Market closes higher for the first time in this week with the help of retail stocks
US Market closed higher for the first time this week today, Thursday, 07 February, 2008 after stocks made a comeback after a disappointing retail sales data hit the wires in the morning. After being in the red for the entire mornings session, indices rallied in the post lunch hours and ended modestly up, going into close.
Disappointing guidance from Cisco Systems also weighed on sentiments in the morning hours. But surprisingly, with help of retail stocks, market managed to make a modest turnaround. At the end, eight out of the ten economic sectors ended the day in positive territory. The technology and utilities sectors posted declines.
The Dow Jones industrial Average ended the day with a gain of 46.9 points at 12,247. The Nasdaq Composite Index, finished higher by 14.28 points at 2,293.03. S&P 500 finished higher by 10.46 points at 1,336.91. Twenty-one out of thirty Dow stocks ended in the green today. Home-Depot and JP Morgan Chase were a couple of main Dow winners while Merck and H-P led the team of Dow laggards.
Early morning, Cisco reported earnings came out that met expectations, but its stock came under pressure after the company provided a cautious outlook. But the stock ended more than 1% higher for the day.
Then came out the retail same-store sales data. Though Wal-Mart reported a 0.5% increase in January sales in stores opened at least a year back, it was way below from what market was expecting. Others, like, Target, JC Penny all reported drop in January sales. Wal-Mart stock closed higher for the day.
Housing and initial claims data disappoint market
Elsewhere, The Bank of England today cut its benchmark lending rate for the second time since December.
On the economic front, there were 356,000 initial jobless claims for the week ended 2 February, lower than the previous reading of 378,000. However, there were more claims than the 342,000 that market was expecting.
Also, The National Association of Realtors announced that sales of previously owned homes fell 1.5% in December, as the housing market continues to slump. The decline followed a revised 3% drop in November and was worse than the 1% decline expected by the market.
Indian ADRs ended mixed today. Barring Satyam Computers, HDFC Bank, tata Motors and Patni Computers, all others ended in the red. VSNL was the topmost loser shedding 2.7%. HDFC Bank and Patni Computers gained 1.7% and 2.4% respectively.
Crude prices rose today after dropping in the previous two sessions. Natural gas and fuel product prices also rose today after EIA reported another drop in natural gas inventories. Crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for March delivery today closed at $88.11/barrel (higher by $0.97/barrel or 1.1%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier it fell to a low of $86.24/barrel. Crude prices rose today after Royal Dutch Shell said that a disruption at a Nigerian terminal will last through March.
Volume on the New York Stock Exchange topped 1.7 billion shares, with advancing stocks edging ahead of those declining almost 2 to 1. On the Nasdaq, nearly 3 billion shares exchanged hands, and advancing stocks topped decliners roughly 8 to 5.