Stocks End Mixed on Disappointing Retail Reports
Stocks closed narrowly mixed in quiet pre-holiday trading Monday as some mildly encouraging economic reports helped offset ongoing disappointment over holiday retail sales.
Citigroup’s announcement of a big earnings charge also held the market back, but a rise in semiconductor shares lifted technology stocks.
In other trading, oil and gold prices resurged, with oil rising almost 5% to nearly a two-year high on continuing worries about Venezuelan supplies.
The Dow industrials closed down 18.03 points, or 0.2%, at 8,493.29. That followed a gain of nearly 146 points on Friday.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 18.64 points, or 1.4%, to 1,381.69. The Standard & Poor’s 500 inched up 1.62 points, or 0.2%, to 897.38.
Winners led losers by 4 to 3 on Nasdaq and were about even on the New York Stock Exchange.
Trading was light as mutual fund managers and traders left early for the Christmas holiday. With Christmas and New Year’s Day falling on Wednesday this year, the holiday breaks are expected to cut usually light year-end volume even more.
Financial markets will close early today, with the NYSE and Nasdaq closing at 10 a.m. PST.
“Behind all this is very, very little volume,” said Chris Wolfe, chief equity strategist with the J.P. Morgan private bank.
Wolfe and other analysts said those still in the market probably were troubled by announcements from several retailers Monday that holiday sales are continuing to fall short.
“Retailers are getting slammed and they’re getting slammed for a reason,” said Russ Koesterich, U.S. equity strategist at State Street Corp.
Federated Department Stores fell $1.08 to $27.84 after the company said its holiday season will lag its forecasts. Wal-Mart Stores declined $1.20 to $49.59 after saying sales last week were at the low end of its expectations. J.C. Penney, which also reported lackluster sales growth, fell $1.49 to $22.33.
Electronics retailer Tweeter Home Entertainment, the Nasdaq’s biggest loser, fell $2.64, or 33%, to $5.35 after warning that quarterly profit will fall far below Wall Street estimates.
Investors found limited reassurance in some mildly upbeat news about consumer behavior and attitudes.
Though holiday sales this month have been below expectations, personal spending rose 0.5% in November -- the biggest gain in four months -- on the strength of demand for cars and other big-ticket items, the government said.
Separately, the University of Michigan reported that consumer confidence edged up in December, matching estimates.
Venezuela’s stubborn general strike again rattled the nerves of oil traders, pushing crude oil prices up $1.45 a barrel to $31.75 in New York, the highest level since January 2001.
In the gold market, jitters about Iraq and North Korea kept prices near six-year highs. Gold closed at $345.10 an ounce, up $4.60, in New York trading.
In other highlights:
* Citigroup fell 46 cents to $37.68 after the company said its quarterly earnings would be reduced by $1.5 billion, in part to pay for the costs of settling charges of biased stock research.
* Chip-related stocks rose even though Cypress Semiconductor cut its fourth-quarter sales forecast for the second time this month. Cypress gained 30 cents to $5.60, while Novellus Systems added $1.31 to $29.89 and KLA-Tencor rose $1.29 to $37.49. The SOX index of chip makers climbed 2.7%.
Gold miners rallied anew. Goldcorp jumped 67 cents to $12.90; ASA rose $2.09 to $40.80.
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Market Roundup, C5-6
