Late Push Lifts Stocks
Updated from 4:20 p.m. EDT
Stocks in New York used a late surge to move higher at the close following a ragged trading session Wednesday.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
traded in a range of some 107 points, driving in and out of the green repeatedly before finishing up 46.68 points, or 0.36%, to 12,594.03. The
S&P 500
ended up 5.49 points, or 0.4%, at 1390.84, and the
Nasdaq Composite
rose 5.46 points, or 0.22%, to 2486.70.
"We really think we're going to be in a very narrow range out here," said Matt King, chief investment officer with Bell Investment Advisors. "There's not much news moving these markets."
"We're looking at a commodities-driven market right now," said James Park, managing director with Rodman & Renshaw. "It's funny how that's changed from a couple of months ago when it was all about the credit markets."
The Real Story Wrap: May 28 |
var config = new Array(); config<BRACKET>"videoId"</BRACKET> = 1577996018; config<BRACKET>"playerTag"</BRACKET> = "TSCM Embedded Video Player"; config<BRACKET>"autoStart"</BRACKET> = false; config<BRACKET>"preloadBackColor"</BRACKET> = "#FFFFFF"; config<BRACKET>"useOverlayMenu"</BRACKET> = "false"; config<BRACKET>"width"</BRACKET> = 265; config<BRACKET>"height"</BRACKET> = 255; config<BRACKET>"playerId"</BRACKET> = 1243645856; createExperience(config, 8); |
Trading volume was light again, reaching just 1.93 billion shares on the
New York Stock Exchange
, where advancing issues outpaced decliners by nearly a 3-to-2 margin. Some 1.85 billion shares traded on the Nasdaq as winners just barely edged past losers.
As for commodities, crude oil made a stalwart recovery from an early slide, settling up $2.18 at $131.58 a barrel.
Gold futures, however, lost $7.40 at $900.50 an ounce. Also, the U.S. dollar added 0.4% against both the euro and the yen. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of its major counterparts, was up 0.2%.
Earlier, traders were greeted with a relatively positive report from the Commerce Department, which said that total orders of durable goods -- those designed to last three years or more -- fell just 0.5% sequentially last month. That's a bit worse than the prior month's 0.3% slip, but economists were expecting a 1.5% drop. Weighing heaviest was an 8% slide in transportation orders, without which total orders would have climbed 2.5%.
On the corporate front, the financial sector sagged for most of the day, but the
NYSE
Financial Sector Index pared its loss to a 0.2% drop. Insurance giant
AIG
(AIG) - Get Report
still ended with substantial losses, however, closing down 4.7% after Citigroup cut its price target on the firm. Other financial members of the Dow,
JPMorgan Chase
(JPM) - Get Report
,
Bank of America
(BAC) - Get Report
and
Citigroup
(C) - Get Report
, pulled back from sizable intraday losses to end lower by less than 1% apiece.
Elsewhere, agricultural processor and ethanol maker
Archer Daniels Midland
(ADM) - Get Report
sank 5% after saying it will offer up to 35 million equity units for $50 each in an effort to raise $2 billion.
Separately, Dow component
Coca-Cola
(KO) - Get Report
reaffirmed its
current-quarter and full-year outlook
, though its largest bottler,
Coca-Cola Enterprises
(CCE)
, lost 5.2% after cutting its second-quarter guidance to a profit decline in the mid-to-high single digits. Coca-Cola shares were down 2%.
Dow Chemical
(DOW) - Get Report
announced that it has been forced to ramp up product prices by up to 20% as it's being bombarded by the soaring costs of energy, feedstock and transportation. The price hike will take effect on June 1. Shares ticked up 1.5%.
Back in the financial sector, a German business paper reported that Sweden's SEB and France-based BNP Paribas and Societe Generale might be interested in trying to acquire Citigroup's Citibank unit. The banks are also reportedly eying Deutsche Postbank and
Allianz's
(AZ)
Dresdner Bank. Allianz rose 1.2%.
Meanwhile, merger discussions between United Airlines operator
UAL
(UAUA)
and
US Airways
(LCC)
evidently have fallen apart, according to reports. Shares of UAL slumped 3.3%, and US Airways lost 8.1%.
UPS
(UPS) - Get Report
was among the winners, gaining 3.1% after saying it's pursuing an agreement to provide transportation in its air network for all of DHL's express, deferred and international package volume within the U.S. UPS also would provide airlift for DHL packages between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Also, a Detroit paper reported that carmaker
Ford
(F) - Get Report
plans to slash its salaried work force by up to 12% as the company suffers from harsh economic conditions. Shares of Ford finished down 2 cents to $6.78.
Treasury prices were plummeting. The 10-year note was down 25/32 in price to yield 4.02%, and the 30-year bond slid a full point in price, yielding 4.71%.
Markets abroad were mixed. In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 sank 1.3% overnight, and the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.1%. Europe fared better however, as London's FTSE 100 rose 0.2% and Germany's Xetra Dax climbed 1.1%. The Paris Cac jumped 1.3%.