From last night Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : The stock market failed to sustain strong gains on Monday as buyers backed down upon running into resistance near a key technical hurdle.
Trade started on a positive note as the major market averages shadowed the advances made by overseas markets. Continued strength in the euro also helped give a lift to stocks. The euro had been up more than 1.5% against the dollar at its session high, but it finished with a 1.0% gain near $1.223.
The euro encountered some midsession selling amid news that analysts at Moody's downgraded Greece's debt to Ba1 from A3. The news had little lasting effect on the euro since the downgrade made for little surprise, given the popular belief that fiscal conditions in Greece remain tenuous. Amid such tenuous conditions, Greece's Prime Minister Papandreou said ahead of this past weekend that his government decided against leaving the euro and pledged to pay its dues and return to growth.
The Greece headline proved to be a modest downtick in the stock market's gradual, afternoon descent. In the first half of trade stocks had made a steady march higher so that the S&P 500 was up more than 1% at its session high, but the broad-based strength began to fade once the stock market lost momentum near its 200-day moving average. The technical line remains a formidable point of resistance against the stock market's attempts at near-term gains.
Market participants put some of the most pressure on natural resource plays. In turn, the materials sector swung to a 1.0% loss after it had been up more than 1% at its session high. Chemicals stocks dropped more than 2% as a group; so did gold stocks.
Energy stocks had also been up more than 1%, but they settled with a 0.5% loss. BP Plc (BP 30.67, -3.30) was one of the worst performers in the sector. The company announced that its cost of response to the Gulf oil spill now stands at $1.6 billion, while political rhetoric against the company persists. Analysts also continue to express concern for the company's dividend.
Financials were a laggard for most of the session; even in the early going, when strength was broad. The sector fell to a 0.7% loss as weakness among diversified banks (-1.6%) and investment banks (-2.0%) faltered.
Only a few pockets of strength remained into the close. Defensive-oriented utilities (+0.4%), consumer staples (+0.4%), and health care stocks (+0.2%) finished in positive territory. Consumer discretionary plays (+0.2%) advanced with help from retailers (+0.5%).
Advancing Sectors: Utilities (+0.4%); Consumer Staples (+0.4%); Health Care (+0.2%); Consumer Discretionary (+0.2%)
Declining Sectors: Materials (-1.0%), Financials (-0.7%), Energy (-0.5%), Tech (-0.3%), Telecom (-0.3%), Industrials (-0.2%) DJ30 -20.18 NASDAQ +0.36 NQ100 -0.1% R2K +0.5% SP400 +0.4% SP500 -1.97 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1484/1.89 bln/1168 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1888/1.14 bln/1165
4:15PM TranSwitch announces the termination of its agreement to issue additional shares (TXCC) 2.36 +0.11 :
4:00PM SMSC announces acquisition of STS (SMSC) 23.01 -0.04 : Co announced that it has acquired Wireless Audio IP B.V. ("STS"). SMSC expects Kleer and STS to contribute ~$15 mln in revenue in fiscal 2011 and the acquisitions are expected to be neutral to slightly accretive during SMSC's current fiscal year 2011. Under terms of the share purchase agreement, SMSC paid $22 mln in cash and additional cash payments of up to $3 million may occur upon achievement of certain performance goals. The acquisition closed on June 14, 2010.
Lattice Semi (LSCC) extends distribution agreement with MSC Vertriebs GmbH to include Benelux and Italy.
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