From Briefing.com: The broader market closed the final day of the calendar year in a fashion we've become all too accustomed to in the past few months. The Nasdaq Composite lost 58.44 points (-1.15%) to 5007.41, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 178.84 points (-1.02%) to 17425.03, and the S&P 500 closed lower by 19.42 points (-0.94%) to 2043.94. Volume was light today, as only 734 million shares traded hands on the NYSE floor today versus the average of 906 million -- volume was also light on the Nasdaq floor today, as only 1.315 billion shares were exchanged versus the average of about 1.699 billion.
Market data today came in the form of Chicago Purchasing Managers Index (CPI) which fell to 42.9 from November's 48.7. Initial Claims were up 20,000 in the week ending December 26 to 287,000. Continuing Claims for the week ending December 19 were also up, by 3,000, to 2.198 million. This year, the three major US indices finished with only the Nasdaq positive -- up about 4.2% -- the Dow Jones was the worst performer -- down about 3.5% this year -- and the S&P finished between the other two -- lower by 2.2%.
As the final bell of the year tolled, Technology (XLK 42.83, -0.61 -1.40%) ended in a sell-off, as did the broader market. This year, the worst performer was Micron (MU 14.16, flat) down about 60%, while the best performer was Computer Sciences (CSC 32.68, -0.30 -0.91%), ending the year up nearly 97%. Other sectors closed today XLE +0.45%, XLI -0.73%, XLB -0.87%, XLV -0.89%, XLF -1.00%, XLY -1.00%, XLU -1.07%, XLP -1.12%, IYZ -1.17%, and the year with the XLY posting the best YTD gains (up about 11.0%) and the XLE posting the worst losses (down about 22%).
For the last day of trading in 2015, the S&P 500 Information Technology sector (721.48, -10.46 -1.43%) closed more than 10 points down. On the year, the sector was up slightly (+1.8%), outperforming the broader S&P 500. Best performing components this year included CSC +97%, NVDA +69%, VRSN +54%, FSLR +50% and the worst performers this year were MU -60%, WDC -42%, STX -41%, TDC -38%, YHOO -34%.
Technology sub-sector performance this year:
First Trust DJ Internet ETF-- FDN +23.1%
iShares GS Software-- IGV +13.5%
SPDR Semiconductor-- XSD +11.8%
Global X Social Media ETF-- SOCL +10.5%
First Trust Cloud ETF-- SKYY +7.0%
Technology Select Sector SPDR-- XLK +7.0%
iShares Semiconductor-- SOXX -0.67%
News items among sector components:
Blucora (BCOR 9.80, -0.22 -2.20%) amended its Publisher Network Contract with Yahoo (YHOO 33.26, -0.11 -0.33%). The amendment holds that the parties terminated that certain Mutual Termination Agreement dated September 28, 2015, between InfoSpace and Yahoo. The Amendment also extends the term of that certain Yahoo! Publisher Network Contract #1-23975446 effective as of January 1, 2011 between InfoSpace and Yahoo until March 31, 2016 and sets forth the revenue share for the extended term.
Anadigics (ANAD 0.63, +0.03 +6.25%) received a competing offer of $0.58 per share that the Board has determined is superior to GaAs Labs' $0.54 per share offer.
iDreamSky Technology (DSKY 13.39, +0.12 +0.90%) agreed to 'going private' offer at $14.00 per share.
On Track Innovations (OTIV 0.45, -0.03 -6.25%) disclosed an update on Supercom (SPCB 5.22, -0.13 -2.43%) $17.5 million lawsuit. The company rejected SuperCom's allegations.
Benefitfocus (BNFT 36.39, -1.10 -2.93%) filed for a common stock offering of about 6.242 million shares by a selling stockholder.
China Digital TV (STV 1.74, -0.03 -1.69%) announced the termination of its asset restructuring with Shanghai Tongda Venture Capital.
Finjan (FNJN 1.15, -0.05 -4.17%) announced the USPTO has granted its subsidiary patent covering malicious mobile code runtime monitoring system and methods.
Amtech Systems (ASYS 6.26, +0.50 +8.68%) reported that its Tempress Systems subsidiary has received $22 million in new solar orders.
Companies scheduled to report quarterly results next week:
GPN, CUDA, SNX
4:15 pm : The stock market ended its last session of the year under broad-based selling pressure, which pushed the S&P 500 (-0.9%) into negative territory for the year (-0.7%). This represented the first year-to-date loss for the benchmark index since 2008. The benchmark index outperformed the Nasdaq (-1.2%) today as the technology sector paced today's retreat. On the year though, the Nasdaq outperformed with a year-to-date return of 5.7%. Unsurprisingly, it was a quiet end to the year with fewer than 740 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.
The major averages slipped at the beginning of their day as pressure in oil helped to dampen futures trading. Oil prices fell through pre-market trading, but they eventually rebounded to their overnight levels. Oil rallied during the afternoon before settling near the $37.13/bbl price level with a 1.5% gain.
In sectors, energy (+0.3%), industrials (-0.7%), materials (-0.8%), and financials (-0.9%) lead, while technology (-1.4%), utilities (-1.1%), and consumer staples (-1.1%) rounded out the leaderboard. It is interesting to note, that only two cyclical sectors posted gains in 2015. The top-weighted technology sector gained 4.3% while the consumer discretionary space (-1.0%) rallied 8.4%. On the other side, energy ended the year down 23.6% while materials surrendered 10.0%. Both sectors responded to year-long weakness in commodities, which was highlighted by a 32.2% plunge in crude oil.
Looking at the energy space, Dow component Chevron (CVX 89.96, -0.13) struggled to keep pace with the broader sector while pipeline companies outperformed. Kinder Morgan (KMI 14.92, +0.38) advanced 2.6% following the developments in oil. To be fair though, pipeline companies also benefited from the strong performance of natural gas, which spiked 6.0% to $2.34/MMbtu following a bullish inventory reading.
In the heavily-weighted technology sector, large-cap constituents Apple (AAPL 105.26, -2.06), Alphabet (GOOGL 778.01, -12.29), and Facebook (FB 104.66, -1.56) saw increased pressure as the three underperformed the broader sector with performances 1.9%, 1.6%, and 1.5% respectively. For the year Apple lost 4.6% while Alphabet soared 46.6% and Facebook surged 33.8%.
Treasuries ended their abbreviated session on their highs with the 10-yr yield slipping three basis points to 2.27%.
The stock market will be closed tomorrow in observation of New Years Day.
It was a relatively quiet day on the economic front with data being limited to Chicago PMI and Initial and Continuing Claims:
The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index fell to 42.9 (Briefing.com consensus 50.1) from November's 48.7.
Initial claims increased by 20,000 in the week ending December 26 to 287,000 (Briefing.com consensus 270,000).
No special factors influenced this jump which pushed the four week average up 4,500 to 272,500.
Continuing claims for the week ending December 19th increased by 3,000 to 2.198 million (Briefing.com consensus 2.213 million)
This moved the four week average higher by 9,250 to 2.220 million.
Monday's data will be limited to the 10:00 ET release of November Construction spending report (Briefing.com consensus 0.8%) and the December ISM Index (Briefing.com consensus 49.0).
Nasdaq +5.7% YTD
S&P 500 -0.7% YTD
Dow Jones -2.2% YTD
Russell 2000 -5.9% YTD
Week in Review: 2015 Ends on Shaky Note
The stock market began the abbreviated trading week on a lower note with the S&P 500 surrendering 0.2%; however, Monday's participation left a lot to be desired considering fewer than 600 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor. Equity indices stumbled out of the gate with the energy sector (-1.8%) leading the opening slide. The growth-sensitive sector responded to a nightlong retreat in crude oil, which settled lower by 3.3% at $36.86/bbl. The energy component saw additional selling pressure after China reported its sixth consecutive monthly decline in industrial profits (-1.4% in November). The disappointing data from China cast a pall on the overall risk sentiment and a 2.6% decline in the Shanghai Composite certainly did not help matters. Interestingly, the index held its ground through the first half of the session, but plunged in afternoon trade. The situation was a bit different in the U.S. as stocks stumbled out of the gate, spending the afternoon in a slow rally off late-morning lows. Two sectors-consumer discretionary (+0.3%) and utilities (+0.2%)-eked out slim gains while the remaining eight groups registered losses.
Equities enjoyed a broad-based rally on Tuesday, which lifted the S&P 500 (+1.1%) back into positive territory for the year (+1.0%). The benchmark index was outperformed by the Nasdaq (+1.3%) for the bulk of the day, as technology would lead the advance. Once again it was a very quiet day with fewer than 573 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor. Equity indices spiked out of the gate following a jump in oil prices heading into the opening hour. This led to a large initial uptick in commodity-sensitive sectors like energy (+0.7%) and materials (+0.9%). Their rally was short-lived, however, as the struggling sectors couldn't hold the lead. On a related note, WTI crude was able to end its day near its high, climbing 2.8% to $37.86/bbl.
The major indices ended Wednesday on a negative note after the market faced substantial selling pressure into the close with all the key averages settling near their lows. Despite the retreat, the S&P 500 (-0.7%) was able to stay in positive territory for the year (+0.2%). The benchmark index outperformed the tech-heavy Nasdaq (-0.8%), which narrowed its 2015 advance to 7.0%. Equity indices slipped into the open after overnight selling pressure in oil drove the commodity below the $37.00/bbl price level. This price action came after the American Petroleum Institute reported that crude stockpiles rose by 2.9 million barrels versus a decrease of 3.6 million barrels last week. An hour after the open, the Energy Information Administration disclosed a build of 2.629 million barrels on their weekly crude inventory report versus an expected draw of 2.457 million barrels. The commodity fell 2.9% on the day, ending at $36.80/bbl. Accordingly, the commodity-sensitive energy (-1.5%) and materials (-1.0%) sectors posted the largest losses while utilities (-0.2%), consumer staples (-0.4%), healthcare (-0.5%), industrials (-0.8%), technology (-0.8%), consumer discretionary (-0.8%), and financials (-0.8%) outperformed.DJ30 -178.84 NASDAQ -58.43 SP500 -19.42 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1029/1.315 bln/1930 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1164/734.6 mln/1879
3:40 pm :
The dollar index continues to trade near today's high, now +0.4%, which is helping weigh on commodities
After rallying 26% between Dec 21-29, front-month U.S. Feb natural gas futures lost steam yesterday on new weather forecasts, sliding 7% to end the session at $2.21/MMBtu
However, trading interest reversed again today and front-month U.S. nat gas futures rallied +6% in today's session to close at $2.34/MMBtu
Metals closed mixed today with Mar silver sliding three cents to $13.81/oz and Feb gold rising $0.80 to $1060.40/oz Mar copper slipped one cent to $2.14/oz.
4:10 pm Anadigics announces that a competing bidder has made a further amended offer to acquire the co at $0.68/share, previous offer was $0.58/share (ANAD) :
The December 30, 2015 Proposed Merger Agreement offers, subject to the terms thereof, to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Anadigics common stock on a fully diluted basis for $0.68 per share net in cash, pursuant to an all-cash tender offer and second-step merger.
The December 30, 2015 Proposed Merger Agreement raises certain material issues that need to be negotiated and resolved with the Excluded Party and there can be no assurance that those issues will be resolved to the satisfaction of the Company's Board of Directors.
9:00 am Amtech Systems reports that its Tempress Systems subsidiary has received $22 mln in new solar orders (ASYS) :
Co announces its solar subsidiary, Tempress Systems has received ~$22 mln in new solar orders, of which ~50% is for its PECVD systems.
The majority of the orders is from a top tier solar cell manufacturer in Asia and is expected to ship within the next 6-9 months.
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