Twenty six out of thirty Dow components ended higher led by Intel
U.S. stocks rose for a second day at Wall Street on Wednesday, 04 July 2013 led by technology and automobile companies. Stocks gained Wednesday for a second straight day as Ford Motor's sales posted its best retail-sales month in seven years, while investors kept one eye trained on the debate over prospective U.S. intervention in the Syrian civil war. Stocks slipped from their highs in reaction to the results of the afternoon vote regarding Syria, but still managed to hold the vast majority of their gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose as much as 123 points and finished up 96.91 points, or 0.7%, at 14,930.87.The Nasdaq Composite rose 36.43 points, or 1%, to 3,649.04. The S&P 500 index advanced 13.31 points, or 0.8%, to 1,653.08.
Telecommunications and health care were the best performers and utilities was the sole decliner among the 10 major industries. Twenty six out of thirty Dow components ended higher led by Intel.
Leading blue-chip losses, Microsoft fell 2.2% after Morgan Stanley cut its rating on the software maker following its deal to acquire Nokia Corp.'s devices business.
The afternoon release of the U.S. Federal Reserve's beige book detailed a U.S. economy that is growing modestly to moderately, depending on the sector. This news was not unexpected nor much different from recent Fed reports and comments from Fed officials, and thus was not markets-moving. Major world economic data is just around the corner. The important U.S. jobs report is out on Friday. The Bank Japan, Bank of England and European Central Bank hold their monthly monetary policy meetings on Thursday. There is also a Group of 20 nations meeting this week.
Today's economic data was limited to the July trade deficit, which widened to $39.1 billion from an upwardly revised $34.5 billion in June (from -$34.2 billion). The consensus expected the deficit to come in at $38.2 billion. The widening in the deficit resulted from imports increasing $3.5 billion versus June and exports decreasing $1.1 billion. The drop in exports was paced by a $1.6 billion decline in exports of capital goods, excluding automotive, and a $1.36 billion decline in exports of consumer goods, the bulk of which stemmed from a pullback in exports of jewelry, gem diamonds, and artwork, antiques and stamps.
Conversely, imports increased on the back of a near $2.0 billion jump in imports of industrial supplies and materials, a $0.8 billion increase in imports of automotive vehicles, and a $0.7 billion increase in consumer goods, most of which stemmed from imports of artwork, antiques and stamps. The widening in the trade deficit is going to factor negatively in GDP models for the third quarter.
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Bullion metals ended lower at Comex on Wednesday, 04 September 2013. Gold futures dropped under $1,400 an ounce on Wednesday to settle at their lowest in nearly two weeks, as the market kept watch on developments surrounding Syria and silver dipped more than 4% to lead the broad losses among metals prices. The geopolitical tensions in the market place eased just a bit on Wednesday, which also helped to limit any new safe-haven demand for gold. Gold for December delivery fell $22, or 1.6%, to settle at $1,390 an ounce. December silver fell $1.01, or 4.2%, to end at $23.42 an ounce.
Crude Oil futures ended lower at Comex on Wednesday, 04 September 2013. Prices settled at a more than one-week low under $108 a barrel as traders weighed the likelihood of U.S. intervention in Syria and awaited this week's updates on petroleum supplies. October crude-oil futures slid $1.31, or 1.2%, to settle at $107.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after rising 0.8% on Tuesday. Prices for oil briefly dipped below $107 in the aftermath of the release of the Federal Reserve's Beige Book Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Treasuries did not reflect much of a safety bid as the complex remained pinned to its lows. The benchmark 10-yr yield ended higher by 5 basis points at 2.894%. More notable was the move in the 2-yr yield, which added four basis points to end at 0.462%, the highest since June 2011.
Advancers pulled ahead of decliners by a more than 2-to-1 ratio on the New York Stock Exchange, where 728 million shares traded. Composite volume surpassed 3.2 billion.
Indian ADRs ended higher on Wednesday. In the IT space, Wipro rose 4.84% at $9.32 and Infosys was up 2.7% at $46.70. In the banking space, ICICI Bank added 5.7% at $26.95 and HDFC Bank gained 3.6% at $28.59. In the other sectors, Sterlite Industries jumped 4.33% at $6.26 and Tata Motors was up 5.3% at $23.50.
Tomorrow, the day is heavy in terms of economic reports. August Challenger Job Cuts will be reported at 7:30 ET, August ADP Employment Change will cross the wires at 8:15 ET, and weekly initial claims will be released at 8:30 ET. Also at 8:30 ET, revised second quarter productivity and unit labor costs will be reported. The busy day of data will be topped off with the 10:00 ET release of July factory orders and the August ISM Services report.
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