Heavy round of economic data dominate the day
US stock market ended Wednesday, 25 November 2015 on a flat note with trading volume running well below average as some market participants got an early jump on the Thanksgiving holiday, which will keep capital markets in the U.S. closed on Thursday. The S&P 500 settled just below its flat line while the Nasdaq Composite outperformed. A heavy round of economic data convinced investors the Federal Reserve remained on track for a potential interest-rate increase in December.
The S&P 500 ended 0.27 point lower at 2,088.87, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a gain of 1.2 points to end at 17,813.39. The Nasdaq Composite rose 13.33 points, or 0.3%, to 5,116.14.
Total composite volume was 5.185 billion sharesthe fifth lowest volume session of the year.
Investors received a boatload of economic data this morning, but there was little response in the market as stocks opened flat and inched higher to establish narrow trading ranges that held throughout the day. For instance, the S&P 500 spent the session in a seven-point range with seven sectors offsetting gains in three groups that outperformed throughout the day.
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Economic data at Wall Street included Initial Claims, Personal Income/Spending, Durable Orders, Michigan Sentiment, New Home Sales, and FHFA Housing Price Index. Initial claims for the week ending 21 November were 260,000, down 12,000 from the prior week's revised level of 272,000 (from 271,000) while the consensus estimate expected no change at 272,000. There were no special factors influencing the weekly initial claims reading, which has been bounded between 250,000 and 300,000 since July 2014. Continuing claims increased to 2.207 million from a downwardly revised reading of 2.173 million (from 2.175 million).
Separately, October personal income rose 0.4%, which is what the consensus expected. Personal spending increased 0.1% while the consensus expected a reading of 0.3%. Core PCE prices were flat while the consensus expected an increase of 0.2%. The October Durable Goods Orders report showed a 3.0% gain and a 0.5% increase in durable orders excluding transportation while consensus estimates for those measures were 1.5% and 0.5%, respectively. The report was driven primarily by transportation orders, which featured an 81% increase in nondefense aircraft and parts orders that followed on the heels of declines in both August and September.
Also, the final reading for the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for November was lowered to 91.3 from a preliminary reading of 93.1 (consensus 93.1). The Current Economic Conditions Index was 104.3 versus 102.3 in October while the Index of Consumer Expectations rose to 82.9 from 82.1 in October. New home sales in October rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 495,000 (consensus 504,000) from a downwardly revised September reading of 447,000 (from 468,000). The FHFA Housing Price Index for September rose 0.8%, which followed an increase of 0.3% in August.
Meanwhile, a U.S. State Department travel alert, which warned U.S. citizens to be cautious when traveling due to reports of planned terrorist attacks, pushed down airline shares, weighing on the Dow Jones Transportation Average.
Bullion prices ended a quieter U.S. day session modestly lower on Wednesday, 25 November 2015, pressured by bearish outside markets on this day that saw the U.S. dollar index higher and hit a seven-month high.
February Comex gold was last down $4.20 at $1,069.10 an ounce. March Comex silver was last down $0.068 at $14.12 an ounce.
The tensions surrounding the Turkey military downing a Russian warplane on Tuesday subsided Wednesday, as there was very little risk aversion in the marketplace. While trading was slower during the U.S. day session Wednesday, due to the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, there was a very heavy slate of U.S. economic data out. The data was a mixed bag and the precious metals saw no significant price reactions to the data.
Crude oil futures shook off concerns about a global surplus to end modestly higher in preholiday trade on Wednesday, 25 November 2015 buoyed by a smaller-than-expected rise in crude-oil inventories and a further decline in the number of U.S. oil rigs. Oil turned positive just ahead of the closing bell, with traders citing apparent short covering ahead of the Thanksgiving Day holiday. U.S. financial markets will be closed on Thursday.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in January rose 17 cents, or 0.4%, to close at $43.04 a barrel, after trading as low as $41.72 earlier in the session. January Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange gained 5 cents a barrel, or 0.1%, to finish at $46.17 a barrel.
Earlier, crude trimmed losses after oil-field-services firm Baker Hughes said the number of active U.S. oil rigs fell by 9 in the latest week to 555. The number of rigs has fallen by 1,017 since the same time last year.
Oil was also boosted after the Energy Information Administration said U.S. crude oil inventories rose 961,000 barrels last week. Market had expected a 1.1 million barrel rise, on average. Separately, the EIA said natural gas in storage rose by 9 billion cubic feet to 4.009 billion cubic feet. Market had forecast a rise of 4 billion to 8 billion cubic feet.
U.S. markets will be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving Day. Stocks will open for a half-day on Friday. No economic data are scheduled for release on either day.
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