Reply #57: Closing numbers and blather

[RawMaterials]

Dow 10,593.10 -3.69 (-0.03%)
Nasdaq 2,057.64 -17.42 (-0.84%)
S&P 500 1,189.89 -3.30 (-0.28%)
10-Yr Bond 41.63 +0.23 (+0.56%)
NYSE Volume 1,554,246,000
Nasdaq Volume 1,948,245,000


Close: The market reversed course, failing to extend three straight days of gains, after mixed earnings reports and economic news became catalysts for widespread consolidation... Amazon (AMZN 35.59 -6.29), despite beating revenue forecasts and providing upbeat Q1 and FY05 revenue guidance, set the underlying negative tone after it missed analysts' Q4 forecasts by $0.05...

The bearish bias worsened, keeping virtually every sector in negative territory all day, after earnings misses from 7 S&P components (i.e. FON, IP and MYL) eclipsed better than expected earnings from 12 others (i.e. AN, CMCSA, HOT, PEP, RTN and WHR) in the wake of mixed economic reports... The Jan ISM services index came in worse than expected, falling 4.7 points to 59.2 (consensus 61.0), down from 63.9 in December, but still showed growth as any reading above 50 suggests expansion... Q4 productivity rose just 0.8% (consensus +1.8%), compared to a revised 1.6% rate in Q3, which caused unit labor costs (a key inflation gauge) to rise, while Dec factory orders rose just 0.3% (consensus +0.6%), but were not considered very noteworthy...

Initial jobless claims fell 9K to 316K (consensus 330K), marking the third straight week below 324K, but while the data had no implications for the Jan non-farm payroll release tomorrow, the trend in claims remained consistent with solid monthly payroll gains of 175-200K... Retail (+0.3%) was a focal point all day as the more than 50 retailers reporting January same store sales posted the best showing in three months according to the ICSC, which showed Jan comps rose 3.7% (consensus 3.0%)...