The market sold off in the last few minutes of weekly trading to close down today. The S&P 500 lost 0.43% and the Dow was lower by 0.76%. Consumer discretionary stocks and utilities were leaders in today’s trading, and financials and technology stocks were laggards.
June Chicago PMI disappointed investors in the early going this morning: the actual number of 51.6 was well below last month’s reading of 58.7 and the consensus estimate of 55.5. The Final June Michigan Consumer Sentiment number was better than expected: the survey came in at 84.1 against an estimated 82.7.
The lows of the day were hit right before the Consumer Sentiment numbers were released. The market rallied on the better-than-expected number and moved to the flat line for much of the day. The S&P 500 retreated in the final five minutes of trading as the Russell 2000 index went through its annual rebalancing.
Technology was weak. Accenture was off sharply after they reported weaker than expected earnings. They also gave disappointing forward guidance. The weaker than expected results set a negative tone for the sector: Blackberry plunged by better than 25% after they reported shipments of 2.7 million phones; the sales estimate for their latest device was 3.5 million units.
Discretionary shares were leaders on the day. Finish Line was a leader after they reported better than expected earnings; the sporting goods retailer reported revenues well in excess of estimates. Nike reported a slightly positive earnings surprise after the close yesterday. Futures orders from retailers were also better than expected. Nike shares were up more than 2% on the day. Homebuilding stocks were an area of weakness in the sector. The home construction group lost better than 1.5%.
Utilities were higher by 0.4% for the day and better than 3.0% for the week. Several members of the Fed issued statements that the Fed will remain in accommodative mode for perhaps longer than the people think after the strong negative reaction to Chairman Bernanke’s recent comments.
Source: PFS Group
