The markets are mixed again this morning, thanks to the impaired housing market rearing its head. A poor final trading session could mark this as the worst week of 2012 so far. Let's take a closer look at how the major indexes are doing and some individual stocks making headlines.
Index | Gain/Loss | Gain/Loss % | Ending Value |
---|---|---|---|
Dow Jones Industrial Average | 33.26 | 0.25% | 13,079.40 |
Nasdaq | (1.77) | (0.06%) | 3,061.55 |
S&P 500 | 3.21 | 0.23% | 1,395.99 |
Source: Yahoo! Finance.
The three major indexes all opened down, with the S&P 500 poised to break its five-week run of gains. However, they have since rallied back. The Dow keeps jumping in and out of positive territory, tenuously staying above 13,000, an important psychological barrier. The Nasdaq, still in negative territory, is lagging the other two indices, but tech has outperformed every other day, leaving it the only index likely to finish with weekly gains.
As mentioned earlier, new-home sales fell sequentially to a 313,000 annual run rate, casting a pall over the sector. Shares in homebuilders have been hit hard, especially KB Home
And it has to be mentioned that a new Apple
There is a lot of trading left today, but after fighting off the morning's poor macro events, the Dow looks poised to finish in positive territory for the day. While that won't be enough to avoid a poor week, it will stop some of the bear chatter and hold 13,000 through the weekend.
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