From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The stock market ended Thursday on a slightly lower note after spending the day inside a narrow range. The S&P 500 ended just below its flat line while the Nasdaq (-0.1%) underperformed throughout the session.
Equity indices displayed some strength at the start, but the opening rally fizzled out shortly after taking shape. The S&P 500 returned to its flat line just 30 minutes after the open and remained near that mark into the afternoon.
Five cyclical sectors ended in negative territory, which overshadowed solid gains among lightly-weighted countercyclical groups like utilities (+1.3%), real estate (+0.9%), and telecom services (+0.4%). To be fair, the influential health care sector (+0.1%) also registered a modest gain, but biotechnology could not keep up.
The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 267.11, -0.97) lost 0.4%, contributing to the relative weakness in the Nasdaq. The top-weighted technology sector (-0.04%) also lagged throughout the day amid weakness in chipmakers. However, the PHLX Semiconductor Index and the tech sector returned to unchanged by the close.
Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, energy (-0.2%) retreated amid a 0.6% decline in crude oil, which slid to $53.74/bbl after yesterday's bearish reading of the API inventory report was confirmed by today's data from the EIA.
The financial sector (-0.7%) also underperformed into the afternoon with the likes of Bank of America (BAC 22.00, -0.33), Citigroup (C 59.38, -0.66), and JPMorgan Chase (JPM 85.89, -0.61) surrendering between 0.7% and 1.4%.
Treasuries registered their second consecutive day of gains, sending the 10-yr yield lower by three basis points to 2.48%. The U.S. Dollar Index (102.70, -0.60) responded to the downtick in the benchmark yield, falling 0.6%.
Both the dollar and Treasuries spent the afternoon inside narrow ranges, seeing little reaction to an executive order from President Obama, calling for 35 Russian diplomats to be expelled from the US. The executive order also sanctioned five entities and six individuals for alleged interference in the 2016 election.
Investor participation remained light with fewer than 700 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.
Economic data included initial claims and international trade in goods:
The initial claims report for the week ending December 24 showed claims decreasing 10,000 to 265,000 (Briefing.com consensus 263,000)
There were no special factors driving that reading, which remained below 300,000 for the 95th consecutive week and kept the four-week moving average of 263,000 near a 43-year low
Continuing claims for the week ending December 17 increased 62,000 to 2.102 million. The four-week moving average for this series was 2.042 million, up slightly from the prior week.
November International Trade in Goods showed a deficit of $65.30 billion to follow last month's deficit of $61.90 billion (from $62.00 billion)
Tomorrow's economic data will be limited to the 9:45 ET release of Chicago PMI for December (Briefing.com consensus 55.2).
Russell 2000 +19.9% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +13.7% YTD
S&P 500 +10.1% YTD
Nasdaq Composite +8.5% YTD
DJ30 -13.90 NASDAQ -6.47 SP500 -0.66 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1444/1.17 bln/1491 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1722/699.9 mln/1219
3:30 pm :
Crude oil futures snapped their 3-day streak after EIA reported an unexpected build in crude oil inventory compared to Consensus
Feb 2017 crude oil futures fell $0.23 (-0.4%) to $53.78/barrel
Baker Hughes rig count data will be released tomorrow at 1 pm ET.
EIA highlights:
Crude oil inventories had a build of +0.6 mln barrels (consensus called for a draw of -2.06 mln barrels).
Gasoline inventories had a draw of -1.6 mln barrels (consensus called for a build of +1.32 mln barrels).
Distillate inventories had a draw of -1.9 mln barrels.
Natural gas dropped to a session low despite EIA data showing a larger-than-anticipated draw in natural gas inventory
Feb 2017 natural gas closed $0.11 lower (-2.8%) at $3.79/MMBtu
EIA highlights:
Natural gas inventory showed a draw of -237 bcf vs expectations for inventory to be a draw of approximately -222 bcf.
Working gas in storage was 3,360 Bcf as of Friday, December 23, 2016, according to EIA estimates.
Stocks were 413 Bcf less than last year at this time and 79 Bcf below the five-year avg of 3,439 Bcf.
At 3,360 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.
In precious metals, gold closed higher for the 4th session in a row & at a fresh 2-week high for the 2nd consecutive session on continued dollar index weakness
Feb 2017 gold ended today's session up $17.00 (+1.5%) to $1157.90/oz
Mar 2017 silver closed today's session $0.19 higher (+1.2%) at $16.22/oz
The dollar index was -0.6% around the 102.71, provided support to precious metals
Commodities, as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, were -0.1% around the 87.67 level
Wall Streetclosed lower Thursday, as more investors stepped away from the trading desk inanticipation of the New Year's holiday. The Nasdaq Composite underperformed, shedding 6.47 pts (0.12%), while the S&P 500 closed lower by 0.66pts (0.03%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 13.90 pts (0.07%).
Looking at theS&P sectors, Tech saw a slight decline (-0.04%), while Financials (-0.73%) saw the biggest decline. Conversely, Utilities experienced a notably outperformance, gaining1.28%.
Today's economicdata consisted of Initial Claims for 12/24 (265k vs. the Briefing.com consensusof 263K), Continuing Claims for 12/17 (2102K), International Trade in Goods(-$65.3B), Nat Gas Inventories for 12/23 (-237 bcf vs. consensus of roughly -222bcf), & Crude Inventories for 12/23 (+0.6 mln barrels vs. consensus ofroughly -2.06 mln barrels).
As 2016 winds down,and ahead of markets being closed this coming Monday in observance of New Year's,volume and news flow remains significantly depressed. The tech sector saw no notable earning reports, news, or analyst notes today.
Turning tomarket action, NVIDIA (NVDA 111.43, +2.18) saw it shares rally 2% after dropping6.9% yesterday amid a cautious report from Citron Research. Citron's AndrewLeft released his report early yesterday morning and then appeared on CNBC'sFast Money program last night to further tout his negative stance on shares. Recoveringa portion of yesterday's decline, NVIDIA shares are up 238% this yearamid strong financial results that consistently exceeded analyst expectations.
NVIDIA led theS&P Information Technology sector, followed by PayPal (PYPL 39.96, +0.39)& F5 Networks (FFIV 144.92, +0.86). On the other hand, Micron (MU 22.27,-0.51), Qorvo (QRVO 53.61, -1.09), & Seagate Technology (STX 38.02, -0.77) underperformed.
Looking ahead totomorrow, market activity is expected to continue to be light with no notableearnings expected and only one economic data piece scheduled for release [ChicagoPMI (9:45 AM ET; Briefing.com consensus 55.2)].
