On Thursday stocks declined sharply mainly as a consequence of increase in the value of dollar which gained on the back of Fed’s comments that economy still continues to be weak. The Dow Jones industrial average declined by 133 points (1.3%) to close at 10,308.26 points with 28 of the 30 Dow components registering a decline. Other indices also declined with the S&P 500 index declining by 13 points (1.2%) to close at 1,096.08 points. The Nasdaq composite also declined by 27 points (1.2%) to close at 2,180.05 points. Sector wise all sectors declined on Thursday with the materials and financials registering the maximum decline of 2.3% and 1.8% respectively. Material stocks were under pressure mainly on account of increase in the value of dollar. Among the financial stocks leading the decline was Citigroup whose stocks were down by 7.5%. American Express stocks declined by 2% while JPMorgan  [...]

On Wednesday stock market moved upward thanks to the optimism provided by falling dollar and an improvement in wholesale inventories data. The Dow Jones industrial average increased by 51 points( 0.5%) to close at 10,337.05 points. The S&P 500 index increased by 4 points (0.4%) to close at 1,095.95 points while the Nasdaq composite increased by 11 points (0.5%) to close at 2,183.73 points. Sector wise except for consumer discretionary which registered a decline of 0.2%, all other sectors were either unchanged or showed an increase. The advancing sectors for the day were materials (increased by 1.3%), technology (increased by 0.9%), Health Care (increased by 0.6%), Financials (increased by 0.4%), Utilities (increased by 0.4%) and Energy (increased by 0.1%). The sectors which were unchanged include Consumer Staples, Industrials and Telecom. Like before dollar and stock markets continued  [...]

On Tuesday US stock markets declined mainly due to weak global markets, a rising dollar, falling oil and gold prices, and some disappointing profit news from 3M, McDonald's and Kroger. The Dow Jones industrial average declined by 104 points (1%) to close at 10,285.97 points. Other indices also declined with the S&P 500 index declining by 11 points (1%) to close at 1,091.94 points. The Nasdaq composite declined by 17 points( 0.8%) to close at 2,172.99 points. Sector wise all sectors registered decline on Tuesday with the energy and materials declining the maximum by 1.7% each. Other sectors which declined include industrials (decline of 1.3%), consumer staples (decline of 1.2%), telecom (decline of 1.0%), financials (decline of 0.9%), consumer discretionary (decline of 0.8%), technology (decline of 0.8%), health care (decline of 0.8%) and utilities (decline of 0.4%). Stocks declined  [...]

The week started on a positive note with Dow reaching its highest level in more than a year. The markets were helped by a strong housing report and increase in commodity prices. The Dow Jones industrial average increased by a huge 133 points( 1.2%) to end at 10,450.95 points. This is Dow’s highest level since October 2, 2008. In early trading Dow increased by 177 points to reach 10,495.61 which is the highest trading level since Oct. 3, 2008. Other indices also showed an increase.  The Nasdaq increased by 30 points (1.4%) to close at 2,176.01.The S&P 500 increased by 15 points(1.4%) to close at 1,106.24. Since reaching its 12 year low on March 9 the Dow has increased by approximately 60% while Nasdaq and S&P have increased by 69% and 64% respectively. Sector wise all sectors registered gain on Monday with Telecom, Technology and Energy gaining the most of 1.6%. Other sectors  [...]

With stocks falling on Friday the week ended on a low note with markets down for the most of week. The mood was clearly negative with investors not confident about the economy and the technology sector. On Friday the Dow Jones industrial average declined by fell 14 points(0.1%) to end at 10,318.16 points. The S&P 500 declined by 0.3% to close at 1091.38 points. Nasdaq composite declined by 0.5% to close at 2146.04 points. In spite of Friday’s decline Dow closed with a 0.5% gain for the week. Other indices S&P and Nasdaq declined by 0.2% and 1% for the week. Sector wise on Friday healthcare sector registered a growth of 0.6% mainly due to gain in pharmaceutical stocks by 1.2%. The other sectors that finished with gains were Utilities (gain of 0.2%) and consumer staples (gain of 0.1%). Like on Thursday energy stocks lost the most on Friday closing with a decline of 0.9% due  [...]

On Thursday the markets again declined due to renewed concerns about economic recovery, strengthening of dollar and bleak outlook of the technology sector. The Dow Jones industrial average declined by 94 points(0.9%) to close at 10,332.4 points. The S&P 500 declined by 1.3% to close just below the all important  1,100 point level. The Nasdaq composite  which is heavily technology shares driven lost heavily by 36 points (1.6%) to close at 2,156.82. Technology shares on Monday took a beating after Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded the  semiconductor industry. The semiconductor industry was downgraded after two key software companies issued not so positive profit outlooks for the fourth quarter. Stocks of chip makers Intel and AMD declined the most by more than 3% Also after the trading day ended Dell Inc came up with its third quarter results which was short of analyst expectation.  [...]

Two factors bought the stock market down on Wednesday. Firstly the unexpected drop in new home construction which shook investor confidence and then not so great profit outlooks in technology sector. The Dow Jones industrial average declined by 11 points (0.1%) to end at 10,426.3 points. The S&P 500 (SPX) declined by less than one point to close at 1,109.8 points. The Nasdaq composite which is mainly technology shares driven declined by 10 point (0.5%) to end at 2,193.1 points . Sector wise technology and utility stocks registered the maximum decline of 0.5% each. Other sectors which declined included Industrials (decline of 0.4%), Energy (decline of 0.3%), Consumer Discretionary (decline of 0.3%) and Materials (decline of 0.1%). Sectors that gained included financials (gain of 0.9%), health care (gain of 0.4%) and Telecom (gain of 0.2%). Consumer staples closed the day at the same  [...]

Stocks on Tuesday closed marginally higher than the Monday level as the day saw both highs and lows. Finally the stocks closed at 13 month high for the second consecutive day thanks to commodity linked shares that offset the decline in retail shares. The Dow increased by about 30 points(0.3%) to end the day at 10,437.42 points. The S&P 500 increased marginally by 1 points to close just above the 1,100 level. The Nasdaq composite increased by 0.3% to close at 2,203.78. Since October 2008 all these three indexes are currently at their highest level. The sectors which gained on Tuesday included Materials (gain of 0.9%), Telecom (gain of 0.6%), Tech (gain of 0.5%), Consumer Staples (gain of 0.2%), Financials (gain of 0.1%) and Health Care (gain of 0.1%). Consumer discretionary and Utilities registered a decline of 0.7% and 0.4% respectively. Industrials and Energy stocks closed the  [...]

Stock markets reached new high on Monday on the back of weak US dollar and Fed chairman Ben Bernanke comment that the interest rate will continue to be low as the economy recovers. Dow increased by 136 points(1.3%) to close at 10,406.96 points which is the highest level since October 2008. S&P increased by 15.8 points(1.8%) to end at 1,100 points. The Nasdaq increased by 30 points (1.4%) to close at 2,197.5 points. Energy and Material stock gained the maximum in Monday’s rally with both of them increasing by 2.5% and 2.3% respectively. Commodity prices were helped by weak dollar with gold and oil in particular gaining. Crude oil prices increased by 3.4% to close at $78.94 per barrel. Gold touched another record high of $1143.40 per ounce before finally settling down at $1139.20 per ounce recording a gain of 2%. The other advancing sectors on Monday includes Industrials (gain of  [...]

The inevitable finally happened. After a six day rally US stock markets saw a decline on Thursday. The Dow declined by 94 points (0.9%) to end at 10,197.47 points. Other indices like the S&P and Nasdaq Composite also registered a decline. S&P declined by 11 points (1%) to close at 1,087.24, and the Nasdaq composite declined by 18 points (0.8%), to end at 2,149.02. The Dow had earlier increased by more than 500 points (5.3%) to reach 13-month high. All sectors registered a decline with the energy and financial stocks registering the maximum decline. Energy sectors declined on the background of lower oil prices which declined by 3% to settle at $76.91 per barrel. The other declining sectors include Financials (down by 1.8%), Utilities (down by 1.3%), Industrials (down by 1.0%), Consumer Discretionary (down by 1.0%), Telecom (down by 0.8%), Materials (down by 0.6%), Health Care (down  [...]