Stock Market Today 2/3/10
US Market
Stocks Seeing Modest Weakness As Traders Shrug Off Upbeat Data
Stocks are down by modest margins in mid-morning trading on Wednesday, despite the day’s better-than-expected news on private sector employment and service sector activity. The major averages are all in negative territory after starting the week with two straight rallies.
The Institute for Supply Management said its service sector index edged up to 50.5 in January from a downwardly revised 49.8 in December, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the sector. Economists had expected the index to rise to 51.0 from the 50.1 originally reported for the previous month.
Earlier, payroll processor Automatic Data Processing (ADP) reported that non-farm private employment fell by 22,000 jobs for the month following a revised decrease of 61,000 jobs in December.
Economists had been expecting employment to decrease by about 30,000 jobs compared to the loss of 84,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. The decrease also marked the smallest drop in jobs since employment began falling in February of 2008.
The major averages have seen some downside in recent trading and are near their lows of the session. The Dow is currently down 35.82 at 10,261.03, the Nasdaq is down 6.38 at 2,183.68 and the S&P 500 is down 6.28 at 1,097.04.
Sector News
Trucking stocks are some of the markets’ worst morning performers, pulling the Dow Jones Trucking Index down by 3.3 percent. With the decline, the index fell to its worst intraday level in over six months in earlier trading.
Commercial real estate and health insurance stocks are also markedly lower, with the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Index and the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor Index falling by 1.6 percent and 2.4, respectively. Despite the losses, the indices remain rangebound.
Banking, tobacco, utility and pharmaceutical stocks are also under pressure while computer hardware and railroad stocks are posting modest gains.
(Source: iHub World Daily Briefing)
Tags: penny stock listings
About the Author: 
