Markets Braced
The
markets ripped higher off the opening bell, found their intraday
highs around 11:00 a.m. ET, then trended down for the rest of the day, heading
into a heavy sell-off at the close. All three major indexes closed in the red.
Select healthcare, software, and Internet issues were the strength of the day,
while telecom and retail stocks represented the heaviest selling.Â
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed down 0.56%Â
to 10,094.09.
The S&P 500
(
$SPX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed down 0.49%
to 1,155.04.
The Nasdaq [$COMPQ |$COMPQ] closed down 0.53%
to 2,044.89.
With no economic data released
today, traders seemed to focus on the positive outlooks from Oracle
(
ORCL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
up 5.97% to 16.69, and Cisco Systems
(
CSCO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 0.76% to 20.79.
Overall
NYSE volume was 1,438,181,000.
NYSE advancing issues were 1,529,
with up volume at 597,592,000;
declining issues were 1,600,
with down volume at 825,238,000.
Overall Nasdaq volume was 2,293,039,000.
Nasdaq advancing issues were
1,693,
with up volume at 984,041,000;
declining issues were 1,853 with
down volume at 1,283,928,000.
The VIX
was up 0.79 to 23.29. The TRIN
was down 0.63 to 1.31.
Heavy selling on the session
suggests some real fear in the market as a key intraday reversal was made. The
Dow closed right on its 200-day MA, the S&P 500 remains below this mark, and
the Nasdaq is still above. Of note, the Internet Index
(
IIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) crossed
above its 200-day MA though closed below it.
Top
sectors of the day were the Gold
and Silver Index
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) up 4.68% at 69.10
and the Morgan Stanley Healthcare
Payor Index
(
$HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
up 0.60% at 320.52.
Losing
sectors of the day were the North American Telecommunications
Index
(
$XTC.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) down 2.69% at 823.46
and the Amex Hong Kong 30 Index
(
$HKX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) down 2.31% to 566.16.
The nation’s largest brokerage Merrill
Lynch
(
MER |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 2.76 to 58.00, announced that it will cut 9,000 jobs and
take a fourth quarter charge of $1.7 billion in an effort to increase earnings.
Computer maker Gateway
(
GTW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
down 12.74% to 6.71, had its investment-grade rating from Moody’s Investor
Service removed after disappointing fourth-quarter results.Â
Consulting company Accenture
(
ACN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 1.14% to 27.59, announced that its net income fell 45% last
quarter, beating analysts’ expectations.
One of the country’s largest
home builders Lennar
(
LEN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 3.59 to 48.71, reported that earnings
increased 49% last quarter, indicating that the housing industry is healthy.
Electronics retailer Best
Buy
(
BBY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 0.59% to 75.20, announced that strong sales in December
helped their fourth-quarter outcome beat analysts expectations.
Oil stocks including Noble
Drilling
(
NE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 0.09 to 33.14, fell after inventory data revealed
that fuel stockpiles rose sharply, sending crude and petroleum prices lower.
Europe’s biggest software maker
SAP AG
(
SAP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 10.17 to 36.60, rose after it said sales rose faster
than expected.