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12:30 ETTrade Lacks Direction
[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks are having trouble finding direction. As such, the S&P 500 remains near the neutral line.
Lackluster action in the stock market has left Treasuries to trade in a narrow range along the flat line. That has kept the yield on the benchmark 10-year Note close to 3.20%.
Gold Shines
[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 and Dow have worked their way back to the neutral line. Energy stocks, up a collective 1.1%, remain a primary source of support.
Meanwhile, gold prices have managed to stage a strong gain. The price of the yellow metal was recently quoted 1.7% higher at $1236.50 per ounce. That has helped gold stocks like Newmont Mining (NEM 55.81, +2.09),Yamana Gold (AUY 10.89, +0.39), and Barrick Gold (ABX 43.14, +1.72). Their strength has helped give a lift to the broader basic materials sector, which is now up 0.4%.
Tech Trips
[BRIEFING.COM] Weakness among tech issues has given the Nasdaq Composite an outsized loss, which is actually almost quadruple the loss of the broader S&P 500.
Research In Motion (RIMM 57.22, -2.46) is a primary source of weakness within the Nasdaq. The stock actually set a new six-month low in recent action.
Sellers Redouble Efforts
[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks failed to stabilize after recent rebound. In turn, selling pressure has sent the major equity averages back into the red. The swings have made this a rather volatile morning of trade, but the Volatility Index is down 0.8% at the moment.
Financials have come under one of the sharper selling efforts in recent action, such that the sector is now down 0.8%. As for individual names, shares of Goldman Sachs (GS 140.91, -1.34) saw a sharp drop on a spike in volume as CNBC reported that FCIC has sent subpoenas to the company for its failure to comply with document requests.
Crude Modestly Higher; Precious Metals Higher
[BRIEFING.COM] The US Dollar Index pulled back in recent activity, falling back into negative territory to around 88.18, which provided modest strength throughout the commodities complex.
July crude oil traded in the red for most of today's session, but pushed into positive territory in recent trade and to fresh session highs of $72.17 per barrel due to weakness in the dollar index. Crude is modestly higher at $71.43 per barrel in current trade. July natural gas saw weakness in the overnight session and continued that trend into this morning, eventually hitting session lows of $4.66 per MMBtu just after 8:00am ET. However, the energy component rallied off those lows, into positive territory and to new session highs of $4.90 per MMBtu, which was only partially due to weakness in the dollar index. In current trade, natural gas is modestly higher at $4.80 per MMBtu.
Precious metals are currently mixed with gold modestly lower and silver modestly higher. August gold has spent the majority of morning trade in negative territory, but moved into positive territory in recent trade. Currently, gold is 0.6% higher at $1225.5 per ounce. July silver has traded modestly higher for the majority of today's session and is currently 1.3% higher at $17.53 per ounce.
Stocks Bounce as Euro Retraces Retreat
[BRIEFING.COM] The euro recently fell under renewed selling pressure and took stocks to lower levels with it. However, the euro has retraced some of that move so that it now trades with a more modest loss of 0.2% at $1.194. That bounce has helped pull stocks out of the red and back to a modest gain.
Strength is currently most pronounced among energy stocks, which are up a collective 1.0%. In contrast, industrial stocks are the weakest performers; they are down 0.5%, as a group.
Stocks Slip as Euro Retreats
[BRIEFING.COM] The major indices started the session in positive territory, but the direction of trade has turned lower with renewed weakness in the euro. The euro had made its way up from a fresh four-year low of roughly $1.188 overnight to a slight gain against the greenback, but it is now down 0.3% to $1.193.
Though the broader market is in the red, underlying action is a bit mixed as the major sectors that make up the S&P 500 are split almost evenly between positive and negative territory.
09:15 ETMarket is Closed
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: +4.20. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +9.30. Market participants continue to take their cues from the euro. Overnight it appeared that stocks would extend the sharp slide of this past Friday as the euro descended to a new four-year low of roughly $1.188. However, the currency improved its position and recently swung to a momentary gain against the greenback. It now trades flat at $1.196. In the meantime, stock futures have managed to take a lead over fair value, such that a solid start for trade now looks to be in order. There are no major news items this morning, but many analysts have begun to issue rating changes now that nearly all first quarter earnings are in the books and companies have a clearer picture of the second quarter.
Market is Closed
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: +3.30. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +7.30. Stock futures have eased back a bit from recently reached morning highs. Still, a modestly higher start to trade looks to be in order. Meanwhile, commodities are a bit mixed this morning. Specifically, oil prices are up 0.2% at $71.65 per barrel in the first few minutes of pit trade, while natural gas prices are down 0.6% to $4.77 per MMBtu. As for precious metals, gold is down 0.3% to $1213 per ounce, while silver prices were last quoted with a 0.5% gain at $17.40 per ounce.
Market is Closed
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: +6.20. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +12.30. The euro’s recent push into positive territory has helped give a lift to S&P 500 stock futures. Europe’s major bourses have also improved. Specifically, the euro now trades with a fractional gain at $1.197 after it set a new four year low of roughtly $1.188 overnight. Meanwhile, Germany’s DAX is now up 0.2% even though its decliners outnumber its advancing issues by roughly 3-to-1. Industrials, down 0.4%, remain in the worst shape, but basic materials stocks have shown leadership by putting together a 0.8% gain. In France, the CAC is barely down 0.1%. Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) has been a drag on trade, but BNP Paribas has provided support. In Britain, the FTSE has fallen 0.1%. Declining issues outnumber advancers by almost 4-to-1, but strength in BP Plc (BP) has provided the broader market with some upward direction.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei dropped 3.8%. Of the 225 components that make up the Nikkei, only KDDi, Hitachi Zosen, and Sumco mustered gains. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng was sent to a 2.0% loss. China Mobile and Hong Kong Electric were the only two names in the 43-member index to stage gains. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite closed 1.6% lower. PetroChina (PTR) was one of the weakest performing issues; it led oil and gas plays to a collective loss of 2.2%. Tech stocks were strong, though; they spiked 2.4% as a group.
Market is Closed
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: +3.50. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +6.80. The S&P 500 put in its lowest close of 2010 this past Friday, but a modicum of support has surfaced to help lift stock futures this morning. Stock futures had been down overnight, but the euro’s upturn from a new four-year low of $1.1877 has helped improve the premarket tone – the euro now trades with a 0.2% loss at $1.945. European equities have also trimmed losses, but they remain in the red. Trade in Asia already closed with sharp losses.
News flow has been slow so far and there aren’t any major economic releases on tap this morning. Consumer credit figures for April are due at 3:00 PM ET, however.
Market is Closed
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: +3.50. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +5.80.
Market is Closed
[BRIEFING.COM] FTSE...5100.66...-25.10...-0.50%. DAX...59225.41...-13.90...-0.20%.
Market is Closed
[BRIEFING.COM] Nikkei...9520.80...-380.40...-3.80%. Hang Seng...19378.15...-401.90...-2.00%.
Pessimistic Tone Takes Over Trade
[BRIEFING.COM] Sellers reclaimed control of the stock market after it had put together solid back-to-back gains. The change in tone came amid renewed concerns about contagion in Europe and disappointing nonfarm payrolls data.
Stocks entered Friday with a weekly gain of more than 1%, but that was dashed with this session's rout, which saw the S&P 500 drop more than 3%. That gave the stock market a weekly loss of more than 2% -- its fourth weekly loss of more than 1% in six weeks.
Market participants sold stocks en masse upon learning that officials from Hungary stated that economic conditions in their country are grave and that talk of default is not an exaggeration. What's more, the country does not plan to put austerity measures in place, leading many wonder whether the European Union (EU) will have to provide a bailout.
Though Hungary uses the forint instead of the euro as its currency, the country's troubles make for a manifestation of the fears spawned by the tenuous fiscal and financial conditions throughout Europe. In turn, the euro dropped a precipitous 1.7% to set a new four-year low of $1.1956.
Trade was also hurt by news that nonfarm payrolls for May increased by 431,000, which is well below the 500,000 that many had expected. Even higher numbers had been whispered in some circles, making disappointment over the number all the more significant. Ultimately, the smaller-than-expected increase in payrolls overshadowed news that the unemployment rate made a surprise move to 9.7% from 9.8%.
There really weren't any other headlines to act as catalysts for trade. In turn, market participants were focused on the negative. Of the 500 components in the S&P 500, only one -- Cephalon (CEPH 59.11, +0.33) -- managed to muster a gain. Weakness in the rest of the market led the benchmark index to one of its worst performances this year and its lowest close since February.
Such sharp selling pressure caused the Volatility Index, often euphemistically dubbed the "Fear Gauge," to surge more than 20%. It closed at its highest level of the week.
There was plenty participation behind this session's selloff. Specifically, trading volume on the NYSE surpassed 1.6 billion shares, which is comfortably above the 50-day average of roughly 1.4 billion shares. This session's declining volume outnumbered advancing volume by more than 130-to-1.
Amid this session's carnage, Treasuries fared extremely well. As such, the benchmark 10-year Note spiked more than one point to drop its yield is below 3.20%.
Gold was also a beneficiary of a flight to safety. It closed pit trade with a 0.6% gain at $1217.20 per ounce.
Gold wasn't the only commodity to find favor, though. Natural gas prices climbed 2.3% to settle pit trade at $4.82 per MMBtu as the energy component extended its surge from the prior session.
Advancing Sectors: (None)
..Nasdaq 100 -3.4%. ..S&P Midcap 400 -4.1%. ..Russell 2000 -5.0%.
Declining Sectors: Industrials (-4.6%), Financials (-4.0%), Materials (-3.9%), Consumer Discretionary (-3.8%), Energy (-3.5%), Tech (-3.2%), Utilities (-3.0%), Health Care (-3.0%), Consumer Staples (-2.6%), Telecom (-2.3%)
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