Closing Market Summary: S&P 500 Settles Below 100-Day Moving Average
The major averages ended Thursday with modest losses after climbing off their opening lows. The S&P 500 shed 0.2% and settled below its 100-day moving average (2,057) while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.3%) underperformed.
Equity indices could not avoid registering their fourth consecutive decline, but they were able to avoid settling on their lows. Still, the benchmark index will enter the Friday session down 2.5% for the week.
The market began the day under pressure after overnight reports revealed that coalition forces from ten countries, led by Saudi Arabia, carried out air strikes against rebel forces in Yemen. This followed yesterday's reports indicating Yemen's President Hadi fled his country by sea.
The news gave a boost to the dollar, but the yen also rallied against its peers, which signaled caution among participants in the foreign exchange market. The Dollar Index (97.36, +0.38) gained 0.4% as the greenback spiked 0.8% against the euro, sending the single currency from a morning high near 1.1050 to 1.0880. For its part, the dollar/yen pair slipped 0.3% to 119.20 after testing the 118.50 level in the morning.
In addition, the latest developments in the Middle East led to concerns about potential disruptions to the energy market. As a result, crude oil surged 4.6% to $51.43/bbl. However, the energy sector (-0.2%) could not make it out of the red.
Meanwhile, the remaining cyclical sectors ended in mixed fashion. Consumer discretionary (-0.6%) and industrials (-0.3%) underperformed while materials (+0.2%) and technology (+0.1%) registered slim gains.
In the technology sector, large cap names like Apple (AAPL 124.24, +0.86), IBM (IBM 160.59, +1.39), and Oracle (ORCL 42.99, +0.06) gained between 0.1% and 0.9% while Accenture (ACN 94.17, +5.69) and Red Hat (RHT 75.36, +6.91) posted respective gains of 6.8% and 10.1% after beating estimates.
The tech sector managed to turn positive despite notable weakness among chipmakers that sent the PHLX Semiconductor Index lower by 1.4%. The industry group struggled after SanDisk (SNDK 66.20, -14.97) lowered its Q1 revenue guidance below analyst estimates.Elsewhere, another high-beta group—biotechnology—pressured the market in the early going, but was able to return near its flat line by the end of the session. TheiShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 340.81, -0.49) will enter tomorrow's affair down 6.8% for the week.
Treasuries spent the day in a steady retreat from their early morning highs. The benchmark 10-yr yield spiked eight basis points to 2.01%.
Today's participation was above average with more than 808 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.
Economic data was limited to weekly initial claims, which declined to 282,000 from last week's unrevised 291,000 while the consensus expected a reading of 290,000.
After three weeks above 300,000, the 4-week moving average for initial claims has dropped below that threshold, suggesting the claims level is reestablishing a trend below 300,000.
Tomorrow, the third estimate of Q4 GDP will be released at 8:30 ET (consensus 2.4%) while the final reading of the Michigan Sentiment Index for March (consensus 92.0) will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.
- Nasdaq Composite +2.7% YTD
- Russell 2000 +2.3% YTD
- S&P 500 -0.1% YTD
- Dow Jones Industrial Average -0.8% YTD