U.S. stocks ended the day mixed as concerns grew that a six-month old rally has gone ahead of any economic recovery. A drop in crude prices on global demand concerns sent energy shares lower. Also, investors appeared jittery ahead of the two-day policy meet and Friday’s key post of August durable goods, and refrained from adding to their holdings. Defensive areas like healthcare rose. Technology shares also found some favor with investors after Dell announced plans to acquire Perot Systems in a $3.9 billion deal.
This morning’s stock futures indicate Wall Street is headed for a higher opening, helped by a rally in global stocks. Ahead of the market’s open, Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 48, or 0.5%, to 9,766. Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures were up 6.20, or 0.6%, to 1,066.60, while Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 10.75, or 0.6%, to 1,738.50. Ahead of the FOMC policy statement, trading is expected to remain range bound as traders look for more data before taking the plunge.
Treasuries were mixed ahead of this week’s $112 billion note auction. The 2-year rose 1/32 and the 10-year was off 3/32. The dollar showed some strength, managing a 0.4% advance against a basket of currencies and sending the broad-based DJ-UBS commodity index down 1.8%, as crude prices went below the $70 level. On the NYSE, declining shares were ahead of those that rose in price by a two-to-one margin on volume of 1.20 billion shares.
Seven of the ten S&P500 industry sectors declined, with health care (+0.6%), tech shares (+0.1%), and consumer services (+0.1%) ending the day in the positive territory. The tech-heavy NASDAQ was the only outperformer among the major bourses, managing a 0.2% gain to 2138, helped by a Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) announcement to buy Perot Systems (NYSE:PER) in a $3.9 billion all-cash deal. Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) rose 1.6% as HSBC Holdings (NYSE:HBC) initiated coverage on the stock with an “overweight” rating and a price target of $61. Baird upgraded Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG) shares to “outperform,” citing upside from strength of its Revlimid drug. Celgene shares closed up more than 5%. General Electric (NYSE:GE) shares also rose, bucking the trend of both its financial and industrial counterparts, as Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) raised its price target on the stock $19, noting the company’s improved risk profile.
Leading the indices lower yesterday were financials (-1.0%), oil and gas (-0.9%), commodities (-0.7%), as well as industrials (-0.6%) and consumer goods (-0.6%). The Dow Jones industrial average, which was down 94 points in the morning session, closed down 41 points, hurt by its financial components, with American Express (NYSE:AXP) down 2.9% and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) retreating 2.2%. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) said it agreed to pay $425 million to terminate a tentative loss-sharing agreement with the government that had been established to facilitate its purchase of Merrill Lynch. However, the firm skipped a deadline to provide documents regarding that merger to a House panel. Shares in AIG (NYSE:AIG) spiked 22% after a report from the Government Accountability Office noted the company is seeing stabilization following the government’s bailout measures. However, the report said it remains unclear when AIG would be able to repay those funds.
A $2.33 decline in crude prices also hurt share of commodity-related companies even as the greenback showed some resistance against a basket of currencies. Alcoa (NYSE:AA) shares lost almost 1% after Macquarie warned of an unfavorable aluminum demand/supply outlook over the next six to twelve months. Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) declined 1.8% after reporting its global machinery sales plunged 48% in the three months to August.
