In a quiet trading day on Wall Street, the major averages
closed mixed with the Dow and S&P rising and the Nasdaq
falling.
The weakness in the Nasdaq was attributable to a 2.50 percent
decline in Apple (NASDAQ:
AAPL
). With the economic calendar sparse and overall volatility
levels low, investors are primarily still focused on corporate
earnings reports.
In the currency markets, the Japanese yen reversed recent
losses versus the greenback after comments from a G7
official.
Major Averages
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 47 points, or 0.34
percent, to 14,019.
The S&P 500 added a little better than 2 points, or 0.16
percent, to 1,519.
The Nasdaq Composite fell around 5.50 points, or 0.17 percent,
to close at 3,186.
Treasury Budget -
The Treasury budget showed a surplus of $2.88 billion in
January compared to a deficit of $27.4 billion in January 2012.
This was above consensus expectations for a $2 billion deficit in
the month.
Commodities
Crude oil moved higher on Tuesday and has gotten off to a good
start to begin the week. NYMEX crude futures, the U.S. benchmark,
rose 0.44 percent to $97.46 late in the day. Brent futures had
added 0.42 percent to $118.63. Natural gas was last trading down
more than 1 percent to $3.24.
Precious metals were also trading higher in the electronic
session. COMEX gold futures had risen 0.15 percent on the day to
$1,651.50 while silver climbed roughly 0.60 percent to
$31.10.
In the agricultural complex, the grains were lower across the
board. Corn lost a little less than 1 percent while wheat was
down a little more than 1 percent. The big mover in soft
commodities was orange juice concentrate which rose more than 5
percent.
Bonds
Late in the equity trading session, the iShares Barclays 20+
Year Bond ETF (NYSE:
TLT
) was down around 0.40 percent to $116.58. The move lower in
bonds caused yields to move slightly higher.
The yield on the 2-Year Note rose one basis point to 0.26
percent while the 5-Year yield added two basis points to 0.87
percent.
The yields on the 10-Year Note and 30-Year Bond added two
basis points to 1.98 percent and 3.19 percent, respectively.
Currencies
The U.S. dollar was lower on the day as the Yen moved sharply
higher versus the greenback after comments from a G7 official
expressing concern about large moves in the Japanese currency.
The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF (NYSE:
UUP
), which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket
of foreign currencies, was down 0.25 percent to $21.87.
The USD/JPY fell 0.84 percent on the day, reversing its recent
direction. The EUR/USD pair was last up 0.31 percent to $1.3441.
The Australian dollar also had a strong day, climbing 0.47
percent versus the U.S. dollar.
Volatility and Volume
The VIX fell slightly on Tuesday as volatility remains
subdued. The widely watched volatility index lost 1.16 percent to
close at 12.79.
Volume remained inordinately low on Tuesday. Only around 54
million SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:
SPY
) shares traded hands compared to a 3-month daily average of
around 134 million.
Stock Movers
Zynga (NASDAQ:
ZNGA
) reversed direction on Tuesday after a multi-day rally. The
stock closed Tuesday's trading session down almost 11
percent.
Level 3 Communications (NASDAQ:
LVLT
) fell nearly 14 percent after the company released disappointing
Q4 results.
Valspar (NYSE:
VAL
) fell more than 7 percent after releasing its fiscal Q1 earnings
results.
Shares of Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE:
DNB
) lost almost 8 percent on the day after the company missed Q4
earnings expectations.
Comstock Resources (NYSE:
CRK
) fell roughly 8 percent after releasing its Q4 results.
Offshore driller Ocean Rig UDW (NASDAQ:
ORIG
) lost almost 8 percent on Tuesday after the company announced
the upsizing of a previously announced public offering of its
shares by selling shareholder DryShips (NASDAQ:
DRYS
).
Coca-Cola (NYSE:
KO
) traded almost 3 percent lower after the company's Q4 sales
missed expectations.
Avon Products (NYSE:
AVP
) soared more than 20 percent on Tuesday after the company's
adjusted earnings for the fourth-quarter beat analysts'
expectations.
Michael Kors (NASDAQ:
KORS
) jumped almost 9 percent after the company reported strong
third-quarter earnings.
Masco (NYSE:
MAS
) climbed better than 12 percent after the company reported a
fourth-quarter loss which was less than last year.
(c) 2013 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment
advice. All rights reserved.
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