Builder Sentiment Slips, Oil Falls, Stocks Mixed

Shares ended the session mixed on falling oil prices and a lower than expected sentiment reading from home builders. Much anticipation is in the air for the FOMC rate statement tomorrow. No rate increase is expected but the statement should shed light on future monetary policy. Wal-mart led the DJIA higher while Caterpillar was the main drag. The DJIA added +17.46 to 10642.15, the tech heavy Nasdaq gave back -5.45 to 2362.21 and the broad based S&P 500 eased higher by +0.52 to 1150.51.

^GOOG^: Fell by 2.82% or $16.36 to $563.18/share as it prepares to leave the Chinese markets under governmental pressure.

^BIDU^: Google’s Chinese competitor soared 4.83% or $26.60 to $576.84/share as advertisers are being urged to utilize their services instead of Google.

^MNKD^: Alfred Mann’s bio tech firm plummeted 24.71% or $2.59 to $7.89/share after not obtaining U.S. approval of its new insulin drug.

^WMT^: A Citigroup upgrade sent shares higher by 2.82% or $1.52 to $55.42.

Oil fell $1.31 to $79.93, gold climbed $4.10 to $1106.00 and the VIX index gained by 2.39% to 18.00.

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Market Snapshot

Dow

+17.46 10,642.15

NASDAQ

-5.45 2,362.21

S&P 500

+0.52 1,150.51
Economic
News

Empire Manufacturing Survey (Mar): Consensus: 22.0, Prior: 24.91

Net Long-Term TIC Flows (Dec): Consensus: $47.5B, Prior: $63.3B

Capacity Utilization (Feb): Consensus: 72.5%, Prior: 72.5%

Industrial Production (Feb): Consensus: 0.0%, Prior: 0.9%

Building Permits (Feb): Consensus: 602K, Prior: 622K

Housing Starts (Feb): Consensus: 570K, Prior: 591K

Import Prices ex-oil (Feb): Consensus: NA, Prior: 0.4%

Export Prices ex-ag. (Feb): Consensus: NA, Prior: 0.7%

FOMC Rate Decision (03/16): Consensus: 0.25%, Prior: 0.25%

Core PPI (Feb): Consensus: 0.1%, Prior: 0.3%

PPI (Feb): Consensus: -0.2%, Prior: 1.4%

Crude Inventories (03/13): Consensus: NA, Prior: 1.43M

Core CPI (Feb): Consensus: 0.1%, Prior: -0.1%

CPI (Feb): Consensus: 0.1%, Prior: 0.2%

Initial Claims (03/13): Consensus: 450K, Prior: 462K

Continuing Claims (03/06): Consensus: 4500K, Prior: 4558K

Current Account Balance (Q4): Consensus: -$120.0B, Prior: -$108.0B

Leading Indicators (Feb): Consensus: 0.1%, Prior: 0.3%

Philadelphia Fed (Mar): Consensus: 18.0, Prior: 17.6