From Briefing.com: 4:20 pm Closing Market Summary: Equities Open the Week Flat (:WRAPX) :
After settling at fresh record highs on Friday, the S&P 500 (unch) and the Nasdaq (unch) each eked out another record close on Monday. The Dow (unch) also finished just above its unchanged mark while the Russell 2000 (-0.4%) lagged.
The final round of the French presidential election went as expected on Sunday with Emmanuel Macron easily defeating Marine Le Pen. Mr. Macron's victory has been seen as a positive for the European Union, and global equity markets, as it lays to rest Ms. Le Pen's call for a French referendum on EU membership. France's CAC settled lower by 0.9% after hitting its best level in a decade ahead of the vote. Meanwhile, the euro (1.0932) lost 0.6% against the U.S. dollar.
Back in the U.S., seven of eleven sectors opened the week in negative territory. The materials (-0.9%), real estate (-0.5%), and health care (-0.6%) spaces finished solidly lower, but the remaining laggards finished with losses of no more than 0.3%. The health care group, which comprises around 14.0% of the broader market alone, suffered the most notable loss of the day at the hand of the biotechnology industry; the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 289.45, -6.42) declined 2.2%.
At the opposite end of the leaderboard, the energy sector (+0.7%) rallied after morning headlines that the OPEC/non-OPEC production cut agreement, which is currently scheduled to end in June, may be extended for nine months or longer. Saudi Arabia's oil minister went as far as saying that oil producers would do "whatever it takes" to end the global glut. WTI crude ended pit trade 0.4% higher at $46.63/bbl.
Like energy, the top-weighted technology sector (+0.4%) finished ahead of the broader market. Apple (AAPL 153.01, +4.05) climbed to another fresh record high, extending its already impressive 2017 advance by 2.7%. The tech giant currently holds a year-to-date gain of 32.1%. Elsewhere in the tech group, chipmakers underperformed, pushing the PHLX Semiconductor Index lower by 0.4%.
The consumer discretionary (+0.3%) and telecom services (+0.2%) sectors also closed in positive territory. Coach (COH 44.71, +2.05) contributed to the consumer discretionary sector's positive performance, jumping 4.8%, after acquiring Kate Spade (KATE 18.38, +1.41) for $18.50/share, in cash. The purchase price represents a 27.5% premium to KATE's stock price seen in late December when takeover speculation surfaced in the media.
Outside of the stock market, U.S. Treasuries settled lower across the board, signaling a possible uptick in investor sentiment; the benchmark 10-yr yield (2.38%) added three basis points. Even more notably, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 9.72, -0.85, -8.0%) settled at one of its lowest levels on record, pointing to increased complacency.
Investors didn't receive any economic data on Monday. Tomorrow, market participants will receive March JOLTS and March Wholesale Inventories (Briefing.com consensus -0.1%). The two reports will both cross the wires at 10:00 ET.
Nasdaq Composite +13.4% YTD
S&P 500 +7.2% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +6.3% YTD
Russell 2000 +2.5% YTD
Action today wound down with a wild final half hour. After making higher lows at quarter to the bell, action suddenly turned upward, allowing all three major US indices to close out the day in the green. The Dow Jones Industrial Average led all three, up 5.34 points (+0.03%) at the close to 21012.28. The Nasdaq Composite was higher by 1.90 points (+0.03%) to 6102.66, while the S&P 500 gained less than a point (+0.00%) to 2399.38.
Across the pond, the final round of the French presidential election went as expected on Sunday with Emmanuel Macron easily defeating Marine Le Pen. Mr. Macron's victory has been seen as a positive for the European Union, and global equity markets, as it lays to rest Ms. Le Pen's call for a French referendum on EU membership. France's CAC settled lower by 0.9% after hitting its best level in a decade ahead of the vote. Meanwhile, the euro (1.0932) lost 0.6% against the U.S. dollar.
Among the winners in the S&P today, the Technology (XLK 55.21, +0.24 +0.44%) space closed above flat lines, near highs. Component CenturyLink (CTL 24.80, +1.20 +5.08%) was one of the better performing names today after a positive mention at today's Sohn Conference. The US Telecoms space IYZ +0.95% led all other S&P sectors today, followed by the XLE +0.71%, XLY +0.19%, XLP -0.04%, XLU -0.04%, XLF -0.08%, XLI -0.27%, XLRE -0.54%, XLV -0.62%, XLB -0.80%.
In the S&P 500 Information Technology (944.92, +3.94 +0.42%) space, trading ended just off highs as morning weakness turned around. Component Apple (AAPL 153.01, +4.05 +2.72%) was the strongest name today, hitting all-time highs just after noon on its way to surpassing $800 billion in market capitalization. Other names in the space which were strong today included HPQ +2.12%, XLNX +1.86%, FSLR +1.77%, CTSH +1.68%, TSS +1.46%, FFIV +0.93%, GOOGL +0.89%, WU +0.88%, ADI +0.78%.
Other notable news items among sector components:
IBM's (IBM 153.03, -0.52 -0.34%) Credit rating was cut from AA- to A+, outlook changed from negative to stable at S&P.
TiVo (TIVO 18.10, -0.20 -1.09%) announced that Frontier (FTR 1.53, +0.07 +4.79%) signed a multi-year product license agreement and renewal of its entertainment discovery intellectual property license agreement.
Belden (BDC 74.15, -0.65 -0.87%) rescinded its proposal to acquire 100% of Digi Intl (DGII 9.95, -0.75 -7.01%) in light of the Q2 results and FY27 outlook reported by DGII on May 4.
TripAdvisor (TRIP 47.03, +0.86 +1.86%) announced agreement to integrate Grubhub's (GRUB 45.30, -0.42 -0.92%) restaurant network into the TripAdvisor desktop website, mobile web and mobile app; terms and length of the agreement will not be disclosed.
Straight Path Comms' (STRP 214.74, +53.25 +32.975) Board determined that a revised offer from a 'Multi-National Telecommunications Company' for $184/share constitutes a 'superior proposal'.
Itron (ITRI 65.55, +0.85 +1.31%) to acquire Comverge in a cash transaction valued at about $100 million. The company anticipates the acquisition will be neutral to non-GAAP earnings per share in 2017 and accretive beginning in 2018.
In reaction to quarterly results:
First Data (FDC 16.61, +0.61 +3.81%) reported Q1 EPS of $0.28 on in-line revenues which rose less than a percent to $2.8 billion compared to a year ago.
Tower Semi (TSEM 24.00, +2.65 +12.41%) reported better than expected Q1 EPS of $0.48 on revenues which rose 18.7% compared to a year ago to $330.1 million. The company also reaffirmed Q2 revenue guidance in the range of $331.2-358.8 million.
Companies scheduled to report quarterly results tonight/tomorrow morning: AMBR, CNXR, CVG, EVBG, FN, JCOM, MODN, OTEX, P, QTNA, RNET, SREV, MEET/ALLT, CBB, INAP, KVHI, MTLS, NVMI, RST, SNCR, TVPT, TRMR, VPG, VG, ZBRA
Analyst actions:
TSS was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman,
CALD was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Dougherty,
POWI was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Sidoti;
MU was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman,
NXPI was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Instinet;
YEXT was initiated at RBC Capital Mkts, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Pacific Crest and Piper Jaffray, ASUR was initiated with a Buy at Canaccord Genuity
