Dow And S&P Fall Slightly; Nasdaq Records Small Gain
Benzinga | Jan 29, 2013 03:11AM ET
Stocks were little changed on Monday after the major averages made an impressive showing last week. Earnings season remains the primary focus of investors amid a low-volatility atmosphere.
Overall, the market has started the year with a bang, with the S&P 500 already tacking on more than 5 percent in January alone. For the day, the Dow and S&P fell while the Nasdaq recorded a small gain.
Major Averages
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 14 points, or 0.10 percent, to close at 13,882.
The S&P 500 lost a little less than 3 points, or 0.18 percent, to finish at 1,500.
The Nasdaq Composite added around 5 points, or 0.15 percent, on the day to 3,154.
Economic Reports
Three important domestic economic reports were released on Monday morning -- durable goods orders, durable goods orders ex-transportation and pending home sales. Durable goods orders for December surged 4.6 percent after increasing 0.7 percent in November. This was well above consensus estimates of an increase of just 1.6 percent.
The primary factor for the sharp rise was aircraft orders. Non-defense aircraft orders rose 10.1 percent and defense orders were up 56.4 percent. Excluding transportation, durable goods orders rose 1.3 percent in the month versus a gain of 1.2 percent in November. This was also well ahead of consensus estimates predicting flat growth.
Pending home sales for December were down 4.3 percent versus a gain of 1.6 percent in November. This was below consensus estimates that called for no change in pending home sales.
Commodities
Crude oil was last trading moderately higher late on Monday. NYMEX crude futures, the U.S. benchmark, had added 0.58 percent to $96.44 while Brent crude contracts were up 0.08 percent to $113.37. Natural gas traded sharply lower to start the week, falling more than 4.60 percent to $3.28.
Gold and silver lost ground on Monday. At last check, COMEX gold futures had shed 0.16 percent to $1,656 while silver contracts were lower by 1 percent at $30.89. Copper futures had risen 0.23 percent.
Both corn and wheat were positive late in the day, with corn trading up better than 1 percent and wheat adding around 0.35 percent. The biggest mover in the soft commodity complex was sugar which climbed almost 2 percent.
Bonds
Around the close of equity trading, the iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NYSE: NFLX ) lost better than 4 percent on Monday after rallying more than 65 percent last week after a very bullish earnings report.
BY Scott Rubin
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