Reply #51: 2:36 watching the red paint dry [View All]

[54anickel]

Dow 11,846.92 19.77 (0.17%)
Nasdaq 2,302.19 4.15 (0.18%)
S&P 500 1,349.14 4.08 (0.30%)
10-yr Bond 4.6960% 0.0880
30-yr Bond 4.8370% 0.0760
NYSE Volume 1,845,016,000
Nasdaq Volume 1,227,939,000

2:30 pm : Not much change since the last update, which means the indices continue to trade modestly below the flat line. At this point, stocks are trading largely on their own accord as the Treasury market closed early for the Columbus Day holiday. Why the bond market needs a day-and-half to honor the founder of America is beyond us, but just so you know, that market will be closed all day on Monday as well. The stock market, for its capitalist part, will be open for a full day of trading.DJ30 -29.37 NASDAQ -7.08 SP500 -5.12 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1756/1172/1.20 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 2140/1050/1.05 bln

2:00 pm : The market has spent the entirety of the session in negative territory, but it has refused to buckle in the midst of the selling activity. Its resilience can be attributed to an underlying sense of bullishness that is built on the belief the Fed will be successful in engineering a soft landing. Some will argue that the September jobs report threw the Fed's acumen into question, but Briefing.com isn't part of that group. In our estimation, the September employment report, and the revisions to prior data, support the soft landing argument and validate the belief the Fed will refrain from raising interest rates at this month's FOMC meeting. DJ30 -32.01 NASDAQ -6.07 SP500 -4.77 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1790/1121/1.10 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 2202/961/959 mln

1:30 pm : The indices remain underwater, which is how they have traded since the opening bell. Unlike past sessions, there hasn't been much participation from buyers, which is evident in A/D lines at the NYSE and Nasdaq that favor decliners by a wide margin. Within the Dow, General Motors (GM 31.43, -1.70) tops the list of laggards and is followed by Caterpillar (CAT 67.35, -0.89) which is under pressure after Agco (AG 24.29, -1.96) cut its third quarter earnings expectations.DJ30 -44.74 NASDAQ -9.71 SP500 -6.69 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1801/1086/1.02 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 2232/919/901 mln

1:00 pm : The fallout from the GM news appears to have run its course for the broader market, which has steadied since the prior report. Overall, though, there just hasn't been a lot of conviction on the part of buyers today who recognize the market is due for a pullback of some sort after rallying 10.0% from the July low. Basic Materials (+0.19%) is the only sector sporting a gain today while energy (-1.19%) is the only sector moving more than 1.00%. DJ30 -42.74 NASDAQ -10.20 SP500 -6.46 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1935/938/944 mln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 2367/789/1.36 bln

12:30 pm : The indices suffered a noticeable dip in the past half hour that is largely the result of news surrounding General Motors (GM 30.58, -2.55). Specifically, Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. has made it known that it doesn't plan to pursue the purchase of an additional 12 million shares of GM's stock after the auto maker terminated its alliance discussions with Renault and Nissan. It was also noted that Kerkorian's lieutenant Jerome York resigned his position as a GM board member. The pullback in GM shares has driven the auto group into the position of being one of the worst-performing areas in the market today.DJ30 -47.86 NASDAQ -14.12 SP500 -7.64 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1875/953/855 mln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 2303/808/1.22 bln