S&P 500 closes at a record level for the 50th time in the past 12 months.
U.S. stocks finished in a mixed mode on Thursday, 06 March 2014 with the S&P 500 index closing at a record level for the 50th time in the past 12 months. However, sharp declines in biotech stocks dragged the Nasdaq Composite into the red. Equities began the trading day on an upbeat note following comments from the Bank of England and the European Central Bank, both of which reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining their current, accommodative, policy stance.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 61.71 points, or 0.4%, higher at 16,421.89. The Nasdaq Composite reversed earlier gains and closed down 5.85 points, or 0.1%, at 4,352.13. The S&P 500 hit an intraday high in early trade, but gains petered out by the close. The benchmark index still closed at a record level, adding 3.22 points, or 0.2%, to 1,877.03.
The main indexes were boosted by a larger-than-expected drop in weekly jobless claims ahead of a official payrolls report on Friday.
The biotechnology and pharmaceuticals were the biggest losers on the index on Thursday.
The reminder of continued monetary support overshadowed concerns about the escalation of the situation in Ukraine where the Crimean parliament voted to join the Russian Federation and hold a referendum on the matter in just over a week.
Investors focused on a number of economic reports and speeches from several Federal Reserve officials as well as remarks from the ECB President Mario Draghi, after the european central bank left the interest rates unchanged.
The ECB did not make any significant monetary policy moves on Thursday. The European Central bank left rates unchanged and the ECB's Mario Draghi said the central bank's accommodative monetary policy is finally finding its way through the economy. He continued to brush off the threat of deflation, which lowered the chance of further easing in the short term. That contributed to a boost in the euroNone were expected given some recent, generally upbeat economic data coming out of the European Union.
The situation in Ukraine has for now changed from a serious geopolitical matter to more of a regional issue of lesser significance from a market place perspective.
At Wall Street, investors received four economic data points. Initial claims for the week ending 1 March 2013 fell by 26,000 to 323,000 (consensus 338,000). The Department of Labor said the decline coincided with strong winter storms, implying that layoffs were either deferred or individuals laid off were unable to file their unemployment claims.
Fourth quarter productivity was revised down to 1.8% (consensus 2.5%) from 3.2%. Unit labor costs declined 0.1% in the fourth quarter (consensus -0.7%) versus an originally reported 1.6% drop. The improvement was the end result of an increase in hourly compensation (positive) combined with a drop in output (negative).
Separate report showed that factory orders declined 0.7% in January after declining a downwardly revised 2.0% (from -1.6%) in December. The consensus expected factory orders to decline 0.5%.
Bullion prices ended higher on Thursday, 06 March 2014. Gold futures finished higher on Thursday climbing back to their highest settlement in more than four months boosted by bargain hunting and by a lower U.S. dollar index. Gold also got a lift on Thursday from less-dovish comments from European Central Bank president Mario Draghi, at his press conference following the ECB monthly meeting. His remarks lifted the Euro currency, which in turn supported gold and pressured the U.S. dollar index.
AMong major stocks under focus, Staples shares slumped 15% after the company posted declines in sales and traffic for its fiscal fourth quarter, disappointing Wall Street. It also forecast a sales decline in the first quarter of 2014 and said it would close 225 stores by the end of 2015. Costco dropped 2.8% after fiscal second-quarter profit declined 15%. The retailer said the first four-week period of the quarter made up the bulk of earnings underperformance. Same-store sales rose 4% in the U.S. and 5% internationally.
Gold for April delivery tacked on $11.50, or 0.9%, to settle at $1,351.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, adding to Wednesday's modest climb. Thursday's settlement was the highest for a most-active contract since end October 2013. May silver added 30 cents, or 1.4%, to $21.57 an ounce.
Crude prices settled little higher at Nymex on Thursday, 06 March 2014. Oil prices switched gears last in the session to finish with a modest gain, holding above $101 a barrel as traders continued to eye developments in Ukraine. Traders looked for clues on the Federal Reserve's next move on monetary policy from the central bank's officials, ahead of Friday's U.S. monthly jobs report.
Crude oil for April delivery rose 11 cents to settle at $101.56 a barrel after trading as low as $100.13. On Wednesday, crude prices settled down 1.8% at $101.45 a barrel, the lowest level in about three weeks.
Indian ADRs ended higher on Thursday. In the IT space, Infosys rose 0.78% at $63.01 and Wipro added 0.28% at $14.16. In the banking space, ICICI Bank gained 3.34% at $39.04 and HDFC Bank jumped 2.63% at $35.51. In the other sectors, Tata Motors was up 0.17% at $34.69 and Dr Reddys Laboratories was up 0.3% at $46.45.
Treasuries ended modestly lower with the 10-yr yield up three basis points at 2.74%.
Participation was below average as 661 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.
Tomorrow, February nonfarm payrolls, unemployment rate, hourly earnings, average workweek, and the January trade balance will all be reported at 8:30 ET while the January Consumer Credit report will be released at 15:00 ET.
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