Stocks Mixed, Home Sales Shocker, Auto Sales Increase

  • January 5, 2010
  • David Goodboy

Stocks closed mixed today on the heels of a shocking 16% decrease in existing home sales. The U.S. dollar fell hard against the major currencies while factory orders climbed. Automakers announced improved December sales despite a dismal 2009. Stocks reacted by closing mixed with the DJIA down -11.94 to 10572.02, the Nasdaq gained +0.29 to 2308.71 and the S&P 500 added +3.53 to 1136.52.

^WYNN^: Climbed 6.08% or $3.89 to $67.85/share as the casino sector benefited by a strong December for Macau gambling revenue.

^KFT^: Added 4.89% or $1.34 to $28.77/share after its proposal to issue shares to purchase Cadbury was opposed by its largest shareholder, Warren Buffett.

^MNKD^: The drug maker fell 11.90% or $1.07 to $7.92/share after it was announced that its insulin drug will not obtain short term approval.

^THC^: Soared 10.09% or 55 cents to $6.00/share upon being added to Goldman Sach’s “conviction buy” list.

Oil dropped 1 cent to $81.50, gold eased higher by 20 cents to $1119.20 and the VIX gave back 3.44% to 19.35.

New Year, New Strategies – Improve your trade setups with high probability ETF trading strategies in Larry Connors’ best-selling book. Click Here to Read Now.

Market Snapshot

Dow

 -11.94 10,572.02

NASDAQ

 +0.29 2,308.71

S&P 500

 +3.53 1,136.52
Economic
News

Construction Spending (Nov): Consensus: -0.5%, Prior: -0.5%

ISM Index (Dec): Consensus: 54.3, Prior: 53.6

Factory Orders (Nov): Consensus: 0.5%, Prior: 0.6%

Pending Home Sales (Nov): Consensus: -3.0%, Prior: 3.7%

Auto Sales (Dec): Consensus: NA, Prior: 3.8M

Truck Sales (Dec): Consensus: NA, Prior: 4.6M

Challenger Job Cuts (Dec): Consensus: NA, Prior: -72.3%

ADP Employment Report (Dec): Consensus: -75K, Prior: -169K

ISM Services (Dec): Consensus: 50.5, Prior: 48.7

Crude Inventories (12/31): Consensus: NA, Prior: -1.54M

Initial Claims (01/02): Consensus: 445K, Prior: 432K

Average Workweek (Dec): Consensus: 33.2, Prior: 33.2

Hourly Earnings (Dec): Consensus: 0.2%, Prior: 0.1%

Nonfarm Payrolls (Dec): Consensus: 0K, Prior: -11K

Unemployment Rate (Dec): Consensus: 10.1%, Prior: 10.0%

Wholesale Inventories (Nov): Consensus: -0.3%, Prior: 0.3%

Consumer Credit (Nov): Consensus: -$5.0B, Prior: -$3.5B