Sector Investing

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From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : For the most part, the stock market lacked direction this session, but it still managed to put together a late advance that helped it settle near its session high. That helped stocks book a modest gain and close near fresh 52-week highs.

Financials were a primary source of support this session. The sector spiked 1.7% as diversified banks climbed 2.6%. European banking giant Barclays (BCS 19.34, +1.01) was especially strong after analysts at Deutsche Bank picked the name as one of its top choices for European bank stocks.

Leadership from financials helped pull stocks up from negative territory a few times this session. Technical support also helped provide a base from which stocks could rebound.

The S&P 500 set its session low amid a knee-jerk reaction to the midmorning release of some disappointing November pending home sales numbers. Pending home sales for November decreased 16.0% month-over-month, which was a far steeper slide than the 2.0% decline that many had forecast. The disappointing data overshadowed news that factory orders for November were up a stronger-than-expected 1.1% (consensus called for a 0.5% increase).

There were only a few corporate headlines this session. Among them, Kraft (KFT 28.77, +1.34) announced that it has opted to sell its North American pizza business to Nestle in order to offer cash as part of its bid for Cadbury (CBY 49.73, -1.92). Meanwhile, Kraft's proposal to issue stock to help it acquire Cadbury received criticism from Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett, who suggested that Kraft's shares constitute an expensive currency. Berkshire reportedly owns some 9% of Kraft's outstanding shares.

Automaker Ford (F 10.96, +0.68) had a strong session, thanks to news that its sales for December surged approximately 33%, which is far better than the 13% increase that many on the Street had expected.

Though stocks were able to put together a strong finish, a rebound by the dollar weighed on things a bit. The greenback had been down modestly ahead of the opening bell, but rallied to finish with a 0.2% gain against a basket of foreign currencies.

The dollar's move also dampened investor appetite for commodities. Still, the CRB Commodity Index had been on its way toward a late session gain of its own, but finished flat instead.

Support for Treasuries took the benchmark 10-year Note up 15 ticks and its yield back below 3.8%. The Note's yield now stands near 3.75%, which is its lowest level in more than one week.

Advancing Sectors: Financials (+1.7%), Energy (+0.8%), Materials (+0.5%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.5%), Industrials (+0.4%), Telecom (+0.2%)
Declining Sectors: Utilities (-1.2%), Health Care (-0.6%), Consumer Staples (-0.1%)
Unchanged: Tech DJ30 -11.94 NASDAQ +0.29 NQ100 +0.1% R2K -0.3% SP400 +0.3% SP500 +3.53 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1197/2.84 bln/1505 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1845/1.19 bln/1198

4:27PM Silicon Image appoints Camillo Martino Chief Executive Officer (SIMG) 2.76 +0.06 : Martino comes to Silicon Image from SAI Technology, Inc. SAI is a leading supplier of 4G and security technology solutions to the mobile communications industry. During Martino's two year tenure as a board member, chief operating officer (COO) and Angel investor, SAI experienced rapid growth and built a strong and innovative business. Martino will remain a member of the SAI Board of Directors after joining Silicon Image.

1:00PM Integrated Device's PureTouchTM capacitive touch controller selected by Gionee Communication, a China handset provider, for use in its slider-style mobile phone (IDTI) 6.58 -0.02 :

9:10AM On The Wires : Maxim Integrated Products (MXIM) and Celeno Communications announce their collaboration to provide whole-home wireless HD solutions. The companies are now offering a joint reference design that can be embedded into HDTVs, gaming consoles, digital video recorders, laptops, Blu-ray players, set-top boxes, and home gateways... LTX-Credence Corporation (LTXC) announces a new multi-channel, VI instrument for the ASL test system. The XVI greatly enhances multi-site capability for the ASL1000 and ASL 3000 test systems with 14 channels per board...

CopperGate, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sigma Designs (SIGM) and Gigafast jointly announce that Gigafast is developing HomePlug AV bridges based upon the high performance CopperGate CG2110 Chipset...