4:10 pm: [BRIEFING.COM] The stock market had its issues on Monday, mostly because of what was happening outside the stock market. To that end, the dollar hit a seven-year high against the yen, crude futures slumped below $80/bbl, and economic reports from around the globe were mixed at best. On top of that, market participants were staring straight ahead at political issues wrapped up in election day for the U.S. on Tuesday.
Those items were reason enough not to expect the stock market to do all that well on Monday, never mind that it also had to contend with the thought that it was overbought following a 10.8% gain off the October 15 low and due for a period of consolidation.
That's pretty much what happened, too. The major indices went into a consolidation mode, holding to narrow trading ranges for most of the session and not distancing themselves all that far from the unchanged mark.
The technology (+0.4%) and financial (+0.3%) sectors exhibited relative strength throughout the session and provided an influential measure of support that helped the market avoid steep losses. However, it was the weakness in the energy sector (-1.7%) that collared the market and kept it from running away to the upside.
That weakness was limited for most of the session, yet it grew more pronounced in the afternoon session when oil prices failed to respond enthusiastically to the seemingly bullish news that Saudi Arabia will be raising December crude prices for Asia and Europe. In conjunction with that report, it was also noted that crude prices will be decreased for U.S. customers.
Crude futures pushed above $80.50/bbl following the aforementioned report, but just as quickly rolled over. When they did, weak-handed bulls bailed out and created an air pocket that sucked prices below $80.00/bbl and then $79.00/bbl in a fast retreat. Crude settled the session down $2.20 at $78.34/bbl.
That weakness pulled down the energy sector, which declined 1.7% for the session after being up as much as 0.8% when the Saudi Arabia headline first hit.
The energy sector was the only sector to make a move greater than 1.0% for the session. That was a big reason, along with the relative strength of the financial and technology sectors, why the broader market didn't trade down in a more noticeable manner.
The utilities sector (+0.7%) was actually the biggest percentage gainer on Monday, yet its small weight didn't make as much difference as the heavy weight of the financial and technology sectors did. To that end, a 1.3% gain in Apple (AAPL 109.40, +1.40) was a big driver of the broader market's resilience along with gains in Dow components American Express (AXP 90.85, +0.90), Goldman Sachs (GS 190.83, +0.84), and JPMorgan Chase (JPM 60.88, +0.40) that helped offset weakness in Caterpillar (CAT 100.22, -1.19) and Home Depot (HD 96.09, -1.43).
Home Depot was downgraded by Raymond James to Market perform from Outperform.
The S&P 500 set a new all-time high earlier in the day at 2024.54, but slipped back from that record-setting level in afternoon trading.
Consistent with the overall mixed tone of Monday's trading, key economic releases were mixed. The ISM Index for October hit a three-year high at 59.0 while final October PMI readings for China, Germany, and the eurozone were revised slightly lower.
The Construction Spending report for September revealed a disappointing 0.4% decline and pointed to the prospect of a downward revision to the third quarter GDP report as the results for July were revised sharply lower from the original report (to +0.3% from +1.2%).
Tuesday's economic calendar will feature the Trade Balance report for September (Briefing.com consensus -$40.2 bln) and the Factory Orders report for September (Briefing.com consensus -0.5%).
3:35 pm: [BRIEFING.COM]
Crude oil and natural gas were big movers today
Natural gas rose almost 5% by early morning trade on a colder than usual weather forecast in the U.S.
By the time floor trading closed, nat gas finished 4.4% higher at $4.04/MMBtu
Crude was fairly range-bound throughout today's session until the last several minutes, where it has tanked lower, falling as low at $78.14/barrel at around 2:55pm EST.
The Dec contract ended the floor trading session down 2.2% at $78.75/barrel
Dec gold fell 0.2% to $1168.80/oz, while Dec silver gained 0.9% to $16.21/oz
4:08 pm Rudolph Tech beats by $0.06, beats on revs (RTEC) : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.10 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.04; revenues rose 6.6% year/year to $46.9 mln vs the $43.73 mln consensus.
4:08 pm Advanced Energy beats by $0.08, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs in-line (AEIS) : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.42 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.08 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.34; revenues rose 0.2% year/year to $143.15 mln vs the $136.31 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.37-0.45, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.38 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $140-150 mln vs. $144.1 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
1:46 pm Notable movers of interest (:SCANX) : The following are some of today's most notable movers of interest, categorized by market capitalization (large cap over $10 billion and mid cap between $2-10 billion) and ranked by % change (all stocks over 100K average daily volume).
Large Cap Gainers
SWKS (60.64 +4.12%): Positive profile view in Barron's this weekend.
BMRN (84.44 +2.36%): Upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
LNKD (234.35 +2.36%): Initiated with a Buy at Monness Crespi & Hardt; tgt $270.
Large Cap Losers
BSBR (4.99 -8.93%): Weakness in Brazilian stocks as Brazil Ibovespa exchange drops 2.8% (UGP, PBR also lower).
TTM (45.71 -2.95%): Reported October 2014 sales of commercial and passenger vehicles declined 17% YoY to 42,819 vehicles.
CS (26.02 -2.33%): Downgraded before the open to Sell from Hold at Societe Generale.
Mid Cap Gainers
SAPE (24.59 +41.97%): Being acquired by Publicis (PUBGY) for $25 per share, or $3.7 bln in cash.
CVD (100.11 +25.29%): Being acquired by LabCorp (LH) for $105.12 in cash/stock, or equity value of ~ $6.1 bln.
AU (10 +20.87%): Upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Mid Cap Losers
ARCP (8.23 -7.22%): RCS Capital (RCAP) terminated agreement to acquire ARCP's Cole Capital; Also were reports out that the co may face a criminal investigation regarding the accounting problems disclosed last week.
DO (35.69 -5.36%): Downgraded to Strong Sell from Sell at Nordea; tgt lowered to $29 from $30.
SFUN (9.47 -2.87%): Downgraded to Hold at T.H. Capital.
11:54 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New highs (311) outpacing new lows (59) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: AAP, AAPL, AAT, ABC, ABCB, ADP, ADPT, AEC, AEE, AEP, AGN, AIV, AKR, ALE, ALGT, ALK, ALL, ALX, AMBA, AMRE, AMRI, ANIP, ARE, ATLO, ATNI, ATO, AVB, AVX, AWK, AWR, BABA, BAM, BEE, BERY, BFS, BJRI, BLK, BLKB, BMRN, BMTC, BPY, BR, BRKS, BSET, BUSE, BXP, CBOE, CBPO, CDR, CFFN, CHD, CHFN, CHSP, CI, CLC, CLDT, CLMS, CLX, CME, CMN, CMS, CONE, COR, CPT, CQB, CRAI, CRL, CSL, CTB, CTCT, CUBE, CVA, CWT, CYBR, DCT, DENN, DLX, DOC, DPZ, DRE, DRH, DSPG, DTE, EA, EDR, EGP, EIX, ELS, ENFC, ENSG, EQR, ERIE, ESE, ESS, EXPO, EXR, FCH, FDEF, FDS, FR, FRGI, FRT, FWP, GBLI, GEO, GGP, GHC, GPC, GPN, GPX, GS, GSBC, GTIV, GTS, GWB, HA, HALL, HAWK, HCN, HCP, HDSN, HE, HIG, HIW, HNH, HOLX, HR, HRL, HTA, HUBS, HZO, IART, IBCA, IBN, IBOC, IDCC, IFN, INDB, INFN, INFY, INGN, INN, IQNT, IRDM, IT, JBHT, JLL, KIM, KITE, KMB, KMX, KR, KRC, KW, KWR, LBY, LCI, LE, LEAF, LEG, LHO, LMT, LNT, LRCX, MAC, MCO, MCY, MDXG, MHFI, MKL, MLI, MMC, MMI, MNDO, MNR, MNST, MO, MOH, MRGE, MTX, NATH, NAVG, NAVI, NBCB, NBTF, NCLH, NHI, NJR, NNI, NNN, NP, NVEC, NWLI, NZH, OFLX, OMCL, ORBK, OZRK, PAYX, PCG, PCH, PEB, PEG, PEI, PFSW, PJC, PLT, PNW, PPS, PSA, PSEM, PSTB, PTX, PULB, PVTB, Q, QLYS, RAI, RDN, RDNT, RE, REG, REXR, RFMD, RGA, RGLS, RHI, RJF, RLJ, ROG, ROIC, ROL, ROP, RPT, RUSHA, RVSB, SAIC, SANM, SAPE, SAVE, SCG, SEIC, SFG, SHO, SHW, SJW, SLG, SLM, SMCI, SMMF, SPB, SPG, SPR, SRCL, SSNC, SSS, STBA, STE, STX, SUI, SWKS, SWX, SXT, SYF, SYMC, TDY, TEVA, TGS, THG, TMH, TQNT, TREC, TREX, TRNO, TSO, TSQ, TSS, TTWO, TXRH, TYL, UAL, UBP, UDR, UGI, UHT, USLM, UTL, UUU, UVE, V, VAL, VDSI, VIPS, VNO, VPRT, WAL, WASH, WEC, WERN, WLP, WRB, WRI, WSBF, WTBA, WTR, XEL, Y, YHOO, YORW, ZAGG, ZMH
Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AKG, AKO.A, ARCP, ATL, BAMM, BVA, CDE, CEF, CEL, CHCI, CHLN, CPHC, CRRS, CYRN, DRNA, EC, EGO, ENRJ, ENVI, ENZY, FCX, FES, FRAN, FRM, GAI, GRVY, GSIT, GSV, GTU, GURE, HGG, HMY, KEG, KOSS, LPG, LRN, MGI, MR, NGD, NYMX, OPB, PAAS, PHMD, PPP, PZG, QNST, RCAP, REE, RGR, RMTI, SOCB, SSRI, TGD, THM, TLR, TLYS, VIEW, WGA, XNY
ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: DIA, ICF, IGV, IHF, IWF, IYF, IYK, IYR, IYT, KIE, NLR, QQQ, SPY, URE, UUP, UYG, VNQ, XLF, XLK, XLP, XLU
ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: BWX, FXE, FXS, FXY
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