Microsoft and Caterpillar support the Dow
US stocks ended with good gains on Monday, 22 April 2013. Indices twisted mostly higher on Monday with energy and technology shares rallying as Wall Street anticipated quarterly results from Netflix and Apple. The day featured a single economic data. Earning reports dominated the day.
For the day, the Dow ended higher by 19.66 points (0.14%) at 14,567.17. Nasdaq ended higher by 27.5 points (0.9%) at 3,233.5. S&P 500 ended higher by 7.25 points (0.5%) at 1,562.5.
Energy, materials and technology were the best performers and utilities and industrials were the weakest among the 10 major sectors. Eighteen out of thirty Dow components ended higher led by Microsoft and Caterpillar.
Equities began the day on an upbeat note with technology stocks providing early support. The outperformance followed reports indicating ValueAct has taken a $2 billion stake in Microsoft. Microsoft gained close to 4%.
Notably, Dow component Caterpillar traded higher despite missing on earnings and revenue. In addition, the machinery producer echoed the ongoing global growth concerns by cutting its full-year earnings and revenue guidance.
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Netflix shares surged 6.9% ahead of the online-video provider's first-quarter results after the market close, while Apple climbed 1.5% ahead of its quarterly release on Tuesday.
Among other stocks under focus, General Electric fell 1.8%. The stock was cut to neutral from overweight by J.P. Morgan & Chase after GE reported results on Friday. Apple shares climbed 2.1% ahead of its quarterly release on Tuesday.
Today's economic data was limited to just one item of note. Existing home sales fell 0.6% from a downwardly revised 4.95 million (from 4.98 million) in February to 4.92 million in March. The consensus had expected existing home sales to increase to 5.01 million.
Inventories managed to eke out a small gain, rising 1.6% to 1.93 million. That represents a 4.7-month supply at the current sales rate, which is down from a 6.2-month supply a year ago. According to the National Association of Realtors, an ideal inventory level is around a 6-month supply.
The other bullish news early this week is the Group of 20 nations at its weekend meeting in Washington, D.C., gave tacit approval of the Bank of Japan's aggressive monetary policy action recently. Such also hints the major central banks of the world may want to continue their own aggressive monetary policy easing measures for at least the next several months. That would also be a positive for the raw commodity sector.
In the currency market, the dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, rose by 0.1% on Monday.
Crude-oil prices ended moderately higher on Monday, 22 April 2013 at Nymex. Prices ended higher even as traders continued to fret about the outlook for demand and as a production cut by key producers looked unlikely. Light and sweet crude for May ended higher by $0.75 (0.9%) at $88.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday. Prices shed 3.6% last week. Prices reached a high of $89 and a low of $87.55 during intra day trading.
Bullion metal prices ended higher on Monday, 22 April 2013. Prices of gold and silver rose following bargain hunting, short covering and strong demand for physical gold seen worldwide. Traders though that recent sell off in bullion prices were over done. Gold for June delivery ended higher by $25.6 (1.8%) at $1,421.2 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday. May silver ended higher by $0.36 cents (1.6%) at $23.32 an ounce on Monday.
For every three stocks falling more than four rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where nearly 621 million shares traded. Composite volume approached 3 billion.
Indian ADRs ended mixed on Monday. In the IT space, Infosys was down 1% and Wipro was down 4%. In the Banking space, HDFC Bank was up 1.8% and ICICI Bank was up 0.3%. In the Telecom space, Tata Communication was up 0.2%. In other space, Tata Motors was up 1.5%, Dr Reddys was down 0.8% and Sterlite was unchanged.
Tomorrow, February FHFA Housing Price Index and March new home sales will be reported at 9:00 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively. Earning reports will also continue to trickle in.The U.S. Treasury will auction off $35 billion in 2-yr notes.
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