(RTTNews) - Stocks saw sharp losses on the last trading day of 2009 on Thursday, as traders largely looked past improved jobs data and cashed in on the year's strong gains. The major averages all ended the session in negative territory by notable margins, moving further off of the yearly highs set earlier in the week.
The downturn in the markets came even though the Labor Department reported that jobless claims fell to 432,000 in the week ended December 26th from the previous week's revised figure of 454,000.
The decrease came as a surprise to economists, who had expected jobless claims to edge up to 460,000 from the 452,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With the drop, jobless claims extended the downward trend seen over the past few months, falling to their lowest level since coming at 413,000 in the week ended July 19th, 2008.
On the corporate front, Marvel Entertainment Inc. (MVL) said that its shareholders have approved the company's merger with Walt Disney Co. (DIS), under which Marvel will become Disney's wholly-owned subsidiary.
The company anticipates the deal, valued at about $4.3 billion based on Disney's closing price on Wednesday, to be completed after the close of trading today.
The major averages accelerated to the downside in the latter part of the trading day, ending the day firmly in negative territory. The Dow lost 120.46 points or 1.1 percent to close at 10,428.05, the Nasdaq fell by 22.13 points or 1 percent to 2,269.15 and the S&P 500 declined by 11.32 points or 1 percent to 1,115.10.
With today's drop, the major averages closed lower for the holiday-shortened week, with the S&P 500 and the Dow falling by 1 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively, while the Nasdaq fell by 0.7 percent.
Nonetheless, the major averages saw substantial gains for the year, as they rallied from their March lows. The Nasdaq jumped by 43.9 percent, while the S&P 500 and the Dow shot up by somewhat more modest margins, registering yearly gains of 23.4 percent and 18.8 percent, respectively.
Sector News
Trucking stocks were some of the day's worst performers, dragging down the Dow Jones Trucking Index down by 3.2 percent. With the pullback, the index moved further off the fifteen month closing high set on Tuesday.
The sector was hurt by shares of YRC Worldwide (YRCW), as traders expressed concerns regarding the company's viability even though it completed a critical debt-for-equity exchange that staved off bankruptcy. Shares of YRC saw a loss of 15.2 percent.
Commercial real estate stocks also ended the day markedly lower, as reflected by the 1.9 percent drop in the Morgan Stanley REIT Index. The loss dragged the index further away from the nearly fifteen month closing high it set on Monday.
Healthcare, utilities, defense and software stocks were also under pressure, while some gold stocks were able to buck the late-session sell-off, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index posting a gain of 0.4 percent.
Dow Components
Hewlett Packard (HPQ) was the worst Dow's worst laggard, posting a loss of 2.7 percent on the day. With the pullback, shares pulled back well off of the more than two-year closing high set on Wednesday.
Microsoft (MSFT) also fell by a notable margin, registering a loss of 1.6 percent. The day's selling pressure pulled shares of the software giant further away from Tuesday's twenty-month closing high.
Caterpillar (CAT), Pfizer (PFE) and Wal-Mart (WMT) also fell, along with a vast majority of the other blue chip stocks, contributing to the triple digit pullback by the Dow. Meanwhile, JP Morgan Chase (JPM) was the only Dow component to eke out a gain, climbing by 0.3 percent.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region closed higher amid limited trading on Thursday. India's BSE 30 Index gained 0.7 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index rose by 1.6 percent. Japanese markets were closed on the day.
The European markets also saw modest strength on Thursday, although several markets in the region were closed on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed up 0.3 percent in a holiday-shortened session, while the French CAC 40 Index closed just above the unchanged line.
In the bond markets, treasuries sold off following this morning's upbeat jobs report. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, closed at 3.843 percent, posting a gain of 5.9 basis points.
Looking Ahead
In the first trading week of 2010, stocks are likely to take cues from data on manufacturing, pending home sales and the all-important monthly jobs report for December of 2009.
No comments:
Post a Comment