From Briefing.com: 1:05 pm : 'Twas the night before Christmas so few joined the fray
The lack of concerted leadership did its part, keeping both buyers and sellers at bay.
The volume was light and trading ranges were tight
In fact, the New York Stock Exchange had less than 300 million shares in its holiday sight.
That marked a multi-year low, but did little to stop the glow
As the S&P added just over five points to a year-long bull show.
Stocks climbed through the session with cyclical groups serving up the lead
To be sure, consumer discretionary (+0.3%) and industrials (+0.5%) padded their status as this year's elite.
The two sectors extended their yearly gains to 39.5% and 36.2%, respectively
With their influence being felt on all the indices due to their 22% share of the S&P, collectively.
Like Rudolph, the influential industrials led Santa's aerial charge
While discretionary shares, like Dasher or Dancer, paced the convoy of the bearded airborne man at large.
Among commodities, energy (+0.6%) and materials (+1.1%) were boosted by rising oil and gold shining for once
Specifically, crude climbed (+0.3%) to $99.21 per barrel while gold (+0.5%) ended at $1203.30 per troy ounce.
On the downside, consumer staples (+0.1%), health care (-0.1%), and financials (+0.2%) lagged modestly
But despite their underperformance, the session went off swimmingly.
There were some standouts in the heavyweight sectors, but some few big names found a coal or two
On that note, Twitter (TWTR 69.96, +5.42) was boosted by continued momentum, Nike (NKE 77.66, +0.55) climbed on prospects of increasing market share and revenue while Apple (AAPL 567.67, -2.42) shed 0.4% because after yesterday's 3.8% jump, a pullback was simply due.
Over on the bond side, steady selling ensued
But despite the five-basis point gain (to 2.99%), the volume remained subdued.
A flurry of data did little to upset the mood
Most notably, the Durable Orders report revealed that in October, a solid increase in capital goods orders (+4.5%) was accrued.
There will be no data tomorrow and the exchange will be under lock and key
So we'd like to take this opportunity to send you and your family warm Christmas wishes from the Briefing.com family.
Nasdaq +37.6% YTD
Russell 2000 +36.8% YTD
S&P 500 +28.6% YTD
DJIA +24.8% YTD
Large Cap Gainers
TWTR (69.34 +7.44%): Mentioned positively at Wunderlich
TSLA (153.21 +6.73%): Strength in momentum names; National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has reaffirmed the 5-star safety rating of the Tesla Model S overall and in all subcategories for Model Year 2014
ABX (17.19 +3.12%): Strength in gold companies: NEM, GG also higher
Large Cap Losers
SNE (17.44 -1.80%): Yesterday co announced sale of its music technology and metadata company Gracenote to Tribune (TRBAA) for $170 mln
REGN (274.73 -1.18%): Weakness in select large cap biotechnology companies: CELG also lower
ACT (164.69 -0.77%): Confirmed its subsidiary has received a Complete Response letter from the FDA for its New Drug Application for a progestin-only transdermal contraceptive patch for use by women to prevent pregnancy
Mid Cap Gainers
GRA (98.51 +3.88%): Disclosed it entered into an agreement to settle the final appeal pending in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy with the holders of the company's pre-petition bank debt; Grace to pay $129 million
BIP (38.8 +3.22%): To invest $350 mln in South American transportation infrastructure
BBRY (7.7 +3.01%): Continued strength; stock up over 20% since reporting Q3 results last Friday
Mid Cap Losers
HMHC (16.7 -6.02%): Initiated with a Neutral at Piper Jaffray; initiated with an Overweight/Buy at Morgan Stanley, Goldman, BMO Capital Markets, Stifel
DDD (86.55 -4.83%): Target raised to $95 from $85 at Canaccord Genuity; Barron's published article on Monday discussing CEO's sale of ~77k shares of stock
P (28.65 -3.14%): Weakness attributed to WSJ story discussing increasing competition in music streaming services
CalAmp (CAMP) reported third quarter earnings of $0.23 per share, excluding non-recurring items, which is higher than expected, while revenues rose 43.3% year/year to $63.5 million which is higher than expected. Wireless Datacom revenue increased to $49.7 million from $36.3 million in the same period last year, and Satellite revenue was $13.8 million compared to $8.0 million in the third quarter last year. The consolidated gross margin was 33.1% in the fiscal 2014 third quarter, up from 31.6% in the third quarter last year. The increase in consolidated gross margin is due primarily to the contribution of the higher margin Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) revenue from the Wireless Matrix acquisition and margin improvement in the Satellite segment. The company guidance for the fourth quarter with EPS of $0.19-0.23 and revenues of $60-63 million which is just below consensus. "Based on our current forecast, we anticipate that Wireless Datacom fourth quarter revenue will increase solidly on a sequential basis primarily driven by continued demand in our core market verticals, growing insurance telematics revenue and contribution from RSI. Due to normal quarterly fluctuations in demand from our DBS satellite customer, we currently expect Satellite fourth quarter revenues to be substantially lower on a sequential basis, more than offsetting the Wireless Datacom growth."
NeoPhotonics (NPTN) announced the appointment of Ray Wallin as the Company's Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Wallin most recently served as Chief Financial Officer of Micrel, Inc., an industry leader in analog, high bandwidth communications and Ethernet IC solutions where he led the finance, investor relations, human resources and IT departments globally.
Liquid Holdings Group (LIQD) announced that Victor R. Simone, Jr. has been newly named as the Non-Executive Chairman of Liquid's Board of Directors, succeeding Brian Storms in that role. Mr. Storms remains as the CEO of Liquid as well as a member of its Board of Directors. Liquid also announced that Richard Schaeffer has resigned from the Board, effective immediately. Mr. Simone has served as a Liquid director since March 2013.
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