Stocks Mixed, Retail Gains, Confidence Down

A confusing stew of economic reports led to a gentle, yet uncertain trading day. Consumer Confidence fell while Retail Sales showed gains resulting in a mixed market at the close. While the Euro continued to gain strength against the Greenback in a technically driven bounce. The DJIA, led by Caterpillar, advanced +12.85 to 10624.69, the tech heavy Nasdaq index gave back -0.80 to 2367.66, and the broad based S&P 500 eased lower by -0.25 to 1,149.99.

^CAT^: Gained 2.48% or $1.46 to $60.36/share after a Japanese maker of heavy equipment stated it expects China sales to surge.

^ABT^: A Citigroup downgrade to “sell” sent shares sliding 1.84% or $1.02 to $54.52.

^NRG^: Fell 3.27% or 75 cents to $22.19/share on a cut to “neutral” at Bank of America.

^SVU^: Acquisition rumors led to the stock adding 6.60% or $1.06 to $17.13/share.

Oil gave back 77 cents to $81.34, gold fell $1.20 to $1107.00 and the VIX index gave back 2.66% to 17.58.

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Market Snapshot

Dow

+12.85 10,624.69

NASDAQ

-0.80 2,367.66

S&P 500

-0.25 1,149.99
Economic
News

Wholesale Inventories (Jan): Consensus: 0.2%, Prior: -0.8%

Crude Inventories (03/06): Consensus: NA, Prior: 4.03M

Treasury Budget (Feb): Consensus: -$210.0B, Prior: -$42.6B

Continuing Claims (02/27): Consensus: 4500K, Prior: 4500K

Initial Claims (03/06): Consensus: 460K, Prior: 469K

Trade Balance (Jan): Consensus: -$41.0B, Prior: -$40.2B

Retail Sales (Feb): Consensus: -0.2%, Prior: 0.5%

Retail Sales ex-auto (Feb): Consensus: 0.1%, Prior: 0.6%

Mich Sentiment (Mar): Consensus: 74.0, Prior: 73.6

Business Inventories (Jan): Consensus: 0.1%, Prior: -0.2%