For the day, the Dow ended higher by 18.89 points (0.14%) at 13,507.32. Nasdaq ended lower by 8.13 points (0.3%) at 3,117.5. S&P 500 ended lower by 1.37 points (0.09%) at 1,470.68.
Among the ten economic sectors, telecommunications were hardest hit and consumer staples fared best among its 10 industry groups.
Dow components had a mixed finish. Hewlett-Packard led the gains after J.P. Morgan upgraded the personal-computer maker to neutral from underweight. H-P also reclaimed the top PC-maker ranking from Lenovo Group. IBM dropped 0.9% after J.P. Morgan downgraded it to neutral from overweight.
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Apple shed 3.6% after being down as much as 4.5% in pre-market trade. The weakness followed reports from the Nikkei and the Wall Street Journal, which indicated the largest tech company has cut its orders for iPhone 5 parts due to sluggish demand. The early selling pushed the stock below $500 for the first time in eleven months.
Among other smartphone manufacturers, Research In Motion remained in the spotlight. On Friday, the stock surged over 15.0% after photos of the new Blackberry 10 handset became available on the internet. Today, Research In Motion settled higher by 10.3%, which puts it 27.0% above Friday's opening price.
Telecom stocks lagged the broader market after morning reports hinted at slowing Apple iPhone demand. The three major carriers which offer the device on their networks traded lower in response to the developments. AT&T, Sprint Nextel, and Verizon Communications saw respective losses of 0.7%, 3.9%, and 1.6%. To mention, UBS downgraded Sprint and Verizon to 'Neutral.' In addition, JPMorgan Chase also downgraded Sprint to 'Neutral' from 'Overweight.'
As high-beta sectors weigh on the broader market, health care and consumer staple stocks registered slim gains as a defensive trade takes hold. Among the notable movers in staples, Avon Products and Nu Skin Enterprises were higher by 1.9% and 1.4% respectively.
In the health care space, Pfizer was a notable sector leader as the drug maker traded higher by 0.7%. Earlier, the company announced its Quillivant XR CII used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is now available in the United States.
The consumer discretionary sector showed relative weakness in early trade, but moved to a fresh session high since. Amazon.com was a notable sector component as the online retailer trades at a fresh all-time high.
The major development of the day for U.S. traders on Monday was the late-afternoon speech by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to a group in Michigan. His remarks will be closely scrutinized for clues on future U.S. monetary policy decisions. Some remarks from Federal Reserve officials earlier Monday had little impact on market prices.
In overnight news, European stocks markets and the Euro currency were lifted Monday on ideas the European Union sovereign debt crisis has turned the corner toward recovery. The Paris-based OECD reported Monday that the Euro zone economic slowdown has bottomed out and that other major world economies are likely to see better growth in the coming months. Gains in European markets were limited by a weak Euro zone industrial production report Monday that showed a 0.3% decline from October to November.
In the currency market, the dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies rose by 0.2%.
Bullion metals at Comex finished higher on Monday, 14 January 2013. Comex gold and silver futures prices ended higher amid new speculative buying interest coming into the market. Gold for February delivery rose $8.8 (0.5%) to settle at $1,669.4 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday. On Monday, March silver rose $0.70, or 2.3% to settle at $31.11 an ounce.
Crude oil prices ended steady on Monday, 14 January 2013 at Nymex. Prices ended moderately higher amid a weak dollar as traders watched developments on the U.S. debt crisis for hints on the outlook for energy demand. On Monday, light and sweet crude oil futures for light sweet crude for February delivery closed higher by $0.58 (0.6%) at $94.14/barrel.
Decliners and advancers ran in a virtual dead heat on the New York Stock Exchange, where 590 million shares traded. Composite volume approached 3 billion.
Indian ADRs ended mostly higher on Monday. In the Banking space, ICICI Bank was up 1.1% and HDFC Bank was up 3.2%. In the IT space, Infosys was down 0.6% and Wipro was up 0.8%. In the Telecom space, MTNL was up 1.1% and Tata Communication was up 2.2%. In the other space, Sterlite was unchanged; Tata Motors was down 1.6%. Dr Reddys was up 0.5%.
For tomorrow, in terms of economic data, December retail sales, retail sales ex-auto, PPI, core PPI, and the January Empire Manufacturing Index will all be reported at 8:30 ET. Lastly, November business inventories will be released at 10:00 ET.
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