Mixed Monday
Selling pressure once again greeted an early-morning Nasdaq rise of nearly
100 points as the Nasdaq briefly came within a little more than a point of the
psychological 3000 level. Techs lethargically sold off throughout the day,
leaving the Nasdaq down 0.8% at the bell.
The Dow and S&P 500, however, managed to book positive closes ofÂ
0.7% and 0.5%, respectively, thanks in part to big gains in the retailer and
pharmaceutical sectors.
Following Friday’s light trading, volume picked up to a moderate level, as
1.70 billion shares traded on the Nasdaq and 924 million shares changed hands on
the NYSE.
In economic news, October’s existing home sales came in at 4.96 million
units, which was lower than the 5.12 million that analysts had expected.
While most analysts remain wary of calling a market bottom, some do continue
to see some positive factors setting up for stocks.
“Equity Funds displayed $8.5 billion in net redemptions last week,
which was the largest outflow since 12/15/99. We believe that the negative
sentiment, trend and performance of the stock market has finally begun to take
its toll on investors, as evidenced by the large fund outflows,” said Brian
Belski, Fundamental Market Strategist, U.S. Bancorp/Piper Jaffray.
“Consequently, with money market funds accumulating $41.7 billion of
cash since the beginning of the month, we believe there is ample supply of money
on the sidelines waiting to participate in any rally that the equity markets are
able to muster over the next several weeks,” he added.
According to preliminary numbers, the Nasdaq sank 23.81 to 2880.57, the Dow
gained 75.84 to 10,546.07, and the S&P 500 added 7.21 to 1348.98.
Top sectors were gold and silver
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up 2.9%.
Weakest sectors included oil services
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Drug and genomic standouts bouncing off of recent lows included Myriad
Genetics
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Human Genome Sciences
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Among notable tech movers was Qualcomm
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right side of a six-month base. Qualcomm briefly traded at a six-month high
before pulling back to still finish up 4 15/16 to 89 7/16 on
heavier-than-average volume.
Dow winners were Wal-Mart
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Depot
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5.2%.
Looking ahead, the November consumer confidence numbers and the October
durable goods report will be released Tuesday at 8:30 AM ET and 10:00 AM ET,
respectively. Analysts expect a 1.3% decline in durable goods orders and a 136.8
reading for the consumer confidence report.