Daily Market Recap

The S&P 500 gained 0.01% and the Dow was flat in quiet pre-holiday trading. In the S&P 500 homebuilders, semiconductors, pay TV, and retail outperformed while utilities, airlines, and materials lagged.

Pay TV stocks rallied as satellite names worked higher on rumored consolidation. There were rumors flying regarding a potential merger between Dish and Direct TV. Cable stocks outperformed on reports that Cox Communications is considering a bid for Time Warner Cable.

Housing permits beat expectations in September and October. Permits increased 5.2% in September and 6.2% in October. Multifamily permits jumped more than 20%. The more important single-family data declined 1.9% in September and increased 0.8% in October.

The Conference Board consumer confidence index declined 2.0 points to 70.4. Sentiment figures fell dramatically in October due to the government shutdown and debt ceiling debate. The numbers for November came in below expectations.

Apple continues to improve technically. The stock moved out to new multi-month highs. It is rumored that on December 18th they are going to announce an iPhone carriage deal with China Mobile. Semiconductors are outperforming the overall sector. Seasonality and favorable analyst commentary helped the semis today. Semiconductor capital equipment also outperformed today after seeing profit taking last week. The tech sector outperformed the broad market posting a daily gain of 0.40%.

Industrials were in line with the market. Multi line industrials were in favor. Danaher was higher after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to a buy. Danaher’s growing health care business was highlighted in the upgrade from Goldman.

Homebuilders and building products stocks were higher on the day. The catalyst was the very volatile multi-family unit housing starts. Housing data was viewed today as a sign that the housing market is not deteriorating.

Source: PFS Group

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