Stocks Close Mostly Higher Despite Late-Day Pullback - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - After moving mostly higher over the course of the trading session on Tuesday, stocks pulled back rather sharply going into the close.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq managed to remain firmly in positive territory, the Dow and the S&P 500 ended the day roughly flat.

The Nasdaq rose 23.18 points or 0.6 percent to 4,017.75, while the Dow inched up 0.26 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 16,072.80 and the S&P 500 crept up 0.27 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 1,802.75.

The strength seen for much of the day was partly in reaction to the release of better than expected reports on building permits and home prices.

Before the start of trading, the Commerce Department released a report showing that building permits jumped to a five-year high in October.

The report said building permits climbed 6.2 percent to an annual rate of 1.034 million in October from 974,000 in September. Economists had expected building permits to come in at an annual rate of 930,000.

The Commerce Department noted that the release of data on housing starts was once again delayed as a result of the recent government shutdown.

A separate report from Standard & Poor's showed that home prices in major U.S. metropolitan areas rose by slightly more than anticipated in the month of September.

However, the positive sentiment generated by the housing data was partly offset by a report from the Conference Board that unexpectedly showed a continued drop in consumer confidence in November.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index dipped to 70.4 in November from an upwardly revised 72.4 in October.

The decrease came as a surprise to economists, who had expected the index to climb to 72.9 from the 71.2 originally reported for the previous month.

The lack of conviction behind the upward move by stocks also came as some traders were away from their desks, getting a head start on the Thanksgiving Day holiday on Thursday.

Sector News

Most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, contributing to the lackluster performance shown by the markets at the close of trading.

Housing stocks saw significant strength on the day, however, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index surging up by 2.5 percent. With the gain, the index reached a five-month closing high.

MDC Holdings (MDC) and Ryland Group (RYL) turned in two of the housing sector's best performances, jumping by 5.7 percent and 5.6 percent, respectively.

Semiconductor and networking stocks also ended the day on the upside, contributing to the notably higher close by the Nasdaq.

Meanwhile, gold stocks came under considerable selling pressure, extending a recent downward trend. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index tumbled 2.7 percent to a five-year closing low.

The continued weakness among gold stocks came even though the price of the precious metal ended the day nearly unchanged.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.7 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.9 percent, the French CAC 40 Index dropped by 0.6 percent and the German DAX Index dipped by 0.1 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries moved notably higher, extending the upward trend seen over the past few sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 4.5 basis points to 2.696 percent.

Looking Ahead

While activity may be somewhat subdued on Wednesday ahead of the holiday, trading could be impacted by the release of a slew of economic data, including reports on weekly jobless claims, durable goods orders, and Chicago-area business activity.

Tech giant Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) is also likely to be in focus after releasing its fourth quarter results after the close of today's trading.