Oil Worries Continue to Dominate Stocks
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Stocks closed down, but off the lows, in a whipsaw trading day that started with a higher open.
The Dow closed down 79.85 to 12,090, the Nasdaq lost 39 and the S&P 500 lost 11.
The movement in crude continued to drive action as investors mull what surging prices at the gas pump will do to consumer spending. Over the weekend it was reported that the national average for fuel surged to $3.51 per gallon. April Light, Sweet Crude oil settled at $105.44 today after trading as high as $106.95 intra-day.
Driving the action in oil is the continued tension in Northern African and the Middle East. In the Middle East the big worry is Saudi Arabia. Friday will be the "Day of Rage" protest in the country. Libya continues to be a hot spot, with opposition forces closing in on Tripoli.
The semiconductor sector was down 2.8 percent today, as represented by the ETF Semiconductor HOLDRs (NYSE: SMH), after Wells Fargo downgraded the sector from Overweight to Equal Weight. The firm noted, "Since January 2009 when we upgraded the sector, worldwide semiconductor shipments have grown significantly, rising 70% year over year from the bottom in the month of January 2009 to the month of January 2010 (though for the full year 2009 semiconductor sales were down 9%) and then rising 32% for the full year 2010. Prices of most chip stocks lifted in concert with increasing business levels, with the SOX index more than doubling over the last two years. Our sector downgrade is more an indication of a more moderate though still optimistic view of the sector rather than any active concern about the chip stocks as a group."
The Dow closed down 79.85 to 12,090, the Nasdaq lost 39 and the S&P 500 lost 11.
The movement in crude continued to drive action as investors mull what surging prices at the gas pump will do to consumer spending. Over the weekend it was reported that the national average for fuel surged to $3.51 per gallon. April Light, Sweet Crude oil settled at $105.44 today after trading as high as $106.95 intra-day.
Driving the action in oil is the continued tension in Northern African and the Middle East. In the Middle East the big worry is Saudi Arabia. Friday will be the "Day of Rage" protest in the country. Libya continues to be a hot spot, with opposition forces closing in on Tripoli.
The semiconductor sector was down 2.8 percent today, as represented by the ETF Semiconductor HOLDRs (NYSE: SMH), after Wells Fargo downgraded the sector from Overweight to Equal Weight. The firm noted, "Since January 2009 when we upgraded the sector, worldwide semiconductor shipments have grown significantly, rising 70% year over year from the bottom in the month of January 2009 to the month of January 2010 (though for the full year 2009 semiconductor sales were down 9%) and then rising 32% for the full year 2010. Prices of most chip stocks lifted in concert with increasing business levels, with the SOX index more than doubling over the last two years. Our sector downgrade is more an indication of a more moderate though still optimistic view of the sector rather than any active concern about the chip stocks as a group."
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