For the day, the Dow ended lower by 74.73 points (0.6%) at 13,170.72. Nasdaq ended lower by 21.65 points (0.72%) at 2,992.16. S&P 500 ended lower by 9.03 points (0.63%) at 1,419.45.
Among the ten economic sectors, the healthcare sector weighed the most on the Dow. Merck and United Healthcare led the Dow laggards.
The market place is still digesting the U.S. Federal Reserve decision on Wednesday to end its "Operation Twist" program but extend its long-bond-buying program to the tune of $45 billion a month. That news is what many had figured the central bank would do. The FOMC also said it will begin tying interest rate policy to the U.S. unemployment rate, saying as long as unemployment is above 6.5%, rates will not rise.
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In overnight news, European Union finance officials have agreed on a deal that would create a single bank supervisor and EU banking union. This is a big, positive step for the EU in its three-year-old sovereign debt crisis. The news lifted the Euro currency and lowered Spanish and Italian bond yields. Also on Thursday Greece was approved to get a fresh tranche of EU bailout money.
The dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, rose by 0.1% on Thursday.
Among economic data expected for the day, the latest weekly initial jobless claims count totaled 343,000, which was lower than the 375,000 that had been expected. The tally was also below the revised prior week count of 372,000. As for continuing claims, they fell to 3.198 million from 3.221 million. Also, during October, inventories rose by 0.4%, which was in-line with consensus. Today's reading follows the prior month's increase of 0.7%.
Seapartely, November retail sales rose by 0.3%, which was slightly worse than the 0.4% increase that had been broadly expected. The prior month's reading pointed to a decrease of 0.3%. Excluding autos, retail sales were unchanged, which was in-line with expectations.
Overall producer prices declined during November by 0.8%, which was cooler than the 0.5% decrease that had been widely forecast. Core producer prices rose by 0.1%, which was in-line with the consensus.
Technology stocks were notable laggards and Apple was lower by 1.7%. Semiconductor manufacturers also put pressure on the space.
In notable news, Best Buy surged 16% after reports that the company founder Richard Schulze is expected to submit a bid between $5 and $6 billion in his attempt to take the company private by week's end. Also of note, Chief Financial Officer Sharon McCollam bought over 100,000 shares on December 10, 2012.
Bullion metals ended substantially lower at Comex on Thursday, 13 December 2012. The key outside markets were also in a mildly bearish posture for the precious metals on Thursday, as the U.S. dollar index was firmer and crude oil prices were weaker. Prices succumbed to profit taking following monetary policies taken by Fed in the current week. Gold for February delivery fell $21.1 (1.2%) to settle at $1,696.8 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Thursday. Prices fell to a low of $1,690.7 during intra day trading. On Thursday, March silver fell $1.43, or 4.2%, to settle at $32.36 an ounce. That is the lowest settlement in more than a month.
Crude oil prices ended lower on Thursday, 13 December 2012 at Nymex. Oil prices fell due to oil's demand outlook and debt woes across the globe. Mixed economic data at Wall Street also impacted prices. On Thursday, light and sweet crude oil futures for light sweet crude for January delivery closed lower by $0.88 (1%) at $85.89/barrel. Prices rose to a high of $86.97 and fell to a low of $85.89 during intra day trading.
Around 663 million shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Composite volume exceeded 3.3 billion.
Indian ADRs mostly lower on Wednesday. In the IT space, Wipro was down 0.8% and Infosys was down 2.4%. In the Banking space, ICICI Bank was down 0.7% HDFC Bank was down 0.4%. In the other space, Sterlite was down 3.5%, Dr Reddys was down 1.2% and Tata Motors was down 1.1%.
For tomorrow, the CPI, core CPI and Industrial production are the economic reports expected. Earning reports will continue to pour in.
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