U.S. stocks are still trending down today, making this the
longest lasting slump for them in almost two months. The decrease
is reflected in the Bloomberg Consumer Confidence Index, which held
at 37.5, and is fueled by a rash of corporate earnings reports that
missed consensus estimates and concerns over a global economic
slowdown. There are worries over Spain, Italy and China in
particular. Even the IMF is assuming an Italian recession in 2012
and 2013 followed by slow growth until 2017.
Investor worry over these issues has completely overshadowed
positive U.S. economic reports. New jobless claims came in at just
350,000, down from 374,000 the previous period and well under the
consensus of 375,000 (range 355,000 to 395,000). The decrease
brought the 4-week moving average down to 376,500 from 385,750 the
previous period.
Import and export prices also showed a strong decline,
indicating little to no inflationary pressures on pricing. Export
prices are down 1.7% month over month and 2.1% year over year, a
heavy improvement from -0.4% and -0.1% respectively. Import prices
declined even further. They are at minus 2.7% month over month and
minus 2.6% year over year, compared to -1.0% and -0.3%
respectively.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 64.03 (-0.50%) at
12,541.48.
The NASDAQ Composite was down 38.63 (-1.34%) at 2,849.26.
The S&P 500 was down 11.78 (-0.88%) at 1,329.77.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 index was down 54.16 (-0.96%) to
5,609.83. The DAX was down 37.57 (-0.58%) to 6,418.35 and the CAC
40 was down 22.77 (-0.72%) to 3,134.46.
Crude oil prices were at $84.80 a barrel, falling up to 2%.
Natural gas was down 9.2 cents to $2.745 per 1 million BTU. Gold
was down to around $1,559.50 an ounce, while silver was down to
around $26.805 an ounce. Copper was down to $3.41 a pound.
Among energy ETFs, the United States Oil Fund (
USO
) is down 1.3% to $31.90 while the United States Natural Gas (
UNG
) fund is down nearly 1%. Among precious-metal funds, the Market
Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GMI) has hit year lows while SPDR Gold
Shares (
GLD
) are down 0.7% to $153.95. The iShares Silver Trust (
SLV
) is up 0.7%.
Here's where the markets stand at mid-day:
NYSE Composite Index down 0.98% (-75.56) to 7,609.81
Dow Jones Industrial Index down 0.47% (-59.79) to 12,544.74
S&P 500 down 0.78% (-10.65) to 1,330.80
Nasdaq Composite Index up 1.25% (-36.56) to 2,851.41
GLOBAL SENTIMENT
Nikkei 225 down 1.48% (-130.99) to 8,720.01
Hang Seng Index down 2.03% (-394.76) to 19,025.11
Shanghai China Composite Index up 0.46% (+10.11) to 2,185.49
FTSE 100 is down 0.89% (-50.49) to 5,613.99
NYSE SECTOR INDICES
NYSE Energy Sector Index down 1.1% (-128.48) to 11,593.93
NYSE Financial Sector Index down 1.3% (-56.74) to 4,345.52
NYSE Healthcare Sector Index down 0.12% (-9.07) to 7,395.02
UPSIDE MOVERS
CPRX (+26.8%) Announced that it expects topline data from its
CPP-109 Phase II(b) clinical trial for the treatment of cocaine
addiction to be released earlier than expected. The results will be
released at the end of September versus the prior guidance of early
in Q1 of 2013.
CERP (+20%) Entered into a distribution agreement with Hamburg,
Germany-based ALBIS PLASTIC GMBH to supply Cereplast bioplastic
resins to the United Kingdom and Ireland.
PG (+4.3%) Activist value investor Bill Ackman of Pershing
Square Capital Management may acquire a considerable stake in the
consumer company, which cut its forecast three times in the past
year.
DOWNSIDE MOVERS
SVU (-45.7%, hits year lows) Reported Q1 earnings of $0.19 per
share, versus the Capital IQ consensus of $0.38. Revenues were
$10.6 bln, versus the analyst estimate of $10.81 bln.
DVR (-37.3%) Expects Q2 EBITDA to be below the current consensus
street estimate of $12.9 mln.
TI (-6.5%) Bloomberg reports a bearish outlook on the company's
Latin American revenue growth.