Good end to a lackluster day at Wall Street

IBM and 3M offsets losses from financial sector

US stocks started the day on Monday, 28 December 2009 with modest gains. But during mid day, it dropped to modest losses. But with the help of a late rally, stocks managed to inch up in the green once again and end the day with modest gains. It was a lackluster day at Wall Street today with no news flow and stocks were virtually left on their own. Trading volume remained immensely low.

At the end, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended higher by 26.98 points at 10,547.08. Nasdaq ended higher by 5.39 points at 2291.08. S&P 500 ended higher by 1.3 points at 1127.78.

Seven of the ten economic sectors ended higher for the day led by telecom and healthcare sectors. Financial and industrial sectors remained the main laggards. Consumer discretionary was the only sector to end flat.

IBM and 3M were the main Dow gainers for the day. American Express was a major Dow laggard. AT&T supported the telecom sector while Google and Apple supported the technology sector.

Airline stocks dropped at Wall Street following a Nigerian man's alleged attempt to blow up a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day.

Like its fellow counterparts, US stocks also rejoiced about news from the world economy. China said its economy expanded by more than 8% this year and said that its stimulus policy will be in place. Better than expected economic data came from Japan also regarding its industrial output data.

A report from MasterCard's Spending Pulse unit showed that retail sales for the holiday season rose 3.6% from the year earlier period through Christmas Eve. This also boosted consumer spirits.

Amazon shares climbed 0.6% after the Internet retailing giant reported a 51% growth in orders on its peak selling day this holiday season compared with its top day last year, and a 25% increase in peak-day shipments.

Crude prices shot up once again on Monday, 28 December 2009. This was the fourth consecutive rise for crude and its longest winning streak since October this year. Prices rose as the dollar fell and due to rising geo political tensions in the Middle East. Good retail sales data during pre Christmas shopping also lifted oil prices in anticipation of higher demand in coming months.

On Monday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for February delivery closed at $78.77/barrel (higher by $0.72 or 0.9%).

In the currency market on Monday, the dollar index, which weighs the strength of dollar against the basket of six other currencies fell by almost 0.4%.

Indian ADRs ended mixed on Monday. HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank were the main gainers adding 0.7% and 0.8% to their last closing prices. Rediff.com and Tata Motors lost 3.9% and 2.5% respectively.

For tomorrow, there are no economic or earning reports expected.