Tuesday 4 March, 2008

US Market ends flat but mixed

Late in the session, Dow recovers most of its early day losses

Taking cues from global equity markets across the world, US Market ended mixed today, Monday, 03 March, 2008 with S&P 500 being the only index to register some gains. But the US Market managed to shelter itself from any huge loss. Economic reports dominated the entire day. They were mixed in nature. But the dollar sunk to a new all time low against the euro today and to a three year low against the yen. Commodities touched an all time high today with both crude oil and goad touching new highs. Eight of the ten economic sectors posted gains today. Financials and technology were the only two sectors to post losses.

After being down by more than 100 points at one time, The Dow Jones industrial Average ended the day with a loss of 7.5 points at 12,258.8. The Nasdaq Composite Index, finished lower by 12.8 points at 2,258.7. S&P 500 finished higher by 0.71 points at 1,331. Fifteen out of thirty Dow stocks ended in the red today led by Boeing and GM.

In economic news, The February Institute of Supply Management Index (ISM), a national manufacturing survey, fell to 48.3, compared to the expected reading of 48. Because the reading is below 50, it reflects a contraction in manufacturing in the United States.

Also, The Commerce Department reported that January construction spending fell 1.7% month over month. This was a larger slide than the expected decline of 0.7%.

The Nasdaq continued to remain under pressure today due to weakness in large cap tech names like Apple, Google, RIMM and Microsoft.