Benchmarks ended almost flat on Friday despite the initial push
by Spain's bailout hopes and the initiation of Apple's iPhone 5
sales. Investors cheered Apple's recent event and helped its shares
to reach a lifetime high. Unfortunately, the benchmarks ended the
week on a losing note following the past few weeks of robust
wins.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) lost 0.1% to end at
13,579.47. The Standard & Poor 500 (S&P 500) slipped a
paltry 0.11 point or 0.01% to finish Friday's trading session at
1,460.15. The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.1% to
close at 3,179.96. The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) down
0.6% to settle at 13.98. Consolidated volumes on the New York Stock
Exchange, American Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq were roughly 7.92
billion shares. The advancers on the New York Stock Exchange
outpaced the declining stocks; as for 57% stocks that gained, 40%
stocks closed lower.
For the week, the Dow slipped 0.1%, the S&P 500 shed 0.4%
and Nasdaq lost 0.1%. The weekly loss came after the benchmarks
enjoyed robust gains in past few weeks. For the week ending
September 21, benchmarks mostly had a quiet session as investors
opted for a respite following the robust rally in previous week
that was spurred by the Fed's announcement of the additional
monetary stimulus. There were also a bagful of economic readings
that were released through the week, most of which were
discouraging. Among them, initial claims for unemployment benefits
was around two-month high, manufacturing suffered the weakest
quarter in three years and leading indicators declined in August in
the U.S. Separately, manufacturing activity declined in China as
well as Europe. Eventually, with the lack of major catalysts to
drive the benchmarks higher, benchmarks suffered weekly losses.
Coming back to Friday's actions, debt-laden Spain moved closer
to get the next tranche of bailout package as it was considering
cutting the pension spending and trying its best efforts to meet
the conditions for an international sovereign aid package.
Speculation for bailout increased as Spain and European Union
officials were negotiating on a new economic reform program that
may help Spain to request for financial aid. Germany's finance
minister on the other hand said that Spain doesn't need the bailout
from Europe.
Meanwhile, Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ:
AAPL
) iPhone 5 hit the stores last Friday. Following this, the shares
of the world's most valuable company, in terms of market
capitalization, rose 0.2% to close at $700.09. Separately, Oracle
Corporation's (NASDAQ:
ORCL
) first quarter earnings missed the Street estimates.
Following the discouraging economic readings a day back, the
Labor Department reported on Friday that unemployment rate rose in
26 states last month. Moreover, The World Trade Organization
lowered its forecasts for growth in the current and the next year
for international trade.
Coming to the sectors, the SPDR S&P Homebuilders (XHB)
jumped 1% and stocks including KB Home (NYSE:
KBH
), PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:
PHM
), Lennar Corp. (NYSE:
LEN
), Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE:
BZH
) and Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:
MTH
) soared 16.4%, 1.6%, 2.5%, 7% and 4.9%, respectively.
However, the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP) was down
almost 1.1% and stocks such as The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:
KO
), Walgreen Company (NYSE:
WAG
), The Kroger Co. (NYSE:
KR
), Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:
WMT
), The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:
PG
) and Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:
CL
) plunged 1.6%, 1.2%, 0.9%, 0.4%, 0.2% and 0.2%, respectively.
APPLE INC (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report
BEAZER HOMES (BZH): Free Stock Analysis Report
COLGATE PALMOLI (CL): Free Stock Analysis
Report
KB HOME (KBH): Free Stock Analysis Report
COCA COLA CO (KO): Free Stock Analysis Report
KROGER CO (KR): Free Stock Analysis Report
LENNAR CORP -A (LEN): Free Stock Analysis
Report
MERITAGE HOMES (MTH): Free Stock Analysis
Report
ORACLE CORP (ORCL): Free Stock Analysis Report
PROCTER & GAMBL (PG): Free Stock Analysis
Report
PULTE GROUP ONC (PHM): Free Stock Analysis
Report
WALGREEN CO (WAG): Free Stock Analysis Report
WAL-MART STORES (WMT): Free Stock Analysis
Report
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