US stocks manage to end day on a steady note

Major indices pare most of their intra day gains as dollar stays strong

US stocks shed most of their intra day gains and ended modestly higher on Tuesday, 09 March, 2010. Telecom sector had pushed US stocks considerably higher during the day on Tuesday. A stronger dollar weighed on stocks in the early going but financial and tech stocks lifted the broader market to a healthy gain. Lack of any particular catalyst coupled with strong dollar weighed on stocks once again later in the day. Tuesday marked the one-year anniversary of the stock market's rebound from its 12-year lows last year.

At the end of the day on Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended higher by 11.86 points at 10564.38. Nasdaq ended higher by 8.47 points at 2340.68. S&P 500 ended higher by 1.95 points at 1140.45. Dow opened 2.7 points lower earlier during the day. During intra day trading, Dow was higher by 53 points at one time.

Five of ten economic sectors ended higher for the day led by the telecom, industrials, and technology sectors. Materials, utilities, and consumer staples sectors were the main laggards.

AT&T, Verizon and Boeing were the main Dow winners. Pfizer, Alcoa and Merck were the main Dow laggards.

The technology sector was in focus today and the Nasdaq headed against its counterparts. This was after Texas Instruments announced an improved its earnings outlook, which remains in in-line with that of Wall Street. But the stock itself slipped. In another development, Cisco Systems unveiled plans for its new router, which is expected to improve the flow of content and, in turn, inspire further content development. This benefitted Cisco's potential customers.

AT&T shares were up after the company said it completed a test with Cisco System's new router, which allowed its long-distance Internet backbone to carry data traffic roughly 10,000 times faster than the average household cable or DSL connection.

Another Dow component, Boeing shares were up following reports that Northorp Grumann would drop out of a protracted quest to win a $40 billion contract to build the U.S. Air Force's next generation of aerial-refueling planes, leaving Boeing as the only competitor left standing.

The healthcare sector was down today after traders mulled over President Obama's new healthcare plans.

Like yesterday, Nasdaq continued to get its support from RIMM. The stock was up almost 7% in two days. Apple, Microsoft and Oracle remained the other supporters for the index.

In the currency market on Tuesday, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, rose by more than 0.3%. The U.S. dollar gained against most of its rivals on Tuesday, as worries about debt levels in the euro zone were rekindled after Fitch Ratings warned that Portugal remained vulnerable to a downgrade.

Crude prices ended little lower on Tuesday, 09 March 2010. Prices fell as dollar headed higher. However, crude managed to recover from its intra day lows. On Tuesday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for April delivery closed at $81.23/barrel (lower by $0.25 or 0.8%). Prices fell to a low of $80.12 during intra day trading. Prices gained 2% last week.

In the latest monthly report, the EIA reported today that it now expects oil consumption growth of 1.5 million barrels a day this year, up from 1.2 million barrels a day in last month's outlook. As per the report, with that demand, oil prices should stabilize above $80 a barrel. The report also detailed that with this, price of crude oil is to average above $80 a barrel this spring, then rise to about $82 a barrel by the end of the year. Crude should climb to $85 a barrel by the end of 2011.

Indian ADRs ended mixed on Tuesday. Tata Motors and Punjab Tractors were the main gainers soaring 2.5% each. WNS was the main loser shedding 1.44%.

For tomorrow, the economic data expected are the whole inventory report and monthly budget statement. Other than that, earning reports will continue to pour in tomorrow.