Stocks Suffer Varied Losses
Dow -47.38 at 12548.37, Nasdaq -46.16 at 2782.31, S&P -8.30 at 1329.47
[] Stocks were mixed for most of the morning, but an upturn by the dollar and weakness among tech stocks encouraged selling. Pressure was most pronounced against the Nasdaq, which dropped to its lowest level in almost one month.
The tone of early trade was lackluster. Losses abroad and news that IMF managing director Strauss-Kahn was arrested ahead of an important meeting undermined sentiment. A downturn in the dollar stirred up some buying interest, but the greenback eventually bounced back so that it ended the day with a tepid loss of 0.2%.
The dollar started to pare losses at about the same time that the Nasdaq failed to push into positive territory. The broader market endured a more gradual decline, but the Nasdaq suffered a sharper slide that left it with a loss that was more than double that of the S&P 500 and about four times that of the Dow.
Large-cap tech stocks weighed most heavily on the Nasdaq, which closed just above its 50-day moving average.
Consumer discretionary stocks also came under sharp pressure. The sector’s 1.4% decline came as Lowe’s Companies (LOW 24.84, -0.92) dropped to a three-month low following a disappointing quarterly report, which featured an earnings miss and disappointing forecast. Retailer JC Penney (JCP 37.21, -1.23) gapped up to a two-year high following an upside earnings surprise and strong outlook, but the stock quickly rolled over.
Financials had lagged last week, but traded with relative strength for most of this session. The sector’s slide was limited to a fractional loss amid support from consumer finance stocks following the release of several monthly card metric reports.
Advancing Sectors: Health Care (+0.1%)
Unchanged: Utilities, Consumer Staples
Declining Sectors: Tech (-1.5%), Consumer Discretionary (-1.4%), Telecom (-0.8%), Energy (-0.8%), Industrials (-0.4%), Materials (-0.4%), Financials (-0.1%)..Nasdaq 100 -1.7%. ..S&P Midcap 400 -0.9%. ..Russell 2000 -1.5%.
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