US stocks end with moderate losses

Better thane expected manufacturing data keep losses under check

US stocks ended with moderate losses at Wall Street on Tuesday, 02 July 2013. Equities saw little change at the start of today's session after index futures surrendered their pre-market gains just ahead of the opening bell. The decline in futures coincided with euro weakness after reports indicated the International Monetary Fund and Eurozone officials gave Greece three days to prove its reforms are on course.

For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 42.55 points, or 0.3%, at 14,932.41. The S&P 500 slipped 0.88 point to close at 1,614.08. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.09 points to finish at 3,433.40.

Among the ten economic sectors, industrials and materials lagged the most. General Electric and Boeing were the day's worst performers among the Dow components.

Contributing to the euro weakness was the situation in Portugal where the country's foreign minister resigned after the finance minister, who constructed the country's EU/IMF bailout, submitted his resignation yesterday. The uncertainty pushed the Portuguese 10-yr yield higher by nine basis points to 6.42%.

In early afternoon the market place was closely watching the latest developments coming from Egypt. Reports said the Egyptian army has called on the Egyptian president to step down, as protesters fill the streets of Cairo.

The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, rose by 0.2% on Tuesday.

The OECD reported Tuesday that inflation in the industrialized countries rose slightly in May but remains well under control. The annual inflation rate in May was 1.5% versus 1.3% in April. A report from the European Union on Tuesday corroborated the OECD data, as Euro zone manufacturing goods prices fell for the third straight month in May, at down 0.3%.

Among latest economic data expected at Wall Street, today's economic data was limited to manufacturing orders, which increased 2.1% in May, up from an upwardly revised 1.3% (from 1.0%) in April. The consensus expected factory orders to increase 2.0%.

Crude-oil prices ended substantially higher on Tuesday, 02 July 2013 at Nymex. Prices rose as turmoil in Egypt and Syria, a climb in U.S. factory orders and expectations for a weekly decline in crude supplies helped to lift prices above $99 a barrel. Light and sweet crude for August ended higher by $1.61 (1.6%) at $99.6 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday.

Bullion metal prices ended lower on Tuesday, 02 July 2013 at Comex. Comex gold prices gave way to selling pressure brought on by the U.S. dollar index pushing to a four-week high. Prices had lost more ground after the U.S. Commerce Department reported that factory orders climbed more than expected in May. Gold for August delivery ended lower by $12.3 (1%) at $1,243.1 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday. September silver ended lower by $0.27 (1.4%) at $19.31 an ounce on Tuesday.

Declining stocks outpaced advancers 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange and by a narrow margin on the Nasdaq. Composite NYSE volume topped 3.2 billion shares and Nasdaq composite volume was just over 1.6 billion shares at the close.

Indian ADRs ended mostly lower on Tuesday. In the IT space, Infosys was down 1.3% and Wipro was down 0.3%. In the Banking space, HDFC Bank was up 0.2% and ICICI Bank was down 1.8%. In other space, Tata Motors was down 2.7%, and Sterlite was up 0.2%.

Tomorrow, a full slate of economic reports is scheduled for tomorrow, beginning with the 7:00 ET release of the weekly MBA Mortgage Index. June Challenger Job Cuts and ADP Employment Change will be reported at their respective 7:30 ET and 8:15 ET while weekly initial claims will cross the wires at 8:30 ET. Finally, the May trade balance will be reported at 8:30 ET while June ISM Services Index will be announced at 10:00 ET.