Stock Market Update
Updated: 03-Nov-09
The market at 09:15 ET
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Nasdaq: ... S&P: ...
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Moving the Market
Sector Watch
Buffett and Berkshire bid for Burlington Northern Dollar spikes sharply in wake of previous session's modest retreat Overseas markets trade markedly lower
Strong: (action remains restricted to premarket trade)
Weak: (action remains restricted to premarket trade)
09:15 ET
Market is Closed
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: -7.70. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -9.00. Stock futures continue to trade with weakness as considerable selling weighs on foreign markets and the U.S. dollar makes a heady 0.6% climb to its best level in nearly one month. However, stock futures have managed to pare their premarket losses. The improved position comes on the heels of news that Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) will pay a mix of cash and stock worth $100 per share for rail company Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI) in a move that Warren Buffett has essentially labeled a bet on the U.S. On a related note, Berkshire has announced that it will split its B shares (BRK.B) 50-for-1. There have only been a few other announcements from widely-held companies to complement Berkshire's news. Among them, MasterCard (MA) posted this morning better-than-expected adjusted earnings for the third quarter. Its shares are up fractionally ahead of the opening bell. Also, Dow component Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) reaffirmed its in-line outlook for fiscal 2009, winning it modest favor in premarket trade. There hasn't been any economic data out yet, though a small dose comes at 10:00 AM ET with the release of September factory orders. The FOMC also starts its 2-day meeting today, but it won't issue any official statement until tomorrow.
09:00 ET
Market is Closed
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: -8.40. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -10.00. Renewed strength in the U.S. dollar continues to prop up the Dollar Index, which currently sports a 0.6% gain, but it has caused commodity traders to make a push against oil prices. In turn, oil is down 1.3% to $77.10 per barrel in the first few minutes of pit trade. Gold is showing resilience, however. The yellow metal is currently up 0.5% to $1058.70 per ounce. Given the mixed interest between gold and oil prices, the broad CRB Commodity Index is down 0.6%.
08:35 ET
Market is Closed
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: -7.60. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -9.80. Europe's major indices are trading with marked losses. The selling comes in the face of news from New York Times that the European Union expects the full 27-nation bloc to be out of recession by the end of the year and that it revised upward its forecast for economic growth in 2010. Specifically, gross domestic product is now expected to rise by 0.7% in 2010, better than the 0.1% contraction projected last spring. France's CAC and Britain's FTSE are each off by 1.8%. According to The Wall Street Journal, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group (LYG) unveiled agreements with the U.K. Treasury. RBS will participate in the expensive U.K. asset-protection scheme, while Lloyds opted not to. Meanwhile, Germany's DAX is down 1.4% as its declining issues outnumber its advancers by 4-to-1. Daimler (DAI) is a primary laggard in the group. In Asia, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index, excluding Japan, fell 1.6% during Tuesday's trade. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng fell 1.8%. Heavyweight HSBC (HBC) proved unable to resist the selling and reversed early gains to settle with a loss. China Construction Bank and Bank of China also slid. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite advanced 1.2%. Its metal and brokerage issues looked strong. The official China Securities Journal reported that the top four state-owned commercial banks extended about 136 billion yuan in new loans during October, up 23% from a month earlier. Japan's Nikkei was closed for a holiday, but according to The Wall Street Journal, Toyota (TM) representatives expect October U.S. sales to have made a "single-digit" decline in October from last year.
08:00 ET
Market is Closed
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: -8.20. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -10.80. A buyout of Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI) for $100 per share, a premium of approximately 30% from the previous session's closing price, by Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) has helped stock futures off of their premarket lows, but it hasn't been enough to position the major indices for a positive start. Instead, stock futures remain hampered by sellers responding to a considerably stronger U.S. dollar, which has pushed the Dollar Index up 0.6% to a near one-month high. Sizable losses in overseas markets are also helping to perpetuate selling. There isn't a lot of data out today, but participants still await September Factory Orders (10:00 AM ET) and monthly vehicle sales results, which are expected to be released throughout the day. The FOMC convenes today, but it won't issue an official statement until tomorrow.
06:27 ET
Market is Closed
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: -12.30. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -18.00.
06:27 ET
Market is Closed
[BRIEFING.COM] FTSE...4994.91...-109.60...-2.20%. DAX...5324.24...-106.60...-2.00%.
06:27 ET
Market is Closed
[BRIEFING.COM] Nikkei...Holiday......... Hang Seng...21240.06...-380.10...-1.80%.
16:30 ET
Dow +76.71 at 9789.44, Nasdaq +4.09 at 2049.20, S&P +6.69 at 1042.88
[BRIEFING.COM] Better-than-expected economic data helped the S&P 500 ascend to a 1.5% gain, but a bout of selling and technical resistance sent stocks to a 0.7% loss before buyers stepped back in to drive stocks to a positive finish.
News that the ISM Manufacturing Index for October came in at 55.7, construction spending in September spiked 0.8%, and pending home sales for September made a 6.1% monthly increase helped bring about some early, broad-based buying, which sent all 10 major S&P 500 sectors into the green.
Financials were a standout as the sector climbed to a 2.5% gain. Investors in the sector paid little attention to news that regional lender CIT Group will enter bankruptcy after weeks of struggling to secure financing and put together a plan for sustainability.
However, financial stocks soon saw their gains reverse as weakness among insurers spread to the rest of the sector. That took the financial sector to a 1.7% loss before buyers stepped back in and helped it finish with a 0.8% gain.
Midsession weakness among financials undercut the broader S&P 500, which was having trouble extending its gains past its 50-day moving average of 1052. Such technical resistance combined with weakness in one of the stock market's leading sectors eventually caused the broader market to roll over and surrender all of its gains.
Stocks were able to garner some support as an underlying bid limited the stock market's move to the downside. That support inevitably helped it settle the session with a gain.
Materials stocks finished the session with some of the strongest gains. The sector closed 1.0% higher, partly helped by a weaker dollar, which oscillated for the entire session before settling roughly 0.1% lower. The greenback's move lower helped the CRB Commodity Index climb 1.2%.
Other solid gains were made by consumer staples stocks (+1.0%) and consumer discretionary stocks (+0.9%), which were helped by strength in shares of Ford (F 7.58, +0.58). The automaker posted this morning better-than-expected earnings and also announced an increase in market share.
In other earnings news, Humana (HUM 37.01, -0.57) posted better-than-expected earnings of its own, but offered a mixed forecast that weighed on the stock. Managed care providers still advanced 1.5% as a group, though.
Advancing Sectors: Consumer Staples (+1.0%), Materials (+1.0%), Industrials (+1.0%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.9%), Financials (+0.8%), Health Care (+0.6%), Energy (+0.5%), Tech (+0.4%)
Declining Sectors: Telecom (-0.4%), Utilities (-0.3%)
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