For the day, the Dow ended lower by 13.82 points (0.11%) at 12,951.78. Nasdaq ended lower by 5.51 points (0.2%) at 2,996.69. S&P 500 ended lower by 2.41 points (0.2%) at 1,407.05.
Among the ten economic sectors, telecommunications led the losses and industrials fared best among its 10 sectors.
Among major stocks under focus, Netflix shares jumped 8.3% after the video-subscription service claimed the rights to show Disney films soon after their theater runs.
Baxter International slipped 0.9% after the medical-equipment maker said it would acquire Sweden's Gambro AB, a privately held dialysis-product company, for about $4 billion. Gap declined 10% after the clothing retailer confirmed to Reuters that there had been no change in its dividend-payment policy, dashing expectations raised after other companies made special payouts. Darden Restaurants fell 9.6% after the owner of Red Lobster and Olive Garden reduced its outlook for the year. Apple settled 1.8% lower.
The U.S. dollar index was solidly lower once again on Tuesday and hit another fresh six-week low. The dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, fell by 0.3% on Tuesday.
In overnight news, the Euro currency hit a fresh six-month high against the U.S. dollar and European stocks gained amid ideas the European Union sovereign debt crisis has at least stabilized at present. Traders and investors in Europe welcomed the move by Greece on Monday to buy back up to 10 billion Euros of its outstanding bonds at a price from 30 to 40 cents on the dollar. Spanish and Italian bond yields have declined this week, which also suggests a stabilizing overall EU debt crisis.
In the U.S, the focus of the market place remains on the "fiscal cliff" tax increases and spending cuts that is fast approaching. U.S. lawmakers are still jousting on the matter, with the market place now paying less attention to the politicians' rhetoric. While the market place presently perceives there will be a last-minute agreement among U.S. lawmakers to avoid the fiscal cliff, the overall situation has been a bearish drag on many markets, including the raw commodities and stock markets.
The market place is starting to look ahead to next week's last Federal Reserve FOMC meeting of the year, on December 10 and 11. The "Operation Twist" program ends and the FOMC members must decide whether to extend the bond-buying program. Many believe the Fed will continue to purchase U.S. Treasuries and implement "QE4" at next week's meeting.
Bullion metals ended substantially lower at Comex on Tuesday, 04 December 2012 2012. Yellow metal prices slipped down as hit a fresh four-week low and closed below the $1,700.00 level. There was speculation in the gold arena on Tuesday that the swift drop in prices in early Asian trade was somehow tied to last week's sharp drop in gold prices. It was a curious fact that heavy sell orders hit the gold market on Tuesday when New York and London markets were closed and at a time when Asian trading was light.
Gold for February delivery fell $25.3 (1.5%) to settle at $1,695.8 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday. It hit a low of $1,692.6 during intra day trading. On Tuesday, March silver fell 95 cents, or 2.8%, to settle at $32.81 an ounce
Crude oil prices ended modestly lower on Tuesday, 04 December 2012 at Nymex. Prices moved lower for first time in four sessions amid speculation about the impending fiscal tax cliff meeting at Washington. On Tuesday, light and sweet crude oil futures for light sweet crude for January delivery closed lower by $0.59 (0.7%) at $88.5/barrel. Prices rose to a high of $89.18/barrel and fell to a low of $87.57 during intra day trading.
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In the weekly inventory report expected tomorrow, U.S. Energy Information Administration are expected to show a drawdown of 1.25 million barrels in U.S. commercial crude-oil stocks for the week ended 30 November 2012. Market also expects U.S. gasoline stocks to have risen 2 million barrels, erasing the prior reporting period's draw of 2 million barrels. U.S. distillate stocks are likely to have increased 800,000 barrels and refinery utilization, or run rate, is projected to rise 0.6 percentage points to 89.2% of capacity.
Decliners nudged just ahead of advancers on the New York Stock Exchange, where 674 million shares traded. Composite volume topped 3.2 billion.
Indian ADRs ended mixed on Tuesday. Among financials, while ICICI Bank gained 1%, HDFC Bank lost 0.2%. Infosys gained 0.07% and Wipro Technologies lost 0.7%. Elsewhere, copper producer Sterlite Industries lost 0.4% and car maker Tata Motors ended lower by 0.2%. MTNL lost 0.03%.
For tomorrow, the day is extremely heavy in terms of economic data. The weekly MBA Mortgage Index and the November ADP Employment Change will be released at 7:00 ET and 8:15 ET, respectively. In addition, revised third quarter productivity and unit labor costs will be reported at 8:30 ET. Lastly, October factory orders and November ISM Services will hit the wires at 10:00 ET. Earning reports will continue to trickle in.
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