From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm Closing Market Summary: Stocks Open the Week Lower (:WRAPX) :
The stock market couldn't find any room to run on Monday as the bears wrapped it up behind the line of scrimmage for a modest loss. The S&P 500 finished 0.2% lower while the Dow (unch) and the Nasdaq (unch) ended just a step ahead. Meanwhile, the small-cap Russell 2000 underperformed with a loss of 0.5%.
Monday's sideways trend fits nicely with the range-bound action that has ensued over the last couple of weeks in the stock market. As leaders in Washington continue to debate the details of health care reform, investors keep their fingers crossed for a quick resolution, knowing that the longer the bill takes to pass through Congress, the longer they will have to wait for tax reform.
News flow was generally light on Monday with statements from three FOMC voters acting as the top headline. In summary, Chicago Fed President Evans could not rule out four rate hikes in 2017, Philadelphia Fed President Harker believes that the Fed will mildly overshoot the 2.0% inflation target, and Minneapolis Fed President Kashkari stated that he would like to shift the focus to reducing the Fed's balance sheet. Treasuries ticked up in the wake of the statements to finish Monday with modest gains. The benchmark 10-yr yield closed three basis points lower at 2.47%.
In corporate news, Caterpillar (CAT 95.40, +2.49) jumped 2.7% after the company reported strong machine retail sales for the month of February. However, CAT's performance wasn't enough to keep the industrial sector (-0.2%) out of the red.
Fellow Dow component Apple (AAPL 141.43, +1.44) also had a solid showing, climbing 1.0% to a fresh record-high. In a combined effort with chipmakers, which added 0.8% to the PHLX Semiconductor Index, AAPL's outperformance left the technology sector (+0.1%) ahead of the broader market. In addition to technology, the materials (+0.4%), consumer staples (+0.1%), and real estate groups (+0.1%) finished in the green.
On the downside, the utilities (-0.7%) and financials (-0.9%) sectors finished at the bottom of the day's leaderboard. The energy space (-0.1%) performed in line with the two sectors for much of the session, but eventually rode an afternoon rally back to its unchanged mark.
Investors did not receive any economic data on Monday. Tuesday's lone economic report, fourth quarter Current Account Balance (Briefing.com consensus -$128.2 billion), will cross the wires at 8:30 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +9.6% YTD
S&P 500 +6.0% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +5.8% YTD
Russell 2000 +2.0% YTD
Flat action today culminated in a mixed finish as only the Nasdaq Composite, which gained less than a point, was able to hover above flat lines when Monday came to a close. On the first day of spring, the markets demanded little as the aforementioned Nasdaq added +0.53 (+0.01%) to 5901.53. The S&P 500 turned in the worst Monday of the three major averages, losing 4.78 points (-0.20%) to 2373.47, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed only 8.76 points (-0.04%) to 20905.86.
Monday's sideways trend fits nicely with the range-bound action that has ensued over the last couple of weeks in the stock market. As leaders in Washington continue to debate the details of health care reform, investors keep their fingers crossed for a quick resolution, knowing that the longer the bill takes to pass through Congress, the longer they will have to wait for tax reform.
News flow was generally light on Monday with statements from three FOMC voters acting as the top headline. In summary, Chicago Fed President Evans could not rule out four rate hikes in 2017, Philadelphia Fed President Harker believes that the Fed will mildly overshoot the 2.0% inflation target, and Minneapolis Fed President Kashkari stated that he would like to shift the focus to reducing the Fed's balance sheet. Treasuries ticked up in the wake of the statements to finish Monday with modest gains. The benchmark 10-yr yield closed three basis points lower at 2.47%.
For its part in Monday's tepid affair, the Technology (XLK 53.39, +0.05 +0.09%) managed to equal the Nasdaq's meagre gains as a bump in the final moments of action made it that way. Bellwether names like AAPL +1.0%, INTC +0.5%, CSCO +0.2% and MSFT +0.1% helped the sector today. As far as the rest of the S&P goes, the Materials XLB +0.55% space managed the best gains on Monday, followed by the XLP +0.20%, IYZ +0.12%, XLRE +0.10%, XLE -0.14%, XLV -0.15%, XLI -0.18%, XLY -0.24%, XLU -0.66%, with the Financial sector bringing up the rear XLF -0.82%.
In the S&P 500 Information Technology (905.31, +0.93 +0.10%) space, trading topped new all-time highs today, eclipsing 907.65 at highs. Component Alphabet (GOOGL 867.91, -4.46 -0.51%) was not so lucky, however, as the stock was downgraded to a Hold rating at Pivotal Research ahead of this morning's bell. Other names in the space which posted gains today included NVDA +3.19%, MU +1.59%, RHT +1.03%, XRX +0.95%, AMAT +0.74%, CTSH +0.72%, TDC +0.59%, KLAC +0.45%, QCOM +0.45%, HPE +0.44%.
Other notable news items among sector components:
IBM (IBM 175.70, +0.05 +0.03%) unveiled new additions to the IBM Cloud Object Storage family. The company is offering clients new choices for archival data and a new pricing model to more easily apply intelligence to unpredictable data patterns using analytics and cognitive tools. IBM also announced an expanded partnership with NetApp (NTAP 41.95, -0.11 -0.26%) that provides NetApp customers with more ways to take advantage of IBM Cloud.
Moneygram (MGI 16.43, +0.14 +0.86%) announced that its board of directors has determined that the unsolicited proposal received on March 14 from Euronet Worldwide (EEFT 83.45, -0.04 -0.05%) to acquire all of the outstanding shares of MGI Common Stock and Preferred Stock for $15.20 per share in cash on an as-converted basis could reasonably be expected to result in a "company superior proposal".
Qualcomm's (QCOM 57.81, +0.26 +0.45%) Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. introduced the Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform, designed to bring 4G LTE connectivity and 4G services to entry-level feature phones.
Vodafone's (VOD 26.48, -0.07 -0.26%) India subsidiary, Vodafone India, announced a merger with Mumbai-based Idea Cellular to form the largest telecom firm in India.
FactSet (FDS 180.71, +0.77 +0.43%) acquired BISAM Technologies from Aquiline Capital Partners & company insiders for $205.2 million.
Analyst actions:
FEYE was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill;
GOOGL was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Pivotal Research Group,
NMBL was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham,
MBLY was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray;
SNAP was initiated with a Buy at Monness Crespi & Hardt,
MEET was initiated with a Buy at Canaccord Genuity,
WDAY was initiated with a Buy at BofA/Merrill
