US stocks struggled to find direction in the early going on Thursday, 02 February 2012, but eventually ended mixed going into close. Stocks had a choppy range bound session ahead of tomorrows crucial job report. Earning and economic reports dominated the day. The dollar stayed weak throughout the day and inched up in final minutes. Commodities had a mixed day with precious metals rising but crude prices slipping for fifth straight day.
For the day, that ended on Thursday, 02 February 2012, Dow ended lower by 11.05 points or 0.09% to end at 12,705.41. The Nasdaq gained 11.41 points or 0.4% to end at 2,859.7. The S&P 500 gained 1.45 points or 0.11% to end at 1,325.52.
Five out of ten economic sectors ended higher led by energy, financial, consumer staple, technology and telecom sectors. Materials, healthcare and utilities led the laggards.
Dow components had a mixed finish. IBM led the group of Dow laggards.
With the monthly payrolls report on the horizon, a modest amount of attention was paid to the latest initial jobless claims tally, which declined by 12,000 to 367,000. Thats actually less than the 375,000 initial claims that had been expected. Separate report showed that fourth quarter productivity increased 0.7%, as had been expected, but labor costs climbed 1.2%, which is greater than the 0.7% increase that had been broadly expected.
A handful of retailers had strong results in reporting same store sales data. Gap, Target and Costco were among those with more impressive results, while Macys and Nordstrom were among those that disappointed.
In the currency market on Thursday, the Dollar Index, which weighs the strength of dollar against basket of six other currencies stayed in the red for almost the entire day but ultimately rose by almost 0.05%.
There were a few fresh developments coming out of the European Union debt crisis on Thursday. A Spanish bond auction saw mixed results but with lower yields fetched. A debt- restructuring deal between the Greek government and the private sector has still not been reached, but an agreement is reportedly closer.
Fed Chairman Bernanke attracted an audience of investors and market participants looking to gain insight into macro conditions via his testimony on the economy to the House of Representatives Budget Committee on Thursday. Bernanke indicated that the sluggish expansion of the economy has left it vulnerable to shocks. Bernanke did note that concerns about the domestic outlook and developments in Europe are abating, though.
Precious metal prices ended higher on Thursday, 02 February 2012 at Comex. Both gold and silver prices rose as the dollar index stayed weak earlier during the day but ultimately ended mildly higher. Gold prices ended the U.S. day session higher and near the daily high. Prices hit a fresh two-month high today. Gold for April delivery ended higher by $9.8 or 0.6%, to end at $1,759.3 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Thursday. It traded as low as $1,743.30 and as high as $1,763.80 an ounce. It started floor trading veering between small gains and losses, but found firmer footing as the day progressed. On Thursday, silver prices for March delivery rose $0.37 or 1.1% to end at $34.16.
Crude prices ended lower for fifth straight day on Thursday, 02 February 2012 at Nymex. Prices ended lower following yesterdays weekly inventory report from the energy department which showed stronger than expected buildup in crude inventories for last week. Prices also fell due to slight increase in dollar index. Light and sweet crude for March delivery fell $1.84 (1.9%) to $95.75 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Thursday.
For every two stocks falling, three gained on the New York Stock Exchange, where 810 million shares traded. NYSE composite volume topped 4 billion.
Indian ADRs ended mostly higher on Thursday. In the IT space, Wipro was up 2.1% at $11.24. In the Banking space, HDFC Bank was up 2.6% at $32.43 and ICICI Bank was up 1.4% at $37.19. In the Telecom space, Tata Communication was up 3% at $9.58.
For tomorrow, non farm payrolls and unemployment report are the economic reports expected for the day. Other than that, earning reports will also continue to pour in.
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