September 16, 2013: U.S. markets opened higher Monday morning after an announcement on Sunday by Larry Summers that he was withdrawing his name from consideration as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve. Summers was seen as more likely to end the Fed’s asset purchase program quickly than is Janet Yellen, who is now the betting favorite to be the new Fed chair. U.S. markets closed mixed as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) dragged the tech sector and the Nasdaq Composite down. Longer term, though, Apple might not look so bad.
Asian and European markets closed mostly higer today, while Latin American markets closed mixed.
Tuesday’s calendar includes the beginning of the two-day FOMC meeting and the following data releases and events (all times Eastern):
- 8:30 a.m. – Consumer price index
- 9:00 a.m. – Treasury international capital (TIC) data
- 10:00 a.m. – Housing market index
- 11:30 a.m. – 4- and 52-week bill auctions
Here are the closing bell levels for Monday:
- S&P500 1,697.60 (+9.60; +0.257%)
- DJIA 15,494.78 (+118.72; +0.77%)
- NASDAQ 3,717.85 (-4.34; -0.12%)
- 10YR TNOTE 2.880% (+0.0625)
- Gold $1,317.80 (+9.20; +0.7%)
- WTI Crude oil $106.59 (-1.62; -1.5%)
- Euro/Dollar: 1.3335 (-0.0021; -0.15%)
There were no earnings of note today. Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) reports third quarter earnings after markets close tomorrow and Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) reports third quarter results on Wednesday.
Stocks on the move: Boise Inc. (NYSE: BZ) is up 26% at $12.55 following the company’s acquisition by Packaging Corporation of America Inc. (NYSE: PKG) for $12.55 a share ($1.28 billion). Omeros Corp. (NASDAQ: OMER) is up 68.2% at $8.56 following an analyst upgrade. Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (NYSEArca: NAK) is down 33.3% at $1.48 following an announcement from Anglo American plc that it was withdrawing from a massive copper mining project in Alaska.
In all, 233 stocks put up new 52-week highs today, while just 17 stocks posted new lows.
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