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DJIA Industrial Average

Dec 30

Open 11585.3

High 11594.4

Low 11551.9

Close 11569.71

Change -15.67 (-0.14%)

RSI: 68.6

MACD: 88.61

Strategy: Stocks in US closed on a mixed note as investors preferred to book profits on every rise in a dull day of trading towards the fag end of the year. More market participation is expected to return only in the coming year.

Commentary

U.S. stocks ignored some healthy economic indicators including those relating to rise in pending home sales and fall in initial jobless claims as as the markets traded in a narrow bad Thursday to close with modest losses.   

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed with modest losses of 15.67 points, or 0.14% lower, at 11,569.71, while The S&P 500 closed with losses of just under two points for the fourth time this month at 1,257.88. The Nasdaq Composite Index also shed 3.95 points, to close at 2,662.98.

7 out of the 30 Dow components advanced in the session, most of which logged thin gains in the session and another 23 index stocks lagged behind Thursday.

The major Dow constituents to make advances included Alcoa 0.53%, Intel 0.53%, IBM 0.10%, Chevron 0.25% and Caterpillar 0.10%.

However, the losers amongst the index components included American Express -0.83%, Du Pont -0.66%, Pfizer -0.63% and Merck -0.55%.

Telecom (+0.1%) and Energy (+0.1%) made fresh advances in the session amongst the sectors.

Financials (-0.4%), Health Care (-0.3%), Industrials (-0.2%) and Tech (-0.2%) remained as the laggards Thursday.

Initial jobless claims fell to a record two year low of 3.88 lakh for the last week, which was beat all the forecasts logged by economists’, indicating a continued recovery in the economy. However, the continuing claims for the jobless for two weeks or more jumped by 57,000 to 4,128,000.

The National Association of Realtors reported that pending home sales rose 3.5% in November, far better than the 3% decrease economists were expecting. The data confirmed the recovery in economy and rise in investors confidence.

Also, the Chicago PMI rose to 68.6, showing manufacturing activity picked up more than expected in December. Economists had forecast the index would edge down to 61.5 in November.

However, it was a muted day of activity on the bourses as most of the participants abstained from carrying forward their buying positions. Fresh activity is expected to pick up on resumption of earnings season next week and after the end of winter of winter holidays.

Independent oil and gas company Noble Energy announced that it has made a natural gas discovery in the Leviathan field offshore Israel. The company holds a 39.66% stake in the joint venture.

In an M&A activity, BHP Billiton is all set to be gearing up to make a cash bid valued at $90 per share for the oil and natural gas producer. Shares of BHP rose 0.2%.

The dollar lost ground against the euro and the Japanese yen, but gained against the British pound. However, the Dollar Index fell below 79 in the session.

Oil for February delivery slipped $1.28 to settle at $89.84 a barrel for the time in past one week.

Gold futures for February delivery fell $7.60 to settle at $1,405.90 an ounce.

The Day Ahead

Friday

No economic data