Utilities and industrials paced sector declines
US stocks ended mostly lower at Wall Street on Monday, 05 August 2013. Stocks slipped out of the gate after better-than-expected economic data from China and Great Britain was unable to spark an early bid. Stocks fell as Wall Street considered a report indicating better-than-expected growth in the service sector and a Fed official's remarks that the central bank is closer to curbing its asset purchases.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 46.23 points, or 0.3%, to 15,612.13. The S&P 500 index shed 2.53 points, or 0.2%, to 1,707.14. The Nasdaq Composite added 3.36 points, or nearly 0.1%, to 3,692.95.
United Technologies paced the losses that included two thirds of the index's 30 components. Utilities and industrials paced sector declines, while technology and consumer staples performed the best among the index's 10 major industry groups.
In overnight news the HSBC China services purchasing managers index reading was steady in July versus June, at 51.3. A PMI above 50.0 suggests economic expansion. Later this week China trade and industrial production data will be released and will be closely scrutinized by the market place.
The Markit company Euro zone composite purchasing managers index rose to 50.5 in July from 48.7 in June, it was reported Monday. That's the first reading above 50.0 since January of 2012. The better PMI reading adds to a string of slightly improving economic data coming out of the European Union.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, rose by 0.1% on Monday.
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Among economic data expected at Wall Street today, the ISM Non-Manufacturing Index posted its best reading since February 2011. The index jumped to 56.0 from 52.2 as business activity and production levels spiked to 60.4 in July from 51.7 in June. Just like the manufacturing report, the jump in production came from a strong gain in new orders (57.7 from 50.8).
Bullion metal prices ended lower on Monday, 05 2013 at Comex. Gold and silver prices slid amid a lack of fresh, bullish news and on selling given the overall bearish postures of both markets and a steady dollar. Gold for December delivery ended lower by $3.9 (0.3%) at $1,298.6 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday. September silver ended lower by $0.08 (0.4%) at $19.64 an ounce on Monday.
Crude-oil prices ended moderately lower on Monday, 05 August 2013 at Nymex. Prices fell following a steady dollar. But better than expected batch of economic data at Wall Street kept the fall under bay. Light and sweet crude for September ended lower by $0.38 (0.4%) at $106.56 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday.
Among major stocks under focus, Fossil Group fell 6% after Barclays downgraded the fashion-accessories maker to underweight from equal weight. Facebook climbed 3% after analysts hiked its price target for shares of the social-networking company to $46 from $38.
For every two shares gaining, roughly three fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where almost 533 million issues exchanged hands. Composite volume surpassed 2.5 billion.
Indian ADRs ended mixed on Monday. In the IT space, Infosys was up0.04% and Wipro was up 2.1%. In the Banking space, HDFC Bank was down 0.1% and ICICI Bank was down 0.2%. In other space, Tata Motors was down 0.9%, and Sterlite was up 4.3%.
Tomorrow, the June trade balance will be reported at 8:30 ET.
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