Stocks manage to recover from intra day lows; Indian ADRs witness mixed finish
US stocks ended with little losses for the week that ended on 05 April, 2013. Indices suffered weekly losses mainly due to Friday's moderate losses following disappointing job report from the Labor Department. The bulk of Friday's selling occurred at the open as three points of concern sent investors in search of safety. Other than job report, there was weak guidance coming from F5 Networks which pushed the tech sector lower. Also, headlines from Asia indicated North Korea has not toned down its war rhetoric and South Korean officials confirmed that the North has moved a pair of mid-range missiles to its east coast.
For the week, the Dow ended lower by 13.29 points (0.1%) at 14,565.25. Nasdaq ended lower by 63.33 points (1.9%) at 3,203.66. S&P 500 ended lower by 15.91 points (1%) at 1,553.28.
On Monday, stocks saw little change at the start of the session with European markets shuttered for Easter Monday. However, that changed quickly once the March ISM Index was reported below expectations. The Index was reported at 51.3, which was its lowest reading since December, and it sent the major averages to their lows with cyclical sectors pacing the decline.
Equities spent the bulk of Tuesday's session near their highs before a late afternoon stumble dropped the S&P 500 back near the middle of its range. As a result, the benchmark average finished higher by 0.5%. The health care sector showed strength out of the gate with managed care stocks jumping after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said 2014 Medicaid Advantage and prescription drug benefit rates will increase by 3.3%. Dow component UnitedHealth Group gained 4.7%.
Wednesday saw a steady decline and the S&P 500 settled lower by 1.1%. Notably, small cap stocks extended their recent weakness.
More From This Section
On Thursday, equities began the day on a mixed note. The S&P 500 climbed higher out of the gate while Nasdaq slipped into the red, where it spent the majority of the session. After the prior day's selloff caused the benchmark average to slide 1.1%, a handful of Wednesday's underperformers began among the leaders. However, the early leadership did not hold into the afternoon as some defensive sectors began appearing atop the leader board. Counter-cyclical telecoms and utilities climbed throughout the day, and saw the largest gains.
On Friday, 05 April 2013, stocks fell with the S&P 500 index sustaining its worst weekly hit this year, after the government said the far fewer Americans found jobs in March than market had estimated.
After falling 171 points, the Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered the lions share of its losses to end at 14,565.25, down 0.3% for the session. The Nasdaq Composite lost 21.12 points, or 0.7%, to 3,203.85. The S&P 500 index declined 6.7 points, or 0.4%, to 1,553.28, with technology companies hardest hit and utilities the best performing of its 10 major sectors.
Eighteen of the blue-chip index's 30 components lost ground, including Alcoa which unofficially starts the first-quarter earnings-reporting season on Monday, after the market close.
Latest job data showed that the United States created the fewest number of jobs in March in nine months, adding to a string of reports suggesting companies have cut back on new hires and that the economy is slowing again. As per the report, the U.S. added a seasonally adjusted 88,000 jobs, the smallest increase since last June and nearly half-a-million people stopped looking for work last month. The March jobs report fell well below Wall Street expectations. Market had forecast a 190,000 increase in jobs. U.S. stocks slumped after the report.
The unemployment rate fell to 7.6% from 7.7% to mark the lowest level since December 2007, but the decline stemmed from more Americans dropping out of the labor force.
The disappointing March jobs report has revived concerns that the economy could cool off again in midyear like it did in both 2012 and 2011. In both years, hiring started out strong but later petered out. Most economists have been predicting the economy would slow in the second quarter after a strong start to the New Year. Growth in the second quarter is forecast to decelerate to 2.2% from an estimated 3% in the first three months of 2013.
Among other reports expected, the U.S. trade deficit narrowed in February, dropping from $44.5 billion in January to $43.0 billion. The consensus had expected the deficit to increase slightly to $44.7 billion. Also, the consumer credit increased by $18.1 billion in February after increasing a downwardly revised $12.7 billion (from $16.2 billion) in January. The consensus expected consumer credit to increase by $14.0 billion.
The dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, fell by 0.2% on Friday.
Bullion metals ended higher at Comex on Friday, 05 April 2013. Gold futures closed more than $20 an ounce higher on Friday, paring their loss for the week, as a disappointing U.S. jobs report pressured the dollar and contributed to a slide in the stock market.
Gold for June delivery rose $23.50, or 1.5%, to settle at $1,575.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Silver for May delivery rose 45 cents, or 1.7%, to $27.22 an ounce on Friday. Silver recouped a portion of its recent losses, but still lost 3.9% for the week.
Crude Oil futures settled below $93 a barrel on Friday, 05 April 2013 to suffer a loss of nearly 5% for the week as a disappointing monthly report on U.S. jobs provoked concerns that energy demand could weaken. Light and sweet crude oil for May delivery fell 56 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $92.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices suffered a weekly loss of 4.7%, the first weekly decline in five weeks.
Decliners ran just ahead of advancers on the New York Stock Exchange, where nearly 726 million shares traded. Composite volume approached 3.4 billion.
Indian ADRs ended mixed on Friday. In the IT space, Infosys was down 1% and Wipro was up 0.5%. In the Banking space, HDFC Bank was down 1.2% and ICICI Bank was down 1.4%. In the Telecom space, Tata Communication was unchanged. In other space, Tata Motors was down 0.9%, Dr Reddys was up 0.8% and Sterlite was up 1.8%.
For the year, the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 are trading higher by 11.1%, 6.1% and 8.9% respectively. There is no economic news of note scheduled for a Monday release. On Tuesday, February wholesale inventories will be reported at 10:00 ET.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News