From Briefing.com: 4:20 pm : The major averages settled on their lows after broad-based selling persisted throughout the session. Sellers were in control, reacting to the increased likelihood of U.S. military involvement in Syria.
In addition, investors exhibited caution amid news indicating the debt ceiling will be reached in mid-October and that Congress has yet to begin budget negotiations ahead of the new fiscal year, which begins October 1.
The S&P 500 fell 1.6% to end below its 100-day moving average for just the second time this year. Small caps endured even more selling as the Russell 2000 lost 2.4%.
Global equities sold off ahead of the U.S. open while commodities received an overnight bid that held throughout the session. Concerns over possible supply interruptions helped crude oil end at its highest level in more than a year, climbing 2.8% to $108.84 per barrel. Elsewhere, gold futures rose 1.6% and silver advanced 2.0% to $1415.50 and $24.50 per troy ounce, respectively.
Similar to oil and precious metals, Treasuries were on the receiving end of safe-haven flows with the benchmark 10-yr yield sliding eight basis points to 2.72%.
The retreat in yields helped rate-sensitive telecom services and utilities end little changed. However, other sectors were not as fortunate as six groups lost more than 1.0%, and two of those six fell more than 2.0% apiece.
Intraday rebound attempts never gathered steam as two top-weighted sectors, financials and technology, led to the downside with respective losses of 2.4% and 2.0%. The weakness in technology was notable as the sector had provided notable leadership in recent days.
Elsewhere, industrials also finished among the laggards as transportation-related companies underperformed. The Dow Jones Transportation Average fell 2.6% as airlines displayed significant weakness. Delta Air Lines (DAL 19.11, -1.16) and United Continental (UAL 27.71, -2.15) tumbled 5.7% and 7.2%, respectively.
While most cyclical sectors ended behind the broader market, the energy space outperformed with a loss of 0.6% as the surge in crude contributed to the sector's strength.
Broad losses across the major averages sent the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 16.76, +1.77) to its highest level since early July as investors scrambled to buy protection.
Today's session was the most active since August 16, and fifth most active this month, as 683 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Looking back at the day's economic data, consumer confidence improved in August as the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index increased to 81.5 from an upwardly revised 81.0 (from 80.3) in July. The Briefing.com consensus expected the index to fall to 77.0.
A sharp drop in equity prices along with weak payroll growth were expected to weigh on the Consumer Confidence Index. Instead, confidence strengthened on the back of better layoff numbers and generally positive economic media reports. It is unlikely that confidence will improve again in September. Heated budget and debt ceiling negotiations took their toll on sentiment indicators in 2011. As the media once again highlights the negative effects of a potential default or government shut down, sentiment will probably decline.
Separately, the June Case-Shiller 20-city Home Price Index rose 12.1% while a 12.0% increase had been expected by the Briefing.com consensus. This follows the previous month's increase of 12.2%.
Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be reported at 7:00 ET and July pending home sales will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.DJ30 -170.33 NASDAQ -79.05 SP500 -26.30 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 324/1.59 bln/2228 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 605/683.2 mln/2463
3:30 pm : A weaker dollar index and increased concerns over possible military action against Syria gave crude oil and precious metals a boost today.
The biggest gain came from Oct crude oil as the energy component climbed to a new high of the year of $109.32 per barrel, extending gains for a fourth consecutive session. It chopped around near the $109.00 per barrel level for most of today's floor trade and settled there with a solid 3.0% gain.
Dec gold traded as high as $1424.00 per ounce, its highest level since June. It booked a 2.0% gain as it closed at $1420.20 per ounce. Sep silver also advanced today and touched a session high of $24.70 per ounce. It eventually settled 2.8% higher at $24.66 per ounce.
Natural gas began floor trade in negative territory, trading as low as $3.48 per MMBtu. However, it climbed higher and erased earlier losses, closing with a 0.3% gain at $3.57 per MMBtu.
Large Cap Gainers
DCM (16.45 +1.86%): Japan related ADRs trading higher; SNE also higher.
MRO (33.66 +1.02%): Co's CFO Janet F. Clark to retire Oct. 1, 2013; Board of Directors elected John R. Sult to succeed Clark.
DTV (57.93 +0.77%): Initiated with an Outperform at Raymond James.
Large Cap Losers
RBS (10.25 -4.74%): Weakness in select EU financial names; BBVA and DB also lower.
NOK (4.01 -3.72%): Heard cautious comments at Bernstein related to cash position.
AMGN (109.78 -3.49%): Tgt raised to $115 at Barclays following ONXX purchase; Barron's profiled positive view on co.
Mid Cap Gainers
DSW (87.75 +7.91%): Beat on EPS by $0.17, reported revs in-line; reaffirmed FY14 EPS guidance; Lone Pine Capital reported 5.6% passive stake in 13G filing out last night after the close.
UBNT (34.37 +4.56%): Co won legal victory in china; counterfeiter faces long jail term.
XEC (84.36 +2.49%): Upgraded to Outperform at FBR Capital; tgt raised to $120.
Mid Cap Losers
SPWR (21.33 -6.32%): Trading lower following disappointing LDK earnings.
CIEN (20.13 -4.94%): MKM Partners reiterated its Buy rating and $28 price tgt in front of FY3Q13 due out 9/4 pre-market.
SSYS (104.25 -5.26%): Weakness attributed to Digitimes story out before the open indicating that Kinpo-Compal has released a 3D printer.
Mellanox Technologies (MLNX) announced its SX1036 36-port 40GbE switch system has been selected by Russia's BaltInfoCom as the Ethernet switch of choice to provide customers with 10GbE connectivity to servers and 40/56GbE uplinks for the next level of aggregation switching.
6:04AM JA Solar to develop 300 MW of solar power projects in Xingtai City, Hebei Province (JASO) 8.31 : Co announced that it plans to develop three solar power projects totaling 300 MW in Xingtai City in China's Hebei Province. The projects, located in Xingtai City's Lincheng, Neiqiu and Xingtai counties, will each have a capacity of 100 MW. The co has obtained approval from the Hebei Provincial Development and Reform Commission to develop the first 50 MW phase of the Lincheng County project. The Company has also signed framework agreements with local authorities pertaining to the projects in Neiqiu and Xingtai counties, and expects to receive rights to develop such projects by the end of this year
07:36 am LDK Solar shares lower 2% miss on earningsLDK Solar (LDK $1.71 -0.03) reported second quarter loss of $0.97 per share, which missed expectations, while revenues fell 51.3% year/year to $114.7 million which is below expectations. Q2 Metrics: Shipped 303.9 megawatts (MW) of wafers Shipped 35.3 MW of cells and modules in the second quarter. Guidance: The company issued in-line guidance for the third quarter with revenues of $140-180 million which is line with expectations. The company sees wafer shipments between 350-450 MW and cell and module shipments between 60-80 MW.
InvenSense (INVN): Maxim notes INVN guided to Sept. qtr revs of $68-70 mln or up 22-25% Q/Q. The company indicated solid visibility with much of the quarter in backlog. Firm estimates that half of the increase is share gains with the residual being seasonal trends. The significant sales increase of the 3-axis product suggests that Apple (APPL) will be the new customer. The 2-axis revenue growth is from optical image stabilization (OIS) while the 6-axis is being driven by new smartphone platforms. Tgt to $20 from $18.
Relm Wireless (RWC) announced that over the past week orders totaling ~$1.7 mln from several U.S. federal public safety agencies have been received. The orders are primarily for RELM's KNG-Series Digital P-25 VHF, UHF and 800MHz mobile and portable radios, some of which include trunking. The orders also include the Company's legacy D-Series products. It is anticipated that the orders will be fulfilled during the third quarter of 2013.
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