Market Erases Early Losses:
North and South Korea had investors on edge, with the former country reportedly on combat alert as a dispute over a sunken warship heats up. Meanwhile, leaders across the pond noted the importance of widespread budget cuts to curtail sovereign deficits, fueling fears about a prolonged Continental crisis. A pair of disappointing housing reports added to the bearish backdrop, virtually negating a stronger-than-anticipated consumer confidence report. However, despite finishing another session in the red, a strong eleventh-hour blitz by the bulls kept the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) atop round-number support, and put the S&P 500 Index (SPX) just north of breakeven.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA – 10,043.75) erased an early triple-digit deficit to finish with a small loss of 22.8 points, or 0.2%. Thanks to the bulls’ last-minute rebound attempts, the blue-chip barometer maintained its footing atop the psychologically critical 10,000 level.
The S&P 500 Index (SPX – 1,074.03) successfully negated its intraday losses in the final minutes of trading, posting a gain of 0.4 point, or 0.04%. Finally, the Nasdaq Composite (COMP – 2,210.95) also closed the gap in afternoon activity with a loss of 2.6 points, or 0.1%.
After briefly trading above $70 per barrel on Monday, crude oil futures again turned lower in today’s session. By the close, July-dated crude futures gave up $1.46, or 2.1%, to settle at $68.75 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures edged higher for the second straight session today, gold for June delivery added $4, or 0.3%, to finish at $1,198 an ounce.
