Stocks ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Index losing ground for a second week following reports that month-to-date sales at Walmart have had their slowest start in seven years. The other major indices also closed lower after earlier swinging between small gains and losses. Traders were influenced by largely positive economic news balanced against uncertain prospects for finance ministers and central bankers meeting in Moscow on whether they can succeed in efforts to tamp down rising currency tensions. Crude oil and energy stocks took the blunt of that ambivalence, all making steep declines, while consumer and healthcare stocks held on to small gains to keep the market within close range of even for the day.
Markets turned solidly lower after Bloomberg reported Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) had the worst sales start to a month in seven years as payroll-tax increases hit shoppers already battling a slow economy. In a Feb. 12 email delivered to other WMT executives and obtained by Bloomberg, Jerry Murray, the retailer's vice president of finance and logistics, said, In case you haven't seen a sales report these days, February MTD sales are a total disaster, later writing it was the worst start to a month I have seen in my 7 years with the company.
Friday's market started lower as it appeared that a clear statement aiming to stem efforts to bolster national economies by devaluing their currencies coming out of the Group of 20 meetings in Moscow was increasingly unlikely. But a more upbeat mood began overtaking pre-market trade after the Empire State Manufacturing Index posted its first positive reading since last July.
The index tracking factory growth in New York state snapped a six-month negative streak, coming in with a plus-10.04 reading for February. That reversed January's negative 7.8 reading and also beat expectations for a minus-1.75 reading this month. Details showed an increase in new orders, typically seen as a good sign for future shipments and employment, while shipments and employment this month already show strong month over month growth. The six-month outlook for general conditions, at 33.07, also was very upbeat.
Another surprisingly strong measure of consumer sentiment helped boost equities. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary reading on consumer sentiment rose to 76.3 in February from 73.8 in January, topping economists' forecasts of a 74.8 score. The final reading for the month is due out on Friday, March 1.
The Federal Reserve this morning also reported a 0.1% decline in industrial production last month, trailing consensus opinion expecting a 0.3% advance, although after two months of very strong growth, the miss seemed to do little to derail the mostly upside momentum.
Among commodities, Crude oil for March delivery settled $1.45 lower at $95.86 per barrel. March natural gas ended a penny lower at $3.15 per 1 million BTU. April gold erased larger losses earlier to finish 26 cent lower at $1,609.50 per ounce. March silver lost 50 cents to settle at $29.84 per ounce while March copper lost about 0.5 cents to $3.73 per pound.
Here's Where The U.S. Markets Stood At Day's End
- Dow Jones Industrial Average up 8.37 (+0.06%) to 13,981.76
- S&P 500 down 1.59 (-0.10%) to 1,519.79
- Nasdaq Composite Index down 6.63 (-0.21%) to 3,192.03
- Hang Seng Index up 0.13%
- Shanghai China Composite Index up 0.57%
- FTSE 100 Index up 0.01%
- (+) QLIK, Software company beats analyst estimates for net income, sales after posting higher licensing revenue in its traditionally strong Q4. Total revenue rose 27% to $137.5 mln, or about $10.6 mln better than estimates. Ex items, it earned $0.25 per share - topping the Street view by $0.02.
- (+) HLF, Carl Icahn discloses 12.98% stake, now owning about 14 mln shares.
- (+) MWV, Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management LP last night discloses it bought nearly 1.6 mln shares of the consumer-products packaging company during Q4.
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