Moving the Market

Sector performance (% change on day): Financials (-2.02%), Tech (-1.60%), Health Care (-0.53%), Consumer Staples (-0.33%), Consumer Discretionary (-1.17%), Industrials (-1.49%), Energy (-2.07%), Telecom (-0.70%), Materials (-1.52%), Utilities (-1.24%).

Dow -93.87 at 10332.44, Nasdaq -36.32 at 2156.82, S&P -14.90 at 1094.90

[BRIEFING.COM] Sellers were able to dog stocks for the entire session and hand the S&P 500 its worst single-session percentage loss of the month as buyers stepped to the sidelines amid a lack of positive catalysts. Buyers showed some mild interest late in the session and helped stocks make a couple of upward spurts, but the moves were quickly repressed.

Strength in the dollar kept many buyers at bay this session. The Dollar Index had been up as much as 0.7%, but settled with a gain of 0.3%. Though it settled off of session highs, its advance was enough to pressure both the equity market and commodities pits.

That blend of weakness proved troubling for energy stocks (-2.1%) and materials stocks (-1.5%). The two sectors traded with some of the worst losses of any major sector this session, but materials were able to improve their position late as gold prices rebounded to finish fractionally higher at $1141.90 per ounce.

Consumer staples stocks were able to maintain modest losses this session. The sector closed just 0.3% lower. Health care held up relatively well, too. The sector finished 0.5% lower following news that Senator Reid presented last evening a health care reform bill from the Senate.

Treasury Secretary Geithner appeared before the Joint Economic Committee on Financial Reform today. Geithner told Congress that the reform effort was essential for the health of the economy, but representatives were critical of Geithner.

Once again, data did little for stocks. Initial jobless claims for the week ending November 14 hit 505,000, which is in-line with what had been expected. The four-week moving average now stands at 514,000, down from 520,500. Meanwhile, continuing claims came in at 5.61 million, which is in step with what had been widely forecast.

In other economic news, leading economic indicators for October increased 0.3%, which is not as strong as the 0.4% that was expected. The Philadelphia Fed Survey for November came in at 16.7, which is better than the reading of 12.2 that had been widely forecast. Third quarter mortgage delinquencies hit 9.6%, which is up from the 9.2% that was registered in the second quarter.

On a similar note, the OECD said that U.S. GDP would likely grow 2.5% in 2010, while its collective 30-member nations would expand 1.9%.
 

The top-performing and worst-performing S&P 500 industry groups for Thursday: