NEW YORK (MarketWatch) � U.S. stocks declined Thursday, with the S&P 500 index struggling to extend its best yearly start since 1989, after a report showed jobless claims rose last week.
�The weakened activity today is the market succumbing to gravitational pull,� said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott. �I am not looking at this as a reaction to any new news as much as a market that has come out of the block too far, too fast and is likely in need of a breather or some rest.�
Absent a 5.3% loss Thursday, the month of January will be a positive one for the S&P 500 SPX , according to Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices. �As January goes, so goes the year,� he said, noting that the market has moved in the same direction as it did in January for 61 of the last 84 years, or almost 73% of the time.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA lost 19.63 points, or 0.1%, at 13,890.79, with 17 of its 30 components in the red, led by Intel Corp.INTC , off 1.5%.
Click to Play S&P: China�s economy most �risky�More than 40% of China�s economy is spending on infrastructure, factories and housing. Terry Chan explains how the country can rebalance its economy and not overspend.
The S&P 500 fell a point to 1,500.90, with materials hardest hit and telecommunications the best performer of its 10 major industry groups.
While the underlying factors supporting the market�s climb to five-year highs remain in place, �we are starting see some signs of stock-price consolidation, as the S&P 500 struggles to move much above 1,500,� said Fred Dickson, chief investment strategist at Davidson Companies.
Still, �the stock market appears to be headed for its best January performance in 24 years,� he added.
The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP rose 5.01 points, or 0.2%, to 3,147.31.
Advancers pulled just ahead of decliners on the New York Stock Exchange, where 387 million shares traded as of 2:30 p.m. Eastern. Composite volume approached 2.4 billion.
�Unless we had some real surprising catalyst, not just matching but �Oh my gosh this was unexpectedly good,� then I think the market was due to taper off,� remarked Luschini, who believes a pullback of 3% to 5% should be welcomed, as it would �bring more sidelined cash into the market.�
The Labor Department reported first-time applications for unemployment benefits climbed 38,000 last week, the biggest jump since Nov. 10, to 368,000. The weekly numbers come ahead of Friday�s nonfarm-payrolls report for January. Read: Initial jobless claims rise.
�Today, traders will be looking toward tomorrow�s monthly employment report, thus holding back funds earmarked for equity purchases until they see how many jobs the economy created during February,� said Dickson.
Separately, the Commerce Department reported consumer spending rose 0.2% in December, as personal income climbed by the most in eight years, boosted by early dividend payments.
A Chicago-area purchasing managers' index rose in January, data showed. Read: Chicago PMI climbs in January.
INVESTING� �Global gorillas� are new stock-portfolio kings
� Bid adieu to Europe�s grand social contract
� 5 ways to be the best investor you can be
� Calling the debt-ceiling bluff
� Where stock market will be in January 2017
� More markets commentary in Trading Deck �
/conga/story/misc/investing.html245777
MasterCard Inc. MA shares added 0.5% after the card-payment processor reported an increase in fourth-quarter profit but offered a cautious outlook.
Facebook Inc. FB shares fell 1% after the social-networking site reported a steep drop in fourth-quarter profit. Read: Facebook downgraded by several analysts.
JDS Uniphase Corp. JDSU climbed almost 18% after it reported earnings, and Qualcomm Inc. QCOM gained on the semiconductor seller�s forecast of higher-than-expected second-quarter sales and profit.
United Parcel Service Inc. UPS fell 2.1% after it projected yearly profit below Wall Street�s estimates as a soft global economy reduced shipment demand.
No comments:
Post a Comment