From Briefing.com: 4:10 pm : The S&P 500 shed 0.1%, registering its fourth consecutive decline. Today's session proved to be a bit of a roller coaster ride for stocks as the S&P 500 opened in the red, rallied into positive territory, fell to fresh lows, and regained the bulk of its losses into the close.
For the second day in a row, the early weakness coincided with heavy selling in Europe. In addition, bonds and risk assets were pressured by a better-than-expected ADP Employment report, which indicated employment in the nonfarm private business sector rose by 215K in November (160K Briefing.com consensus). The report increased expectations for a strong nonfarm payrolls report on Friday, and re-invited speculation about the Fed's tapering timeline. Treasuries sold off following the data, sending the 10-yr yield higher by five basis points to 2.83%.
The opening losses were followed by a swift reversal after below-consensus ISM Services (53.9 actual versus 55.0 expected) for November and a ho-hum composite home sales report for September (354K actual versus 432K consensus) and October (444K actual versus 420K expected) raised some doubts about the sustainability of the economic improvement. This calmed some of the tapering fears, and helped the major indices regain their flat lines. Contributing to the rebound, were rumors suggesting Democrats and Republicans reached a budget agreement.
The budget deal rumors faded shortly thereafter while equity indices responded with a fade of their own. The S&P 500 tumbled to fresh lows, but was able to springboard off the 1,779 level and rally back to its flat line.
In large part, the late-afternoon rebound was powered by three sectors-financials (+0.2%), technology (+0.2%), and materials (+0.5%)-that outperformed throughout the session. Outside of the three, only the utilities sector (+0.2%) finished with a gain.
Notably, the materials sector received all-around support from most of its components. Steelmakers and miners outperformed as the Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX 47.99, +0.39) gained 0.8% and Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX 21.22, +0.65) jumped 3.2%. On a related note, gold futures spiked 2.0% to $1244.60 per troy ounce.
The other commodity-linked sector, energy (-0.4%), ended among the laggards while crude oil added 1.2% to $97.19 per barrel.
Today's trading volume was just above average as more than 756 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Looking at today's remaining economic data, the October trade deficit fell to $40.6 billion from an upwardly revised $43.0 billion. In large part, the decline was due to significant gains in sales of artwork (+$0.50 billion), gem diamonds (+$0.40 billion), and jewelry (+$0.40 billion). The Briefing.com consensus expected the trade deficit to fall to $40.5 billion.
Separately, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index tumbled 12.8% to follow last week's downtick of 0.3%.
Tomorrow, November Challenger Job Cuts will be reported at 7:30 ET while weekly initial claims and the second estimate of third quarter GDP will be released at 8:30 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the 10:00 ET release of October Factory Orders.
Nasdaq +33.7% YTD
Russell 2000 +32.0% YTD
S&P 500 +25.7% YTD
DJIA +21.3 YTD
DJ30 -24.85 NASDAQ +0.80 SP500 -2.34 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1077/1.84 bln/1487 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1141/756.1 mln/1888
3:30 pm : Precious metals rose along with other commodities today as the dollar index slipped further into negative territory. Both Feb gold and Mar silver lifted from their respective session lows of $1217.20 per ounce and $19.15 per ounce and trended higher as floor trade progressed. Both metals gained further momentum in afternoon action and pushed to new session highs. Gold settled 2.2% higher at $1220.70 per ounce while silver closed at $19.83 per ounce, booking a solid 4.0% gain.
Jan crude oil extended gains for a fourth consecutive session as it gained support from strong inventory data and the weaker dollar index. The EIA reported this morning that for the week ending Nov 29, crude oil inventories had a draw of 5.585 mln barrels when consensus was between a draw of 0.5 mln and a build of 0.3 mln barrels. The energy component dipped to a session low of $96.30 per barrel in late morning pit trade but quickly regained momentum. It rose to a session high of $97.54 per barrel and settled with a 1.2% gain at $97.18 per barrel.
Jan natural gas, however, extended yesterday's losses after pulling back from a session high of $4.01 per MMBtu set during morning floor action. It slipped into negative territory as it headed into the close and settled 0.3% lower at $3.96 per MMBtu.DJ30 -28.70 NASDAQ -0.01 SP500 -2.7 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1097/1.49 bln/1465 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1117/488.1 mln/1899
3:00 pm : The major averages have spent the past 90 minutes in a steady climb off their lows. The S&P 500 has narrowed its loss to 0.4% while the Nasdaq (-0.2%) continues to outperform.
Eight of ten sectors continue trading in the red while financials (+0.1%) and materials (+0.3%) are back in positive territory. The largest S&P 500 sector, technology, is also showing some relative strength as it hovers right at its flat line.
Treasuries remain pinned to the mat with the 10-yr yield up five basis points at 2.84%.
4:48PM SunEdison and Mayor Bloomberg introduce New York City's largest solar energy project (SUNE) 13.49 +0.21 : Co last week introduced an innovative renewable energy project in partnership with America's largest city. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, alongside SunEdison officials, unveiled a progressive partnership to build what will be the City's largest solar energy project. "Freshkills was once the site of the largest landfill in the world. Soon it will be one of the City's largest parks, and the site of the largest solar power installation ever developed within the five boroughs," said Mayor Bloomberg. "Over the last twelve years we've restored wetlands and vegetation and opened new parks and soccer fields at the edges of the site. Thanks to the agreement today with SunEdison, we will increase the amount of solar energy produced in New York City by 50 percent."
The project, which is scheduled to break ground in the second half of 2015, will consist of two photovoltaic systems totaling up to 10 megawatts (MW) in size, and will utilize between 30,000 and 35,000 high efficiency solar panels installed across 47 acres leased to SunEdison at Freshkills Park. The project will increase the city's renewable energy capacity by 50 percent and will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and local pollutants.
4:10PM Avago Tech beats by $0.06, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 revs above consensus (AVGO) 44.50 -0.28 : Reports Q4 (Oct) earnings of $0.89 per share, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.83; revenues rose 19.4% year/year to $738 mln vs the $734.11 mln consensus.
Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of approx. $708-715 mln (down 3-6% sequentially) vs. $704.38 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate
Large Cap Gainers
CF (236.66 +10.49%): Presented at Citi Basic Materials Conference: capacity expansion program remains on schedule, on budget; co has repuchased 665k shares this quarter for $144.2 mln; $1.7 bln remaining on authorized repurchase program
WDC (78.11 +3.42%): Upgraded to Overweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley
DE (85.33 +3.17%): Board authorized repurchase of up to $8 bln of additional common stock; supplements $1 bln remaining under previous $5 bln authorization
Large Cap Losers
GIB (34.22 -5.39%): Weakness attributed to reports that investor Jim Chanos is potentially shorting the stock
KMI (33.16 -5.37%): Expected to declare dividends of $1.72 per share for 2014, an approximate 10% increase over co's 2013 budget target of $1.57; mentioned negatively in blog article
ISRG (362.7 -2.71%): FDA issued Class 2 recall of "Assembly, Patient Side Manipulator on da Vinci Surgical Systems"
Mid Cap Gainers
BRE (59.55 +11.58%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.01 ($0.65 vs $0.64 estimate), revs rose 7.3% yoy to $104.62 mln vs $102.37 mln estimate; sees Q4 core FFO of $0.63-0.66 vs $0.63 estimate; Bloomberg reporting Essex Property (ESS) offered $5 bln for the company
P (29.67 +4.95%): Announced listener hours during the month of November 2013 were $1.49 bln, an increase of 18% yoy
GWRE (47.1 +4.71%): Beat quarterly EPS by $0.15 (-$0.01 vs -$0.16 estimate), revs rose 5.1% yoy to $66.5 mln vs $62.78 mln estimate; sees Q2 revs of $76-78 mln vs $75.86 mln estimate, EPS of $0.00-0.02 vs $0.06 estimate; sees FY14 revs of $330-342.5 mln (raised from $328.5-340.5 mln) vs $336.8 mln estimate, EPS of $0.20-0.25 vs $0.25 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate
Mid Cap Losers
EXPR (18.79 -23.83%): Missed quarterly EPS by $0.02 ($0.23 vs $0.25 estimate), revs rose 7.4% yoy to $503 mln vs $500.06 mln estimate; sees Q4 EPS of $0.66-0.71 vs $0.78 estimate, with low single digit comp growth
EPB (36.81 -9.18%): Downgraded to Underweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley; downgraded to Trim from Hold at Tudor Pickering
SHLD (51.12 -7.97%): ESL Partners decreases stake to 48.4% from 55.4%
12:30PM Molex announces receipt of final merger control clearance for merger with Koch Industries (MOLX) 38.61 0.00 :
Velocent Systems and Ixia (XXIA) announced a partnership that will bring together the cos' technologies to help customers accurately monitor mobile networks of any size.
Cisco (CSCO) announced a major revision of the CCIE Routing and Switching Certification and expert-level training to meet the increasing challenges of enterprise networks evolving in size, scope and complexity.
WDC +1.3% (upgraded to Overweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley due to stabilizing PC trends, continued cloud segment strength, and benign pricing), BRCD +1.2% (upgraded to Equal-Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley due to improved execution, cost savings, and valuation),
SolarWinds (SWI) announced that IT solutions provider Bulletproof Solutions replaced HP (HPQ) OpenView with SolarWinds' network management solutions.
Guidewire Software (GWRE) reported first quarter $0.01 per share, which is better than expected, while revenues rose 5.1% year/year to $66.5 million which is higher than expected. The company sees Q2 revs of $76-78 million which is higher than expected, with EPS of $0.00-0.02 which is below estimates. The company sees fiscal year 2014 revs of $330.5-342.5 million (raised from $328.5-340.5 million) which is line with expectations with EPS of $0.20-0.25 which is line with estimates.
OmniVision (OVTI) reported second quarter earnings of $0.60 per share, which is higher than expected, while revenues rose 1.8% year/year to $397.2 million which is higher than expected. The company issued third quarter with EPS of $0.28-0.44, which is in line with expectations, with revenues of $310-340 million which is higher than expected.
Adept Tech (ADEP) announced that Cornerstone Automation Systems (CASI), a producer of innovative material handling, packaging and manufacturing automation, has placed an order for a fleet of Adept "Lynx" mobile robots. CASI will integrate the robots into state-of-the-art pharmacy automation systems slated to deploy at three customer facilities in the US over the coming year. CASI has also been named Adept's first preferred partner for mobile robots. CASI's pharmacy automation systems are a next-generation solution for automated dispensing at centralized pharmacies. The turnkey systems use Adept's Lynx mobile robot platform to transport standard and controlled substances within a pharmacy facility with a new level of efficiency, security and traceability.
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