US stocks ended with losses for the first time in five sessions on Thursday, 16 May 2013. Stocks wobbled earlier on Thursday as any attempt at a selloff only served to lure in sidelined retail investors. The major averages began the day on a mixed note as disappointing economic data pressured the Dow and S&P while better-than-expected earnings from Cisco Systems provided the Nasdaq with some support. The three indices hovered near their respective flat lines for the majority of the day before sellers emerged in the afternoon, and drove equities to their first loss in five days.
For the day, the Dow ended lower by 42.47 points (0.3%) at 15,233.22. Nasdaq ended lower by 6.37 points (0.2%) at 3,465.24. S&P 500 ended lower by 8.31 points (0.5%) at 1,650.47. Dow was trading higher by 23 points earlier during the day.
Nine of ten sectors ended in the red with technology as the lone standout. Consumer discretionary was the best performing sector.
Better-than-expected earnings from Cisco Systems and the relative strength of large components like Apple and IBM provided support for the technology sector on Thursday.
Wal-Mart Stores led losses on the Dow after the discount-retailing giant reported quarterly earnings beneath Wall Street's expectations and offered a disappointing forecast for the second quarter.
Equities fell to session lows as Bank of San Francisco President John Williams said Fed bond purchases could be reduced if the economy continues to improve. Ahead of the Williams speech, delivered in Portland, Ore., Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher said the Fed should cut its purchases of mortgage-backed securities, with the goal of eliminating them entirely as the year continues.
In the currency market, the dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, fell by 0.2% on Thursday.
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Among economic data expected at Wall Street on Thursday, housing starts fell 16.5% in April to 853,000 from a downwardly revised 1.021 million (from 1.036 million) in March. That was the smallest number of starts since November 2012. The consensus expected housing starts to fall to 970,000. Multifamily construction, which tends to be highly volatile, fell to 243,000 in April from 398,000 in March. The drop is likely a reversion to the mean as multifamily construction has been running much hotter than its 12-month average.
The initial claims level jumped to 360,000, the highest level since February (excluding the volatility from the Easter holiday problems), for the week ending May 11 from an upwardly revised 328,000 (from 323,000) for the week ending May 4. The consensus expected the initial claims level to increase to 330,000.
The CPI fell 0.4% in April after declining 0.2% in March. The consensus expected consumer prices to fall 0.2%. Excluding food and energy, core CPI increased 0.1% for a second consecutive month. The consensus expected these prices to increase 0.2%. Separately, the Philadelphia Fed's Business Outlook showed that manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region contracted in May. The index fell to -5.2 from 1.3 in April. The consensus expected the Philly Fed Index to increase to 2.5.
Bullion metal prices ended lower on Thursday, 16 May 2013. Gold posted moderate losses on Thursday but prices did finish well up from the daily low following some data from World Gold Council and weaker-than-expected U.S. economic data. Investors have moved away from bullions in recent times following rise in US equities.
Gold for June delivery ended lower by $9.3 (0.7%) at $1,386.9 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Thursday. July silver ended lower by $0.04 cents (0.01%) at $22.62 an ounce on Thursday.
Crude-oil prices ended higher on Thursday, 16 May 2013 at Nymex. Prices rose following weak dollar and mixed set of data at Wall Street. Prices also rose following unexpected decline in the past week's U.S. crude supplies. Light and sweet crude for June ended higher by $0.86(0.9%) at $95.16 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Thursday.
For every two stocks that rose, three fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where 684 million shares traded. Composite volume approached 3.5 billion.
Indian ADRs ended mixed on Thursday. In the IT space, Infosys was up 0.6% and Wipro was down 2%. In the Banking space, HDFC Bank was down 1.5% and ICICI Bank was up 0.2%. In the Telecom space, Tata Communication was down 3.5%. In other space, Tata Motors was down 1.4%, Dr Reddys was up 0.7% and Sterlite was up 1.7%.
Tomorrow, the preliminary May Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey and April leading indicators will be reported at 9:55 ET and 10:00 ET.
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