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Dow 10,404.96 +11.97 (+0.12%) Nasdaq 2,016.96 -17.31 (-0.85%) S&P 500 1,167.59 -0.28 (-0.02%) 10-yr Bond 4.122% -0.018 30-yr Bond 4.606% -0.037 NYSE Volume 1,278,434,000 Nasdaq Volume 1,842,322,000
3:30PM : Equities show some resilience, bouncing off session lows, but the market averages remain mixed heading into the close of trading... Earnings abound tomorrow as 26 S&P 500 constituents will report earnings before the bell, three of which include Dow Industrials DD, JNJ and MRK... After the bell, 11 more of this week's 152 S&P components will release earnings, with special emphasis on leaders like TXN, CTX and EXC... In economic news, January Consumer Confidence (consensus 101.3) and December Existing Home Sales (consensus 6.8 mln) will be released at 10:00 ET...NYSE Adv/Dec 1364/1934, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 984/2113
3:00PM : A renewed wave of selling, prompted by a breakdown in technical resistance levels, pushes the major indices toward their lows of the session... The Nasdaq has been hit the hardest after failing to find support near the 2017 level while the Dow and S&P continue to trade below resistance levels of 1172 and 10417, respectively... Meanwhile, gold futures ($427.10/oz +$0.20) have extended Friday's 1.0% gain, closing above $427/ounce for the first time since January 5, as the dollar has held steady against the euro (1.3046) and yen (102.71)...
The safe-haven commodity and the greenback have marched in lock step with one another for months (negative correlation) as traders have also maintained a wary eye on Iraq, ahead of the Jan 30 election, and crude oil prices ($48.81/bbl +$0.28)...NYSE Adv/Dec 1416/1856, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1047/2034
2:30PM : Stocks show little vigor, having moved little in the past half hour... Touching their highs of the day, however, have been treasuries, with demand greatest for the longer-dated instruments (i.e. 30-year notes) since inflation remains well contained... The benchmark 10-year note has also picked up steam, lifting 5 ticks to yield 4.12%, despite trading relatively unchanged most of the day as comments from Atlanta Fed President Guynn merely matched those made at a speech on Jan 10...NYSE Adv/Dec 1589/1645, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1232/1821
2:00PM : Stocks trade at improved levels although the recent recovery effort seems to have stalled... On the Dow, American Express (AXP 52.50 +0.57) has recently released Q4 earnings, beating analysts' Q4 forecasts by a penny on record earnings and revenues... McDonald's (MCD 31.83 +0.58), after CIBC upgraded the fast food giant to Sector Outperform citing competitive advantages over rival Wendy's (WEN 37.35 -0.40), has also helped the Dow... Procter & Gamble (PG 55.30 -0.35), however, has fallen after valuation concerns prompted UBS to downgrade the stock to Neutral from Buy...
The Dow, which had not fallen for the first three weeks of the year since 1982, has so far recovered roughly half of the 0.8% it lost last week...NYSE Adv/Dec 1664/1560, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1219/1813
1:30PM : Market improves its stance as blue chips and technology stocks continue to trade in opposite directions... One area in focus today has been the drug sector, as the AMEX Pharmaceutical Index (DRG +0.3%) has rebounded slightly from last week's 1.6% decline... Shares of Novartis (NVS 48.48 +0.62) have surged after Prudential upgraded the drug maker to Overweight from Neutral-Weight citing strong revenue growth and low patent exposure...
Also gaining ground has been Bayer (BAY 32.46 +0.14) after it received FDA approval for hepatitis A and B tests while Schering-Plough (SGP 20.29 +0.30), which is believed to be in early clinical testing with a drug targeting hepatitis C, has also traded higher... Pfizer (PFE 24.50 +0.02), which opened up 1.0% after a study showed that its Viagra drug may reduce heart enlargement and a federal appeals court upheld a ruling in PFE's favor, has clung to modest gains... NYSE Adv/Dec 1632/1566, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1192/1794
1:00PM : Major indices remains mixed as market internals still hold a slightly bearish bias... Decliners on the NYSE hold a slim 16 to 14 margin over advancers while declining issues on the Nasdaq hold an 18 to 11 edge over advancing issues... Down volumes on both the Big Board and Composite outpace up volumes, with activity on the latter holding a 2 to 1 advantage as volumes on the Nasdaq have recently surpassed 1.0 bln shares while shares exchanging hands on the NYSE have yet to hit 800 mln...
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq continues to test its early Nov support levels near 2026/2023 while both the S&P 500 and the Dow hold a more upbeat bias but still test resistance levels near 1172/1173 and 10417/10425, respectively, which has marked congestion and the Dec lows reached last Friday... NYSE Adv/Dec 1472/1683, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1128/1836
12:30PM : Little change since the last update as the major averages continue to vacillate in roughly the same ranges... Meanwhile, transportation has been a focal point today as Dow Transport and S&P 500 constituent Union Pacific Corp (UNP 60.01 -0.40) has recently posted Q4 results... While the railroad operator beat analysts' expectations and reaffirmed an improved outlook for FY05, high energy prices and increased operating costs knocked profits down 86%, keeping the stock under pressure...
Competitors NSC (-2.8%), BNI (-0.8%) and CSX (-0.5%) have also traded lower while the only area keeping the index in positive territory has been strength in trucking and courier services like FDX (+2.5%), UPS (+1.0%) and YELL (+1.4% )... DJTA +0.4, NYSE Adv/Dec 1544/1594, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1167/1781
12:00PM : Stocks trade in split fashion midday as overall sentiment remains cautious due to ongoing earnings concerns... While thoughts of an oversold market and better than expected results from the likes of ETN, KMB and LXK prompted early buying interest, investors have been rather hesitant to show more enthusiasm as the bulk of this week's earnings are still forthcoming... Higher crude oil prices ($48.60/bbl +$0.07), following heavy snowstorms over the weekend as well as continued worries surrounding the Jan. 30 OPEC meeting and Iraqi elections, has also minimized gains in equities...
Taking advantage of strength in oil, however, has been energy (+1.5%) while financial, on the heels of record Q3 (Dec) results from Legg Mason (LM 74.38 +3.68), has also traded higher... Also showing strength have been utility, telecom services, transportation and hardware... Airline (-3.6%) has been hammered again, adding to last week's 8.6% drubbing, while semiconductor, under pressure following downbeat remarks from Infineon Technologies (IFX 9.06 -0.28), has traded lower... Also weak have been networking, biotech, retail, materials, disk drive and consumer staples...
Meanwhile, treasuries have held a tight range most of the morning with no economic data to digest until tomorrow, as the benchmark 10-year note remains unchanged yielding 4.14%...NYSE Adv/Dec 1536/1565, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1157/1741
Advances & Declines NYSE Nasdaq Advances 1386 (40%) 980 (30%) Declines 1911 (55%) 2114 (65%) Unchanged 154 (4%) 136 (4%)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Up Vol* 480 (40%) 431 (24%) Down Vol* 705 (58%) 1306 (73%) Unch. Vol* 10 (0%) 30 (1%)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Hi's 85 49 New Lo's 33 74
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