Action remains listless as stocks trade in mixed fashion. Half of the sectors in the S&P 500 are trading higher (Dow -68.73, Nasdaq -6.51, S&P 500 -1.91)...
Energy is the session's strongest performer. It recently traded with a 1.8% gain, helped by a 2.5% advance in oil prices. Crude oil futures were recently indicated at $47.50 per barrel... At the other end of the spectrum, telecom is trading with considerable weakness. The sector is down 4.6% as investors shun industry heavyweights AT&T (T 28.21, -1.21) and Verizon (VZ 32.11, -2.53)...
Health care stocks (-1.2%) are also trading with weakness, despite the prospect of a mega-merger within the sector. Pfizer (PFE 18.29, +0.02) made headlines after the company shared with Financial Times that it is willing to acquire a large rival to improve its financial health. Pfizer faces increased competition from generic drug makers as its patents expire...
The largest economic sector in the S&P 500, technology, is trading modestly lower after shaking off early weakness. Apple (AAPL 95.12, +4.37) is providing leadership after its chief executive, Steve Jobs, issued a statement to help allay concern regarding his health. Many investors have fretted over what Apple's future may hold without its chief steward...
Analysts have been busy revising their estimates for many key industry players amid the current economic environment...
Financial outfits Citigroup (C 7.42, +0.28) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM 30.13, -1.22) both had their estimates cut by analysts at Deutsche Bank. Financial stocks are trading 0.9% lower...
Target (TGT 36.10, +1.47) and Macy's (M 11.19, +0.21) had their outlook reduced by Barclays. Best Buy (BBY 30.06, +1.04) was raised to Buy from Neutral by analysts at Goldman Sachs. Amazon.com (AMZN 53.94, -0.42) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan...
Retailers (+0.9%), as a whole, are actually trading with a gain. The industry has come under intense pressure in recent months as investors assess reduced consumer spending...
The reduced spending has come amid stiff headwinds, which has President-Elect Obama and congressional officials putting together $300 billion in tax cuts to help stimulate economic activity. The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that such a plan could include cuts for individuals and businesses...
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The U.S. dollar index is trading with considerable strength, currently up 1.1%. It was up as much as 1.6% earlier... Gains in the dollar are pushing gold and silver markedly lower... Gold was recently indicated at $849.00 per ounce, which is down 3.5%. Silver, meanwhile, recently traded hands at $10.80 per ounce, down roughly 6.0% this session. Both metals are trading a bit off their lows... Crude oil is showing resilience against the dollar, however. Crude was recently indicated roughly 2.4% higher at $47.50 per barrel. Crude's early gains come on top of the prior week's near-20% gain... Natural gas is trading a bit above the unchanged mark near $5.98 per contract... The gains in crude and natural gas have helped the energy sector outperform the broader market in the early going. The energy sector is currently up 0.6% with help from integrated oil players (+1.6%)... Still, weakness in other commodities has the CRB commodity index trading 0.7% lower. That has weighed on the materials sector, which is off by 1.8%. Weakness is pronounced in Newmont Mining (NEM 38.55, -1.78) and Monsanto (MON 73.10, -0.62)... Dow -92.07... Nasdaq -22.73... S&P 500 -8.98... Trading up: MFLX +24.4%, AHD +17.7%, SBLK +11.2%, SLT +11.2%, DDR +9.5%, OCNF +8.9%, DRYS +8.7%, BKS +8.6%, ARTC +8%, TER +7.9%, PVX +7%... Trading down: CNMD -25.4%, DGII -17.8%, RCRC -16.8%, DHX -16.7%, SKS -15.6%, GSIC -14.6%, SNV -10.5%, LIHR -10.2%, ICE -8%, ALGT -7.7%, UCBH -7.2%, GEOY -7%, GBCI -6.7%.
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