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.
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) | ||||||||||||
several years back i thought i'd formally switch from republican to democrat but what i see in the democrat circles (pelosi, fienstein, brown, davis) is not so attractive either.
so i piss them all off and vote all over the map"
No one party has the lock on what's best for the country. Sometimes the thing that worked miracles at one time, may not be the best thing to do this time. You just have to vote with your best gut feeling sometimes after you get as much facts as you can regardless of which party you're in. Like putting on clothes. You don't want to wear what was best during summer in the winter.
Eye on the prize... the more desperate they get, the more telling it becomes of who did what on purpose to hurt the rest of us this badly. Dubya didn't ban hanging horse thieves for no good reason, I'm pretty sure it's what you fear when your acts turn out to be treason."
The party has invested a lot of money and I'm sure they want a return on that investment, so since you're talking about money motivated people, who I am quite familiar with, I won't put anything past them.
Close the banks. They serve no useful purpose in America any longer. End the Federal Reserve. Get rid of Wall Street. 47% of Americans plan dinner at the clearance meat freezer and will dig in a dumpster when there are no other options. No one making Romney's wages would ever do that and have no unique "talents". What they do have is no ethics, character or backbone. It's time to stop rewarding that.
Let's play conspiracy. Romney had to pay someone to photoshop his returns and then had his paid off accountant certify the returns as legit.
Not gonna work? Why not? After 4 years of being president and with practically every Republican turning over every stone they can find, they still don't believe Obama's birth certificate is real, or that he graduated with honors, or he's even a legal citizen. Maybe they can claim he's a space alien? That movie would sell with all the Republicans rushing to see it.
dhl wrote:
You're getting closer.......... aren't you the guy that was saying over and over.... he's part of the 47% that don't pay any taxes.... Just let it go man. He pays lots of taxes and the law is not after him.---
No dhl I was the person asking why he wouldn't show his tax returns, still asking why didn't he.
And no I wasn't they guy saying he was a part of the 47% I was the guy asking we don't know if he is because he wouldn't show his tax returns, still asking why didn't he???
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