Boeing pressures the Dow while Caterpillar leads the Dow winners
US stocks ended lower at Wall Street on Monday, 29 July 2013. Indices saw early pressure after the National Association of Realtors said pending home sales fell 0.4% in June, with rising rates blamed for undercutting sales momentum. Stocks got off to a weak start after Japanese stocks ended at their lowest level in more than a month on Monday, with the Nikkei Stock Average falling 3.3%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 36.86 points, or 0.2%, to end at 15,521.97. The Nasdaq Composite declined 14.02 points, or 0.4%, to 3,599.14. The S&P 500 Index fell 6.32 points, or 0.4%, to settle at 1,685.33.
Seven out of ten sectors ended in the red led by consumer discretionary, energy and financial sectors.
Dow components had a mixed finish. Boeing led the laggards after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration proposed a $2.75 million civil penalty against the aerospace company, saying it failed to correct a problem with fasteners on its 777 airplanes for more than two years after its discovery in 2008. Caterpillar was the Dow's top gainer, rising 1.2% after the company said it would buy back $1 billion in shares from Societe Generale.
It is a busy week of worldwide economic data points, highlighted by FOMC meeting and the U.S. employment report on Friday. Most expect the Fed will leave its monetary policy unchanged and continue to lean well to the dovish side at this week's meeting. For the U.S. jobs report, the key non-farm payrolls figure is forecast to rise by around 175,000 workers in July.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, fell by 0.3% on Monday.
Among economic data expected at Wall Street today, data of the day shows that pending home sales for June fell 0.4%, which was better than the 1.7% decrease forecast by the consensus. Today's reading follows last month's revised increase of 5.8%.
While today's session did not produce much excitement, investors received a heavy dose of M&A news. Omnicom Group and Publicis Groupe announced a merger of equals while Saks received an offer from Hudson's Bay to be acquired for $16 per share, which represents a 4.5% premium to Friday's closing price.
Separately, Perrigo agreed to acquire Elan for $16.50 per share (10.5% premium) and Michael Baker entered into an agreement to be acquired by Integrated Mission Solutions for $40.50 per share. The purchase price represents a 36.8% premium.
Bullion metal prices ended higher on Monday, 29 July 2013 at Comex. Prices rebounded from the previous session's loss as investors looked to a heavy schedule of central-bank meetings and economic data this week that could shape the near-term price outlook for the precious metal. A weak dollar also boosted prices.
Gold for December delivery ended higher by $7.7 (0.6%) at $1,329.6 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday. September silver ended higher by $0.09 (0.5%) at $19.86 an ounce on Monday.
Crude-oil prices ended at lowest on Monday, 29 July 2013 at Nymex. Prices fell . amid Chinese growth worries as investors looked to a heavy schedule of central-bank meetings and economic data this week that could shape the near-term price outlook for the precious metal. Light and sweet crude for August ended lower by $0.15 (0.1%) at $104.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday.
Indian ADRs ended lower on Monday. In the IT space, Infosys was down 0.12% and Wipro was up 1.7%. In the Banking space, HDFC Bank was down 0.6% and ICICI Bank was down 0.2%. In other space, Tata Motors was up 0.4%, and Sterlite was down 5.1%.
Tomorrow, the May Case-Shiller 20-city Index will be reported at 9:00 ET while July consumer confidence will cross the wires at 10:00 ET. On the earnings front, Aetna, Goodyear and Pfizer will report their results ahead of the opening bell.
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