US stocks end substantially lower

Wal Mart and Home Depot remain only two Dow gainers

US stocks ended with substantial losses on Tuesday, 16 November 2010. Stocks started and ended the session in the red. Big sell off at China market in the previous day sent jitters across Wall Street where traders anticipated that a rate cut to curb inflation might be in the offing. Other than that, there were economic reports that checked in mixed in nature.



For the day, that ended on Tuesday, 16 November 2010, Dow ended lower by 178.47 points at 11,023.5. Nasdaq ended lower by 43.98 points at 2,469.84. S&P 500 ended lower by 19.46 at 1,178.84. Dow was trading lower by 200 points earlier during the day.

All ten economic sectors ended lower led by materials, technology, energy and financial sectors. Twenty-eight out of thirty Dow components ended lower. Wal Mart and Home Depot were sole exceptions.

Home Depot pleased investors with an upside earnings surprise and a strong outlook. On the other hand, WalMart's latest quarter was not too inspiring, but the company did issue a strong forecast.

In the currency market on Tuesday, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the dollar against a basket of six currencies rose by 0.9%.

As per latest report, the industrial production was unchanged in October. It had been expected to increase 0.3% after a 0.2% decline in the prior month. Capacity utilization remained steady at 74.8%, as generally expected.

Another report showed that the October Producer Price Index increased 0.4%, which is more tepid than the 0.8% increase that had been expected. Core prices actually fell 0.6%, which contrasts with the consensus call for a 0.1% increase.

Crude prices ended drastically lower on Tuesday, 16 November 2010 at Nymex. Prices fell due to strong dollar and on anticipation that China will soon take measures to curb inflation. On Tuesday, crude oil futures for light sweet crude for December delivery closed lower by $2.53 (3%) at $82.34/barrel. Last week, crude lost 2.3%.

Precious metals closed lower on Tuesday, 16 November 2010 at Comex. Prices fell as the dollar firmed up. On Tuesday, gold for December delivery ended at $1,338.4 an ounce, lower by $30.1 (2.2%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was lowest price for gold in a span of two weeks. December Comex silver futures ended lower by 86 cents (3.3%) at $25.23.

For Wednesday, the core price index is the only economic report expected. Other than that, earning reports will continue to pour in.