losing Market Summary: Nasdaq loses 0.3%
There was plenty of excitement in the stock market on Wednesday following the FOMC decision to taper its asset purchase program. There wasn't much excitement, however, on Thursday, which featured the added news that the Senate passed the two-year budget agreement. After some early gyrations, the major indices held to pretty tight trading ranges throughout the session and ended the day little changed.
All in all, it was a pretty good showing given the scope of Wednesday's advance and considering the yield on the 10-yr note went as high as 2.95% before settling back down to 2.93%.
A lack of concerted leadership and some buying exhaustion were to blame for the inability to log another record closing high for the S&P 500. It challenged Wednesday's high on two occasions, but each time it was greeted with renewed selling interest that held it in check. The Dow, though, eked out another record close.
Sector-wise, there wasn't a single sector that moved up, or down, more than 1.0%. The performance range was highlighted by a 0.3% gain for the materials sectors on the upside and a 0.7% loss for the rate-sensitive utilities sector on the downside.
Large-cap averages held up better than their smaller counterparts, but a 1.2% drop in Apple (AAPL 544.46, -6.31) left the Nasdaq 100 in a position of underperforming the broader market. The S&P Midcap 400 Index (-0.8%) and the Russell 2000 (-0.8%) were the biggest laggards. That was likely owed to some portfolio rebalancing decisions given that each has outperformed the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 year-to-date.
Another notable pocket of weakness was found in the precious metals space. Gold (-$43.30 to $1191.70/troy oz.) and silver (-$0.89 to $19.17/troy oz.) dropped 3.5% and 4.4%, respectively, on a host of reasonable explanations that ranged from dollar strength to a lack of inflation concern to tax-loss selling.
Today's economic data didn't move the needle much since it was a mixed bag.
o Initial claims for the week ending December 14 rose by 10,000 to 379,000 . consensus 333,000). That was the highest level in nine months, but once again seasonal adjustment problems were cited by the Department of Labor as impacting the reporting, so it couldn't be taken at face value as a "clean read." o Existing home sales declined 4.3% in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.90 mln (. consensus 5.00 mln). November marked the first time in 29 months that home sales were below year-ago levels. o The Philadelphia Fed Index jumped to 7.0 in December (. consensus 5.0) from 6.5, reflecting an expansion in manufacturing activity in the Philly Fed region o Leading Indicators increased 0.8% in November (. consensus 0.6%) following a downwardly revised 0.1% increase (from 0.2%) in October The only item on Friday's economic calendar is the third estimate for third quarter GDP (. consensus 3.6%; prior 3.6%), which isn't expected to have any impact given its dated nature. o Trading volume today was on the lighter side with 688 mln shares changing hands at the NYSE. That number will be substantially higher on Friday given the quarterly rebalancing and options expiration activity.
o Nasdaq +34.1% YTD o Russell 2000 +32.7% YTD o S&P 500 +26.9% YTD o DJIA +23.5% YTD