U.S. Markets are Move Little but Utilities are Slammed

Overnight U.S. stocks hovered around record highs. At first they retreated rather soundly but ended up closing back near their peaks. Investors are looking at Europe’s slowing economy and retailer’s earnings like Macy’s (M: NYSE).

We need a time out right now. A chance to breathe and catch our breath, so yesterday’s pause is exactly what the doctor ordered. The utilities sector on the S&P 500 was hard hit. This came after China and the United States reached an accord on carbon emissions reduction. The Exelon Corporation, (EXC: NYSE) was hit hard as it was down over 3.5 percent. The Public Service Group (PEG: NYSE) was also hammered, falling three percent on the day. On the flip side, retailer Macy’s was up after the retail giant posted solid third quarter results and beat analyst estimates. However, revenue missed the mark and they slashed their full year guidance.

As far as data is concerned, wholesale inventories was up 0.3 percent in September, as it beat expectations.

Overall U.S. markets were unchanged. The DJIA was down 2.70 points after being off as much as 78 points at one point. The S&P 500 lost 1.43 points and the Nasdaq Composite closed up 14.58 points. For the day we saw 718 million shares traded as the composite volume hit 3.3 billion. For every 7 shares that traded down, 8 traded higher. Traders were playing a bit off the European markets as we are seeing weakness with their banks and stock markets.

Turning to the Forex market, the almighty buck was higher against most of its trading partners. The yield on the 10 Year U.S. Treasury, as leading indicator for mortgage rates was steady at 2.36 percent. The European Central Bank (ECB) is helping the dollar right now as they are keeping their rates super low. This will also feed the U.S. Treasuries as we are noting a separation between European notes and U.S. debt yields.

Gold continues to push lower as the yellow metal lost $3.90 to close at $1,159.10 an ounce. As my colleague Jason Schwartzman noted in his analysis today, the yellow metal can go either way at this point. Crude oil continues to push lower as weakening global demand and increased output from Saudi Arabia continues to depress the price of the black gold.

Bottom line, traders are finding little reason to make any big moves right now in the equities markets.