Nine out of ten sectors end in the red with financials being the exception
U.S. stocks ended Monday's thinly-traded session lower on 13 April 2015 as concerns about potentially weak quarterly results, as well as looming interest-rate hikes, eroded confidence among investors. Monday session was very quiet with the S&P 500 spending the day inside a 15-point range. Investors did not receive any noteworthy data or earnings, but that will change as the week wears on.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 80.61 points, or 0.5%, to 17,977.04, with 25 of its 30 components closing lower. The Nasdaq Composite ended the session down 7.7 points, or 0.2%, to 4,988.25, unable to stay above the 5,000 level. The S&P 500 closed 9.62 points, or 0.5%, lower at 2,092.44.
Nine of the 10 main sectors finished with losses. Industrials and utilities stocks sold off, while financials ended slightly higher as investors braced for earnings from J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo.
Elsewhere, the top-weighted technology sector ended ahead of the broader market, but could not avoid turning negative. Large cap names like Apple, Google and Microsoft held up well while chipmakers struggled.
Economic data was limited to the Treasury Budget statement for March, which showed a deficit of $53.00 billion (consensus -$44.00 billion). The Treasury data are not seasonally adjusted, so the March deficit cannot be compared to the $36.90 billion deficit recorded in February.
For now, some strength in the U.S. dollar put some pressure on dollar-denominated commodities. The greenback edged up Monday after weak data from China and Japan. Meantime, the Euro currency is slumping again and is moving in on its recent 12-year low. These currency movements are bearish for the raw commodity sector, including the precious metals, as most raw commodities are priced in U.S. dollars on the world markets. The stronger greenback makes those commodities more expensive to purchase with other world currencies.
The other key outside market saw crude oil prices modestly higher on Monday. Trading has turned choppy in crude oil recently.
In overnight news, there was downbeat economic news coming out of China Monday, as its exports were down 15% in March, while its imports declined by 12.7%, year-on-year. This news is a bearish underlying factor for the raw commodity markets, as the world's largest population and second-largest economy is major raw commodity consumer and importer. Traders and investors will be closely examining China's gross domestic product report for the first quarter, due out later this week. Signs of sluggish demand at home and abroad in the world's second largest economy are bearish for oil.
Today's participation matched recent averages with more than 650 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.
Bullion prices ended lower at Comex on Monday, 13 April 2015. Gold futures settled back below $1,200 an ounce taking a cue from a rising dollar as investors weigh the timing of an interest-rate increase by the U.S. Federal Reserve. Gold futures for June delivery fell $5.30, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,199.30 an ounce on Comex following a 0.3% gain last week. May silver fell 9.1 cents, or 0.6%, to $16.291 an ounce.
Crude oil futures climbed on Monday, 13 April 2015 at Nymex scoring a three-session gain of nearly 3%, as downbeat economic data from China spurred expectations that the country will implement stimulus measures that could help boost demand for crude.
Crude for delivery in May rose 27 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $51.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices had tallied a roughly 2.4% gain over the past two trading sessions.
Tomorrow, the March Retail Sales report (consensus 1.0%) and March PPI (consensus 0.2%) will be released at 8:30 ET while February Business Inventories (consensus 0.3%) will be reported at 10:00 ET.
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