Lackluster day at Wall Street

Earnings miss from dell puts pressure on stocks

US stocks kicked off the week that ended on Friday, 20 November, 2009 on a strong mode. But at the end, indices finished on a mixed basis. While earning reports continued to tickle in, it was most of the retailers that reported earnings. Other than that, surprises came from a few big companies which missed earning estimates. The dollar once again played an important role for trading in the week and ended with modest gains. t

For the week, Dow ended higher by 47.69 points (0.5%) at 10,318.16. Nasdaq ended lower by 21.84 points (1%) at 2146.04. S&P 500 ended lower by 2.1 points (0.2%) at 1091.38. Six of ten sectors ended in the red led by technology and consumer discretionary sectors. Materials and healthcare sectors outperformed relatively.

Among economic reports expected for the week, The Labor Department in US reported on Thursday, 19 November that the number of people filing initial claims for state unemployment benefits was flat at a seasonally adjusted 505,000 in the week ended 14 November.

In the US market on Friday, 20 November, a lack of positive catalysts and a stronger dollar weighed on stocks for the entire session. An earnings miss from Dell had already put pressure on stocks while weakness in overseas markets added further pain.

On that day, The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended lower by 14.28 points at 10318.16. Nasdaq ended lower by 10.78 points at 2146.04. S&P 500 ended lower by 3.52 points at 1091.38. Consumer discretionary stocks made up the best performing sector on that session. Financials showed relative weakness for the entire session and made up the only major sector to finish with a loss.

Losses in the Nasdaq were steeper than those in the Dow or S&P 500, though. Most of that was attributable to weakness among semiconductors.

During that day, the technology sector was heavily pressured due to earnings miss from dell. On the other hand, retailer Gap met earnings estimate.

In the currency market on Friday, the dollar headed up against most of the major currencies. The dollar index, which measures the strength of dollar against basket of six other currencies, rose by almost 0.6% before settling with a 0.4% gain for the week.

Crude prices fell for the second consecutive day at Nymex on Friday, 20 November, 2009. Prices registered losses due to the relatively strong dollar.

On Friday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for December delivery closed at $76.72/barrel (lower by $0.74 or 1%). Before Thursday, crude had gained more than 4% in the past three sessions. For the week, crude ended higher by 0.5%.

For the year, Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 are higher by 17.6%, 36.1% and 20.8% respectively