The market traded fractionally lower today in a quiet session to start the week. Money rotated between sectors and correlation between stocks continues to decline. Rails were one of the groups in the market that traded higher today. Rails rallied after Barron’s made favorable comments on the space over the weekend. Financials also traded ahead of the tape. Managed care stocks underperformed.
Commodities were mostly lower with copper, precious metals and grains trading lower, while natural gas and crude finished higher.
Financials were one of the best sectors in the market today with very little news. Large cap money center banks traded well. Credit rating agencies had their largest rally since the lawsuit was announced against McGraw Hill.
Apple and Microsoft were among the best performers in the tech sector. The two mega-cap stocks masked weakness in the broader tech sector today. Apple Chairman Tim Cook will speak at a major investor conference tomorrow.
Homebuilding stocks traded slightly lower after favorable data was released on the housing sector today. Bloomberg reported this morning that 133 of the 152 US Metro areas saw home prices increase in the fourth quarter of 2012. Home prices saw their largest increase, year over year, in seven years.
Materials traded slightly lower than the broader market today. Precious metals stocks were off on a sharp pullback in the price of the underlying commodities.
Although crude traded higher by close to 1.25% energy stocks were slightly lower today with little news driving the sector. Service related names as well as drillers and integrated energy companies all traded lower.
Source: PFS Group
