Benchmarks rebounded from a heavy slump in the final hour of
trading and finished with paltry gains on Monday. The Dow and
S&P 500 ended almost flat, whereas the Nasdaq had a decent
run. With investors worried about how sluggish global economic
conditions are affecting corporates, benchmarks are spending most
of their days in the red. Meanwhile, Caterpillar managed to beat
analysts' estimates on its bottom line, but its top line fell
short. The technology sector was the leading gainer among the
S&P 500 industry groups.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.02% to close the
day at 13,345.89. The Standard & Poor 500 (S&P 500)
climbed 0.04% to finish yesterday's trading session at 1,433.82.
The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.4% to end at
3,016.96. The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) lost 2.6% to
settle at 16.62. Consolidated volumes on the New York Stock
Exchange, American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq were roughly 5.8
billion shares, lower than the year-to-date daily average of 6.52
billion shares. The decliners on the New York Stock Exchange
outpaced advancing stocks; as for 46% stocks that gained, 50%
stocks closed lower.
Benchmarks struggled to find a specific direction on Monday.
During mid-afternoon, the blue-chip index had fallen by as much
as 108 points before rallying in the final hour. Benchmarks
rallied in the final session, despite the absence of any major
news that could affect them. Investors were worried about
corporate revenues and macroeconomic headwinds have already had a
negative impact on certain industry heavyweights.
Last Friday, markets were battered following weak corporate
results. Microsoft Corporation, McDonald's Corporation and
General Electric Company had reported discouraging results and
almost all of them blamed certain macroeconomic headwinds. Shares
of Microsoft, McDonald's and General Electric had slumped 2.9%,
4.5% and 3.4%, respectively last Friday. Also, Advanced Micro
Devices, Inc. (NYSE:
AMD
) had announced late on Thursday that its revenue slumped 10.2%
sequentially and 24.9% year over year. The negative sentiment
spilled on to Monday as well and affected the markets.
On Monday, corporate results continued to be weak. Hasbro,
Inc. (NASDAQ:
HAS
), V.F. Corporation (NYSE:
VFC
) and SunTrust Banks, Inc. (NYSE:
STI
) posted their quarterly results which came in below analysts'
estimates. The stocks tumbled 1.7%, 4.4% and 3.5%,
respectively.
Meanwhile, Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:
CAT
) posted quarterly earnings that surpassed analysts' estimates.
However, the industry bellwether's revenue fell short of
expectations. Also, Caterpillar slashed its 2012 forecasts,
citing weak global demand. It was the second time that
Caterpillar slashed estimates this year. Nonetheless,
Caterpillar's stock surged 1.5%, recovering from its initial
losses.
Meanwhile, technology bellwether Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:
AAPL
) jumped 4.0% after announcing that the company will release a
smaller iPad on Tuesday. The smaller iPad will compete with
Amazon.com, Inc's. (NASDAQ:
AMZN
) Kindle Fire and Google Inc's (NASDAQ:
GOOG
) Nexus 7. This was Apple's biggest gain in almost five months.
The company is schedule to report its earnings on Thursday.
Meanwhile, investors awaited results from Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:
YHOO
) and Texas Instruments Incorporated (NASDAQ:
TXN
).
The 4% jump in Apple also helped Nasdaq finish in the green.
Also, the technology sector was guided back to the positive zone
after three days of consecutive losses. The Technology SPDR (ETF)
jumped 0.7%. Stocks such as Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:
HPQ
), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:
DELL
), Digi International Inc., Synaptics, Incorporated and EMC
Corporation (NYSE:
EMC
) surged 1.6%, 0.4%, 3.0%, 1.9% and 1.9%, respectively.
The Energy Select Sector SPDR was the major loser, slipping
0.3%. Stocks such as Chevron Corporation (NYSE:
CVX
), BP plc (NYSE:
BP
), Marathon Oil Corporation, Suncor Energy Inc. and
ConocoPhillips lost 0.6%, 1.0%, 1.6%, 1.3% and 0.7%,
respectively.
APPLE INC (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report
ADV MICRO DEV (AMD): Free Stock Analysis
Report
AMAZON.COM INC (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis
Report
BP PLC (BP): Free Stock Analysis Report
CATERPILLAR INC (CAT): Free Stock Analysis
Report
CHEVRON CORP (CVX): Free Stock Analysis
Report
DELL INC (DELL): Free Stock Analysis Report
EMC CORP -MASS (EMC): Free Stock Analysis
Report
GOOGLE INC-CL A (GOOG): Free Stock Analysis
Report
HASBRO INC (HAS): Free Stock Analysis Report
HEWLETT PACKARD (HPQ): Free Stock Analysis
Report
SUNTRUST BKS (STI): Free Stock Analysis
Report
TEXAS INSTRS (TXN): Free Stock Analysis
Report
V F CORP (VFC): Free Stock Analysis Report
YAHOO! INC (YHOO): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.