Another shocker of a close supposedly driven by programmed selling and talk that some speculators have begun shorting the market in anticipation of the 2 ET redemption/margin call deadline at mutual funds and brokerage houses. We cannot be certain, but it's probably is a contributing factor to the trend... Earnings season continued to roll on in full force today. The reports were somewhat disappointing. While most met consensus numbers, many reports spooked investors. IBM, SYMC, SEBL were all downgraded following their reports and NOK lowered its handset guidance. If that was not enough, AOL received a negative write-up in the Washington Post on "unconventional" deals and its COO will resign. However, its HBO unit dominated the Emmy nominations even without the Sopranos... There was good news -- it was just far from technology. A number of companies guided higher including Sears (S), Allstate (ALL), Sprint PCS (PCS), United Healthcare (UNH), Dell (DELL). Ford Motor (F) received two upgrades...
On the economic front, Jobless Claims fell 28K to 379K in the Jul 13 week, well below the 395K consensus and confirming our suspicion that last week's increase above the 400K level was a result of difficulties with seasonal adjustment around the Jul 4 holiday. This is a slight positive for the market as it confirms the job market is steady at worst and perhaps improving... Most sectors closed lower. The few groups trading higher included coal, wireless, autos, gold, oil services...
Dow 8,409.49 -132.99 (-1.56%) Nasdaq 1,356.95 -40.30 (-2.88%) S&P 500 881.56 -24.48 (-2.70%) 10-Yr Bond 4.610% -0.055 NYSE Volume 1,724,343,000 Nasdaq Volume 1,828,592,000 Quote data provided by Reuters
