US close: Tech stocks lead retreat

Date: Monday 24 Sep 2012

US stocks closed firmly down on Monday, hit by ongoing concerns over the Eurozone and global growth, with tech stocks leading the way lower.

The Nasdaq saw its biggest percentage decline of a single session in two weeks, while the S&P 500 fell for a third session - its longest decline in seven weeks.

Denting confidence further was data out from Germany's IFO business climate indicator, which fell to 101.4 points in September, down from 102.3 in the previous month and the 102.5 expected by the market consensus. The business climate gauge has declined for a fifth consecutive month according to data from the IFO Institute in Munich.

This was in addition to France and Germany's failure to agree a schedule for initiating shared oversight of the region's banking sector.

A further negative impact came from China over the weekend, after Chinese central-bank advisor Song Guoqing conceded that there are precious few signs of the Chinese economy recovering its mojo in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, income at oil and gas producers will fall by 24% in the three months ending in September, the largest decline in three years, according to more than 1,200 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Excluding the retreat, earnings in the benchmark gauge for US stocks would climb 2.5%, the 12th straight increase, amid gains for banks and computer makers, the data shows.

COMPANY NEWS

On the company front, Apple closed down almost 2% after saying that it sold more than five million of its iPhone 5 in three days. That number is approximately half of what was expected by some analysts.

Tivo shares rose 4% after it announced that it had settled a pending patent dispute with Verizon Comms. The two have reached a patent-licensing agreement.

Shares in Peregrine Pharmaceuticals plunged 78% after Californian company Tustin said the firm's investors should not rely on data from a lung-cancer drug trial because there had been a number of discrepancies discovered in the data.

Micron Technologies was downgraded by analysts at Pacific Crest Securities to sector perform.

Analysts at Citi today revised their price target for shares of Google upwards, to $850 from $740 before. Despite this the company's shares hit an all-time high.

Red Hat´s Chief Executive Officer is said to be looking to make acquisitions in the “cloud space,” according to reports out on Monday.

CHICAGO FED INDEX LOSES MORE GROUND

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago´s national activity index for the month of August fell to -0.87, after -0.13 in the month before. The three month moving average retreated to -0.47 from -0.26 in July.

OTHER MARKETS

Front month West Texas crude futures are now down by 1.03% to the $91.93 per barrel level on the NYMEX.

10-year US Treasuries are now gaining by 12/32 dollars, with yields at 1.71%. Deutsche Bank has revised its year-end forecast for 10-year bond yields upwards, to 2%.


S&P 500 - Risers
International Paper Co. (IP) $36.79 +3.60%
SunTrust Banks Inc. (STI) $29.07 +2.25%
Forest Laboratories Inc. (FRX) $36.49 +2.24%
Google Inc. (GOOG) $749.50 +2.11%
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) $6.31 +2.10%
Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC) $66.28 +1.97%
Aetna Inc. (AET) $40.32 +1.82%
Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM) $27.51 +1.78%
Northeast Utilities (NU) $38.08 +1.74%
Roper Industries Inc. (ROP) $111.07 +1.70%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $77.01 -5.15%
Alpha Natural Res (ANR) $6.84 -5.13%
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (JCP) $24.65 -4.79%
Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) $22.95 -4.49%
R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. (RRD) $11.04 -3.92%
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) $3.46 -3.89%
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF) $35.53 -3.66%
Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. (MJN) $74.79 -3.58%
Denbury Resources Inc. (DNR) $16.79 -3.28%
CONSOL Energy Inc. (CNX) $30.14 -3.21%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $24.75 +0.96%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $41.23 +0.86%
3M Co. (MMM) $93.73 +0.56%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $45.14 +0.51%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $69.76 +0.49%
AT&T Inc. (T) $38.26 +0.47%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $74.77 +0.43%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $52.93 +0.36%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $38.11 +0.21%
Boeing Co. (BA) $70.05 +0.11%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $17.21 -2.16%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $22.79 -1.45%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $30.75 -1.41%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $51.20 -1.16%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $90.84 -0.96%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $80.03 -0.89%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $9.06 -0.77%
General Electric Co. (GE) $22.36 -0.74%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $18.78 -0.63%
American Express Co. (AXP) $57.67 -0.33%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Google Inc. (GOOG) $749.50 +2.11%
Warner Chilcott Plc (WCRX) $13.30 +2.07%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $113.21 +1.89%
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) $16.00 +1.68%
Viacom Inc. Class B (VIAB) $55.21 +1.65%
CH Robinson Worldwide Inc (CHRW) $58.56 +1.63%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $31.38 +1.37%
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $47.32 +1.37%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $82.94 +1.11%
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $109.03 +1.07%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $77.01 -5.15%
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR) $25.84 -3.44%
Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (MRVL) $9.48 -3.41%
Randgold Resources Ltd. Ads (GOLD) $120.65 -2.59%
Avago Technologies Ltd. (AVGO) $34.61 -2.53%
NetApp Inc. (NTAP) $35.40 -2.37%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $56.43 -2.35%
Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM) $6.31 -2.25%
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (MXIM) $26.46 -2.14%
Fossil Inc. (FOSL) $87.91 -2.01%

NR

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