The three major US stock indexes opened lower this morning as markets reacted to a rise in the yield of Spanish 10-year debt to more than 7% (our coverage here). The weekend elections in Greece salved some worries about the dissolution of the Eurozone (our story here). The US housing market index came in a bit better than expected. Tech stocks boosted the Nasdaq today, but the DJIA and the S&P 500 didn’t get such help.
The US dollar index rose today, now up 0.43% at 81.975. The GSCI commodity index is up fractionally at 582.62, with commodities prices tending higher today. WTI crude oil closed down -0.9% at $83.27/barrel. Brent crude trades down -2% at $95.66/barrel. Natural gas rose more than 7% today to $2.647/thousand cubic feet (more coverage here). Gold settled down -0.1%, at $1,627.00/ounce.
The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 25 points to 12,741.89 (-0.20%), the NASDAQ rose more than 22 points (0.78%) to 2,895.33, and the S&P 500 rose 0.14% or nearly 2 points to 1,344.77.
There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) started as ‘outperform’ at KBW; EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG) raised to ‘buy’ at UBS; Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ: CELG) cut to ‘sector perform’ at RBC; Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) reiterated as ‘hold’ at Argus; and Verifone Systems Inc. (NYSE: PAY) raised to ‘buy’ at UBS. We also noted six unusual analyst calls today.
There have been no earnings reports of note since markets closed on Friday.Tomorrow we are scheduled to get earnings from Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE), Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS), FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX), Jabil Circuit Inc. (NYSE: JBL), Jefferies Group Inc. (NYSE: JEF), and Top Ships Inc. (NASDAQ: TOPS).
Other standouts from today include the following stocks:
Extorre Gold Mines Ltd. (AMEX: XG) is up 55.6% at $4.14. The Canadian junior gold miner is being acquired by Yamana Gold Inc. (NYSE: AUY). More coverage here.
InterDigital Inc. (NASDAQ: IDCC) is up 25.7% at $28.75. The wireless communications technology company has agreed to sell patents worth $375 million to Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC).
Body Central Corp. (NASDAQ: BODY) is down -48.7% at $8.21, after posting a new 52-week low of $8.10 earlier today. The retailer of young women’s apparel and accessories cut its guidance for the second time in two months.
Stay tuned for Tuesday. The FOMC begins its monthly 2-day meeting tomorrow. We have noted the following events (all times Eastern):
- 8:30 a.m. – Housing starts
- 11:30 a.m. – 4-week bill auction
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Paul Ausick
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