for Spain
European Union authorities have been working behind the scenes to pave the way for a new Spanish rescue program and unlimited bond buying by the European Central Bank, the Financial Times said. The goal is to help Madrid craft an economic reform program that will be unveiled next week.
According to officials involved in the discussions, talks between the Spanish government and the European Commission are focusing on measures that would be demanded by international lenders as part of a new rescue program, ensuring they are in place before a bailout is formally requested.
The big question is, of course, if the conditions for any loans would be palatable in Spain, which already has Europe's highest unemployment rate -- 25.1%.
KB Home sets off a housing rally
KB Home (KBH) surprised investors with a fiscal-third-quarter profit and said its revenue backlog rose to a four-year high as a strengthening housing recovery pushed up prices and demand.
KB Home shares were up $2.15 to $15.26. Ryland (RYL) was up 21 cents to $32.82. PulteGroup (PHM) added 26 cents to $16.98. The Philadelphia Housing Sector Index ($HGX) finished up 2.85 to 167.04 after hitting a 52-week high of 168.79. The index is up 63.6% this year.
"Confidence is coming up," said Williams Financial analyst David Williams. "We're seeing new orders, deliveries, average selling prices, everything is moving in the right direction."
KB Home earned 4 cents per share for the third quarter. Analysts on average expected a loss of 16 cents per share. Revenue was up 16% to $424.5 million.
KB Home's results came as housing starts rose 2.3% to an annual rate of 750,000 units. While that's still about half of the historical average, the rate has jumped 57% since bottoming in March 2009.
Housing, telecom stocks lead the market
Housing, telecom and disk-drive makers were the top-performing groups in the market. Steel and transportation stocks were the laggards.
The Dow Jones Transportation Average ($DJT) was down 51 points to 4,911 and was off 5.9% for the week. The index is a leading indicator for the economy.
Norfolk Southern (NSC), which warned about third-quarter profits after Wednesday's close, was down $1.11 to $65. It was off 13% this week. The railroad's biggest problem is declining coal freight, but it is also seeing weakness in other businesses, such as steel.
Thirteen of the 30 Dow stocks were higher, led by McDonald's (MCD), General Electric (GE) and Exxon Mobil (XOM)
Meanwhile, 229 stocks in the S&P 500 were higher, led by Darden Restaurants (DRI), operator of the Olive Garden and Red Lobster chains; travel site Expedia.com (EXPD), which rallied on a buy rating from Deutsche Bank; and Motorola Solutions (MSI)
And 48 Nasdaq-100 stocks were higher, led by Avago Technologies (AVGO) and Expedia.
The week ahead: new-home sales and earnings from Lennar, Nike and Rite Aid
Next week features some important economic reports and some key earnings.
Here are the economic reports:
Tuesday: Case-Shiller Home Price Index for July and the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index.
Wednesday: New-home sales and crude inventories
Thursday: Jobless claims, second revision for gross domestic product, durable goods orders and pending home sales.
Friday: Personal Income and the September Chicago Purchasing Managers Index.
Here are the earnings reports to watch:
- Monday: Red Hat (RHAT) and Lennar (LEN).
- Tuesday: Jabil Circuit (JBL) and Vail Resorts (MTN).
- Thursday: McCormick (MKC) and Nike (NKE).
- Friday: American Greetings (AM) and Walgreen (WAG).
| Short hits from the markets -- New York close | ||||||||||||
| Fri. | Thur. | Month chg. | YTD chg. | |||||||||
| Treasury yields | ||||||||||||
| 13-week Treasury bill | 0.1000% | 0.100% | 11.11% | 900.00% | ||||||||
| 5-year Treasury note | 0.672% | 0.693% | 12.75% | -19.04% | ||||||||
| 10-year Treasury note | 1.760% | 1.777% | 12.68% | -5.93% | ||||||||
| 30-year Treasury bond | 3.032% | 3.032% | 12.97% | 4.95% | ||||||||
| Currencies | ||||||||||||
| U.S. Dollar Index | 79.398 | 79.478 | -2.24% | -1.40% | ||||||||
| British pound | 1.6287 | 1.6223 | 2.51% | 4.82% | ||||||||
| (in U.S. $) | ||||||||||||
| U.S. $ in pounds | £0.614 | £0.616 | -2.45% | -4.60% | ||||||||
| Euro in dollars | $1.30 | $1.30 | 3.21% | 0.34% | ||||||||
| (in U.S. $) | ||||||||||||
| U.S. $ in euros | € 0.769 | € 0.771 | -3.11% | -0.34% | ||||||||
| U.S. $ in yen | 78.37 | 78.24 | -0.16% | 1.65% | ||||||||
| U.S. $ in Chinese | 6.33 | 6.30 | -0.56% | 0.04% | ||||||||
| yuan | ||||||||||||
| Canada dollar | $1.026 | $1.024 | 1.16% | 4.59% | ||||||||
| (in U.S. $) | ||||||||||||
| U.S. dollar | $0.975 | $0.976 | -1.15% | -4.39% | ||||||||
| (in Canadian $) | ||||||||||||
| Commodities | ||||||||||||
| Gold (-GC) | $1,778.00 | $1,770.20 | 5.36% | 13.48% | ||||||||
| (per troy ounce) | ||||||||||||
| Copper (-HG) | $3.789 | $3.759 | 9.60% | 10.27% | ||||||||
| (per pound) | ||||||||||||
| Silver (-SI) | $34.6380 | $34.6820 | 10.16% | 24.08% | ||||||||
| (per troy ounce) | ||||||||||||
| Wheat (-ZW) | $8.9725 | $8.7950 | 0.87% | 37.46% | ||||||||
| (per bushel) | ||||||||||||
| Corn (-ZC) | $7.4825 | $7.460 | -6.44% | 15.74% | ||||||||
| (per bushel) | ||||||||||||
| Cotton | $0.7325 | 0.7522 | -5.19% | -20.10% | ||||||||
| (per pound) | ||||||||||||
| Coffee | $1.7330 | 1.686 | 5.19% | -24.54% | ||||||||
| (per pound) | ||||||||||||
| Crude oil (-CL) | $92.89 | $92.42 | -3.71% | -6.01% | ||||||||
| (per barrel) | ||||||||||||
627Comments
Sep 21, 2012 7:38PM
Sep 21, 2012 7:30PM
Sep 21, 2012 7:27PM
lol
Market gains! This is pure inflation.
In fact I think it's better to take the stocks 'gains' as a measure of inflation...instead of the inflation reported by the Govmt.
Where do you think all the easy money created by the Fed is going to?
Gains! lol
Keep dreaming and discussing all your bipartisan BS...nonsense, pure nonsense
Sep 21, 2012 7:23PM
That is the problem with republicans.....they are too stupid to even notice that most of them do not run a business or even make over 50 grand
Since only 2% of this country makes over 250k.....that takes a lot of convincing too get the stupid republicans to vote for them....but yet they still get them...aka classic, jeff and crazy are prime examples
So why would any poor person vote for a republican....A) stupidity B) They will be rich one day according to republicans....yet only 2% makes over 250k so this is 98% UNLIKELY
Joe the plumber is another example. The highest net income he made was 60k and that was running for a government job lol......But he is a republican.
LOL
Sep 21, 2012 7:23PM
Stocks lose first time in 3 weeks.......C'mon.
This was a Fantastic week.
The 4 Indices were down a little this week, BUT, but,but,but,
Made 6 trades..2 sales and 4 buys...It was a good week.
Our FMV of stocks/equities, climbed 1%...I'm sure others have some of the same types of stories.
It was a great week and I really can't imagine we had anything down big, because the overall couldn't have went up 1%....That's where the value of diversification comes in...Never put all them thar eggs in the one basket...Drop the basket and kabloooyeee !!
So don't be afraid, put your toe in slowly...Just don't jump in and drown,the water may be deep??
Sep 21, 2012 7:18PM
Sep 21, 2012 7:14PM
Robme Romney, after finally getting his fraudulant tax return in order, has finally decided to release it. FRAUD IS STILL FRAUD WILLARD BOY! They are saying that old MITTENS also bribed an IRS official $500,000 to play along in his fraudulant scam. The GOP and Fox Noise is covering up for him too!
Send Romney to Gitmo! He'll feel right at home with the rest of the crooks and terrorists!
Sep 21, 2012 7:12PM
Sep 21, 2012 7:08PM
Sep 21, 2012 6:59PM
Some of the commenters really get slimey around here about 4-6 o'clock.
Is that about what time they get up or crawl out from under a rock...?
Guess we been waiting 12 years for Rubya's college transcripts....We never got them either.
Tax returns,"tax return"you got to be kidding me..A doctored piece of shidt, to make Robme look good.
Released on a Friday afternoon. ??
Sep 21, 2012 6:58PM
Sep 21, 2012 6:55PM
Sep 21, 2012 6:52PM
President Obama's accomplishments.
He has done more than any other President before him.
He has an impressive list of accomplishments:
First President to apply for college aid as a foreign student, then deny he was a foreigner.
First President to have a social security number from a state he has never lived in.
First President to preside over a cut to the credit-rating of the United States.
First President to violate the War Powers Act.
First President to be held in contempt of court for illegally obstructing oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico .
First President to require all Americans to purchase a product from a third party.
First President to spend a trillion dollars on 'shovel-ready' jobs when there was no such thing as 'shovel-ready' jobs.
First President to abrogate bankruptcy law to turn over control of companies to his union supporters.
First President to by-pass Congress and implement the Dream Act through executive fiat.
First President to order a secret amnesty program that stopped the deportation of illegal immigrants across the U.S. , including those with criminal convictions.
First President to demand a company hand-over $20 billion to one of his political appointees.
First President to tell a CEO of a major corporation ( GM ) to resign.
First President to terminate America 's ability to put a man in space.
First President to cancel the National Day of Prayer and to say that America is no longer a Christian nation.
First President to have a law signed by an auto-pen without being present.
First President to arbitrarily declare an existing law unconstitutional and refuse to enforce it.
First President to threaten insurance companies if they publicly
spoke-out on the reasons for their rate increases.
First President to tell a major manufacturing company in which state it is allowed to locate a factory.
First President to file lawsuits against the states he swore an oath to protect (AZ, WI, OH, IN).
First President to withdraw an existing coal permit that had been properly issued years ago.
First President to actively try to bankrupt an American industry (coal).
First President to fire an inspector general of Ameri-Corps for catching one of his friends in a corruption case.
First President to appoint 45 czars to replace elected officials in his office.
First President to surround himself with radical left wing anarchists.
First President to golf 73 separate times in his first two and a half years in office, 102 to date.
First President to hide his medical, educational and travel records.
First President to win a Nobel Peace Prize for doing NOTHING to earn it.
First President to go on multiple global "apology tours" and concurrent "insult our friends" tours.
First President to go on 17 lavish vacations, including date nights and Wednesday evening White House parties for his friends paid for by the taxpayer.
First President to have 22 personal servants (taxpayer funded) for his wife.
First President to keep a dog trainer on retainer for $102,000 a year at taxpayer expense.
First President to repeat the Holy Quran & tell us the early morning call of the Azan (Islamic call to worship) is the most beautiful sound on earth.
First President to tell the military men and women that they should pay for their own private insurance because they "volunteered to go to war and knew the consequences".
Then he was the First President to tell the members of the military that THEY were UNPATRIOTIC for balking at the last suggestion.
First President to side with a foreign nation over one of the American 50 states (Mexico vs. Arizona).
How is this hope and change working out for you?
THERE'S AN ELECTION COMING UP...I HOPE YOU REMEMBER THIS LIST WHEN YOU VOTE!
Sep 21, 2012 6:40PM
Sep 21, 2012 6:37PM
Mitt says why should you get a tax deduction simply because you bought a house on the installment plan. PAY CASH like the REST of us, handout seeker!
AND if you can't afford the rug rat without a dependent deduction, MAYBE you shouldn't be allowed to have a kid at all and should be spayed or neutered!
Sep 21, 2012 6:35PM
i took a test once and was declared Libertarian by my selections. i've told others who thought they were R or D and found simlar tests to take on line and got similar answers.
perhaps many more of us are truly libertarian and wonder why the R'd and D's just do not represent us.
>>>>Need a Third way, an independent Peoples Party ..Oh, that sounds too Communist, though, huh? <<<<
Sep 21, 2012 6:26PM
Sep 21, 2012 6:24PM
I learned a long time ago that anyone who says they have all the answers is fooling themselves (or they are trying to sell you on something). I listen to both sides as they will always try to spin the best side of their argument. Eventually, you can sense which side is right and which is less right, because a lot of times there is no wrong, just shades of grey.
Sep 21, 2012 6:20PM
Sep 21, 2012 6:16PM
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