Sector Investing

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From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : The broader market was led higher in the early going by financial stocks, but the sector succumbed to an afternoon selling effort that caused it to upend the major indices. In turn, the S&P 500 settled just below the neutral line, but that was still enough to end its winning streak at four sessions.

Stocks in the S&P 500 looked as if they were going to make their fifth straight advance as buyers chased the stock market's recent advances for fear of missing out on future gains. Their rather bullish bias was further supported by broad-based buying overseas and came in the face of a warning from New York University Professor Roubini about a double-dip recession in a Financial Times article.

Though there weren't any economic reports or noteworthy earnings announcements to act as catalysts this session, participants reacted strongly to an upgrade of American Express (AXP 32.67, -0.18) and Capital One (COF 36.45, -0.03) by analysts at Barclays. That propelled consumer finance stocks up more than 3% during the session, but the group finished with a gain of just 0.1% as participants pushed back against financial stocks.

Banks saw the worst of the selling effort. Diversified banks fell 2.3% and regional banks dropped 3.2%. Their weakness took the broader financial sector from a gain of roughly 2% to a 0.9% loss, which was only matched by the consumer discretionary sector.

In contrast, energy stocks were able to preserve most of their strength. The sector finished 1.3% higher, which was the best of any major sector in the S&P 500. Drillers (+1.4%) and refiners (+1.8%) saw some of the best gains, but it was integrated oil (+1.7%) that provided the most leadership, thanks to the market weight of such heavy hitters as Exxon Mobil (XOM 71.30, +1.38). The blue chip proved to be a primary leader in the Dow, which was the only major index to eke out a gain.

Energy stocks were buoyed by continued gains by oil prices, which set fresh highs for the year by making their way to $74.81 per barrel. Oil prices pulled back a bit to settle at $74.37 per barrel, up 0.6%.

Prior to the afternoon pullback the S&P 500 also registered fresh highs for 2009. It remains up almost 5% during the course of the last five sessions and up nearly 17% during the last six weeks. DJ30 +3.32 NASDAQ -2.92 NQ100 -0.2% R2K -0.2% SP400 -0.4% SP500 -0.56 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1223/2.05 bln/1455 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1543/1.23 bln/1474

09:30 am Nokia (NOK)

Nokia (NOK 12.49), the world's largest mobile phone maker, said Monday that it will offer a netbook computer. The move marks the Finland-based company's first foray into the PC business.

The Nokia Booklet 3G is a Windows based PC that weighs 1.25 kilograms and measures slightly more than two centimeters thick. Nokia said it will offer a broad range of connectivity options, an HDMI port, integrated Bluetooth and a video camera.

A growing number of people want the computing power of a PC with the full benefits of mobility," said Kai Oistamo, Nokia's executive vice president for devices. "We are in the business of connecting people and the Nokia Booklet 3G is a natural evolution for us."