US Market makes a U-turn

Indices end sharply lower after striking new all time intra day highs

After a day of sea saw trading, US stocks closed lower for the day ended Thursday, 11 October, 2007. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was higher by 100 points at one point but slipped by 100 points in the afternoon hours. The sell-off was reportedly prompted by some comments from the European Central Bank. Nine of the ten economic sectors posted losses today. Utilities made the sole advance while Technology posted the largest decline.

The Dow Jones industrial Average closed lower by 63.57 points at 14,015.12. The Nasdaq Composite Index, finished lower by 39.41 points at 2,772.2. S&P 500 finished lower by 8.06 points at 1,554.51.

Twenty-two of thirty Dow stocks ended in red. Boeing was one of the main losers. Wal-Mart and GM were a couple of the eight Dow winners.

Ahead of the opening bell, stock futures climbed extended gains after Wal-Mart raised its outlook, and then advanced further after early economic data had the government reporting a drop in weekly jobless claims.

U.S. retailers at reported poorer-than expected September same-store sales. Target, JC Penny cut their forecasts.

Wal-Mart reported weaker than expected same-store sales, but still raised its third quarter earnings per share guidance. The company cited an improvement in initial margin and expense leverage at the Wal-Mart division. Wal-Mart shares closed up by 2.3%.

Among other economic news, the weekly initial jobless claims decreased to 308k, which is less than the consensus estimate of 315k. The August trade deficit decreased to $57.6 billion from $59.0 billion in July.

Crude oil futures rose today for the third consecutive day and closed above $83/barrel. Prices rose for the first time this month after an Energy Department report showed an unexpected decline in U.S. inventories. Crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for November delivery closed at $83.08/barrel (higher by $1.78/barrel or 2.2%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures reached $83.67 during intra day trading.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange topped 1.5 billion shares, with declining stocks running ahead of rising issues 5 to 3. On the Nasdaq, more than 2.6 billion shares were exchanged, with declining stocks overtaking advancers 5 to 2.

For tomorrow, General Electric is the sole headliner releasing quarterly earnings results. The company will announce before tomorrow's opening bell. Other than that, there will be a number of economic reports to garner attention like - September's Retail Sales, Producer Price Index, Business Inventory data and the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey.