Stocks register good gains at Wall Street

Late buying effort helps offset weak economic report impact

Stocks at Wall Street ended with gains on Wednesday, 15 April, 2009. Though the indices traded in the mixed mode for almost the entire day, they managed to finish in the green at the end. Despite a couple of worse than expected earning reports, stocks managed to make good gains. The Nasdaq was in the red despite a steady earnings report from Intel. The Dow had managed to stay in the green, perhaps due to a stronger than expected housing report.

After starting the day 23 points up earlier during the day, The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended higher by 109 points at 8,029. The Nasdaq Composite Index, ended higher by 1 point at 1,626. S&P 500 ended higher by 10.5 points at 852.

Nine of the ten sectors posted a gain today led by financial sector. Technology sector was the sole laggard. The buying effort crept in the final hour of trading.

With mortgage rates near all-time lows and a home buyer tax credit in place, U.S. home builders were much more optimistic about the housing market in April than they were in March. The National Association of Home Builders reported today that its home builders' index rose to 14 in April from 9 in March. It's the first time the index has been in double digits since October, when it was also at 14.

It was the largest one-month increase in the index in more than five years, but it still shows that only about one in seven builders thinks business is good or fair.

In the earnings sector, Intel announced its latest quarterly results. It was, quite solid and better-than-expected earnings results. Intel even indicated during its conference call that a bottom has been reached in the personal computer market and that the worst is behind them from an inventory and demand perspective. But the same has failed to inspire Nasdaq to move up to the green territory.

The Fed came out with its latest Beige Book report on the economy today. As per the report, the economy continued to worsen across the United States in March and early April, amid scattered signs that the pace of the decline was lessening in some regions.

The economy declined at a 6.3% annual pace in the fourth quarter, and economists are forecasting a decline of 5% in the first quarter and about 2% in the current quarter. Almost all sectors were contracting or slowing in almost all regions. Manufacturing weakened, retail spending was "sluggish," the housing markets were "weak" and banks reported rising delinquencies and deteriorating loan quality.

The Labor Department reported today that March industrial production fell 1.5%, which is worse than the 0.9% decline that was expected. Capacity utilization came in at 69.3%, which is in-line with expectations. The report overall was bad and continued to reflect a weak demand environment.

In a separate report, the government reported that, at the consumer level, prices in March slipped 0.1%, but core prices increased 0.2%. Market expected a respective increase of 0.1% and an increase of 0.1%. The government also reported that inflation at the wholesale level fell more sharply than had been anticipated last month amid weaker energy prices.

Crude oil fell once again on Wednesday, 15 April, 2009 after energy department reported that crude inventories rose more thane expected for the week ended 10 April, 2009. On Wednesday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for May delivery closed at $49.1/barrel (lower by $0.31 or 0.6%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Before the report hit the wires, crude was trading higher by 1%. Last week, crude ended lower by 0.5%.

The EIA reported today that crude inventories rose 5.6 million barrels in the week ended 10 April, 2009. Market was expecting an increase of 2.5 million barrels. At 366.7 million barrels, U.S. inventories stood at the highest level since September 1990.

Earning reports expected tomorrow include JP Morgan Chase. Economic data will also be in focus, with housing market release of the March building permit and housing starts report. Also on the economic calendar, weekly new unemployment claims is due at 8:30ET followed by the Philadelphia Fed report at 10:00ET.