Dow ends with little gains but S&P slips
US stocks ended in a mixed mode on Monday, 25 November 2013. The S&P 500 index ended slightly lower on Monday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a small gain after global powers agreed a deal with Iran to curb the nation's nuclear program. Stocks held modest gains through the vast majority of the session, but a final-hour sell off sent the S&P 500 to a fresh low.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 7.77 points, or less than 0.1%, to finish at 16,072.54. The Nasdaq Composite ended up 2.92 points, or about 0.1%, at 3,994.57. The S&P 500 index fell 2.28 points, or about 0.1%, to end at 1,802.48.
Energy and materials led the afternoon sell off after lagging throughout the session.
Industrials joined the final-hour sell off as Boeing fell 2.2% amid news the company has warned airlines about a potential engine icing risk.
The most surprising geopolitical news in months occurred over the weekend when Iran reached agreement with the U.S., Russia and other major nations to see reduced economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for its pledge to stop its nuclear weapons development program. This news was not at all expected and pushed crude oil prices lower and helped most world stock markets rally on Monday. Not only will there now be more oil on the world market place (from Iran) but also the Middle East just saw its geopolitical volatility downtick a notch or two. The U.S. and Iran had not had any diplomatic relations in over 30 years.
Today's economic data at Wall Street was limited to October pending home sales, which ticked down 0.6%. The reading followed last month's revised decrease of 4.6% (from 5.6%), and was worse than the 1.3% increase forecast by the consensus.
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Bullion metal prices ended mixed on Monday. 25 November 2013 with gold slipping but silver bouncing back. Gold prices closed lower on Monday as a historic agreement between Iran and six world powers to curb the Middle Eastern nation's nuclear program dulled some of the metal's investment appeal. The market was pressured in part by a weekend announcement that Iran has agreed to end its nuclear weapons programs. The key outside markets were also in a bearish daily posture for the precious metals Monday, as the U.S. dollar index was higher and crude oil prices were lower.
Among the most-active contracts, December gold settled at $1,241.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, down $2.90, or 0.2%, while February gold fell by $3, or 0.2%, to $1,241.60 an ounce. Both contracts touched intraday lows under $1,230. March silver however, bounced back after a 0.4% in the previous session, taking on 2.5 cents, or 0.1% to $19.93 an ounce.
Crude oil prices ended lower at Nymex on Monday, 25 November 2013. Nymex oil pared its losses and Brent crude settled with a small decline after the U.S. and other western powers agreed to a short-term deal to curb Iran's nuclear program.
Crude oil for January delivery retreated 75 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $94.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after touching lows near $93. Strength in the dollar also contributed pressure to dollar-denominated commodities.
Indian ADRs ended mixed on Monday. In the IT space, Infosys shed 1.3% at $53.23 and Wipro was down 0.35% at $11.54. In the banking space, ICICI Bank rose 3.09% at $35.34 and HDFC Bank gained 0.85% at $33.21. In the other sectors, Tata Motors advanced 3.54% at $31.27 and Dr Reddys Laboratories rose 0.2% at $39.41.
Trading volume was well below average as just over 620 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Tomorrow, building permits for September and October will be reported at 8:30 ET while the September Case-Shiller 20-city Index and September FHFA Housing Price Index will be released at 9:00 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the 10:00 ET release of the November Consumer Confidence Index.
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