US Market registered losses today, Monday, 03 December, 2007, the first day of trading in December, 2007. After staying in the positive territory in the early trading hours, stocks ran out of gas in the later part of the day. Seven out of ten economic sectors posted losses.
The Dow Jones industrial Average ended the day with a loss of 57.15 points at 13,314.57. The Nasdaq Composite Index, finished lower by 23.83 points at 2,637.13. S&P; 500 finished lower by 8.72 points at 1,472.42. Twenty out of thirty Dow stocks ended in red today. General Motors, General Electric and 3M were the main Dow winners.
Of the three sectors that ended in the green today, Utilities led the way. Financials led the team of laggards.
On the economic front, the November Institute of Supply Management (ISM) Index, a national survey of purchasing managers, came in at 50.8, basically unchanged from the previous month and in-line with expectations. A number above 50 reflects growth.
Stocks traded higher earlier in the day after Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson outlined a plan to help homeowners. He noted that the Treasury is working with the mortgage industry to give suitable borrowers sustainable home loans.
Auto shares come under pressure after GM reports disappointing November numbers
General Motors shares weighed heavily on Dow today after the company reported less-than-expected sales in November. Shares of GM slipped more than 4%.
IBM tried providing god leadership after the company this morning that it is going to repurchase up to $1 billion worth of stock.
Crude prices traded in lower range for most of the day today but in the final minutes of trading, prices went up and closed higher for the day. Prices ended higher on OPEC talks who made it very unclear whether the cartel, which produces 40% of worlds total crude, would go for supply increase to ease up prices. Crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for January delivery closed at $89.31/barrel (higher by $0.60/barrel or 0.7%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Today price reached a low of $87.2/barrel initially.
As per OPEC, they are producing enough to meet global demand and an increase would do little to ease prices. The group is expected to meet on 5 December in Abu Dhabi to discuss these issues. Over the weekend, different OPEC officials made different comments regarding production but it was not clear whether the cartel is going for an increase in production in its next meeting.
On the New York Stock Exchange, volume topped 1.3 billion and declining stocks outran those advancing about 3 to 1. On the Nasdaq, more than 1.9 billion shares were exchanged, and declining issues beat those advancing nearly 2 to 1.
Tomorrow, investors will focus on the weekly tally of retail sales data before market opens tomorrow, the only economic data expected for the day. The data will garner attention due to the upcoming holiday season.
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