Monday Closing Bell: Market Muddles from Mixed Open to Mixed Close

October 21, 2013: U.S. markets opened mixed Monday morning after a couple of weak earnings reports. The report on existing home sales showed a drop in September and the delayed report on crude oil inventories showed another large gain. There was not much momentum among traders today, either to the high side or the low side. On the whole, stocks ended the day just as mixed as they were in the morning.

European closed higher today while Asian and Latin American markets were mixed again.

Tuesday’s calendar includes the following scheduled data releases and events (all times Eastern).

• 8:30 a.m. – Employment situation (delayed from October 4th due to government shutdown)
• 10:00 a.m. – Construction spending (delayed)
• 10:00 a.m. – Richmond Fed manufacturing index
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report (delayed from last Thursday)
• 11:30 a.m. – 4-week bill auction

Here are the closing bell levels for Monday:

• S&P500 1744.64 (+0.14; +0.01%)
• DJIA 15391.88 (-7.64; -0.05%)
• NASDAQ 3920.05 (+5.77; +0.15%)
• 10YR TNOTE 2.609% (-0.21875)
• Gold $1,315.80 (+1.20; +0.1%)
• WTI Crude oil $99.22 (-1.59; -1.6%)
• Euro/Dollar: 1.3680 (-0.0005; -0.03%)

Big Earnings Movers: McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) is down 0.6% at $94.59 after a so-so report and a downbeat forecast. Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) is down 3.4% at $50.67 on added caution for the current quarter. V.F. Corp. (NYSE: VFC) is up 3.4% at $211.24. SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) is up 3.6% at $76.38. NVR Corp. (NYSE: NVR) is down 4.1% at $893.40.

Stocks on the Move: Crosstex Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: XTXI) is up 71.5% at $35.33 on a merger with Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN). Crosstex Energy LP (NASDAQ: XTEX) is up 33.9% at $27.25 on the same news. Voxeljet AG (NYSE: VJET) is up 22.7% at $35.34. J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) is down 8.4% at $6.42, after posting another record low today.

In all, 338 NYSE stocks put up new 52-week highs today, while only 9 stocks posted new lows.