Financial Stocks Hold Market Back

[Excerpted from Bill Cara's Daily Report]

Financial stocks held the market back again on Tuesday. The broad market indexes finished mixed after a final half-hour sell-off. NASDAQ was under selling pressure all day.

At the close, the DJIA (8,469.11 +50.34 +0.60%) was higher, but both the S&P 500 (908.35 -0.89 -0.10%) and NASDAQ Composite (1,715.92 -15.32 -0.88%) were down.

The Toronto Composite (10,077.70 -16.44 -0.16%) and Toronto Venture Board (1,078.27 +15.16 +1.43%) also closed mixed on the day.

Earlier Wednesday, prices were mixed in Asia Pacific markets. Japan’s Nikkei 225 (9,340.5 +41.88 +0.45%) and Shanghai Composite (2,663.8 +45.6 +1.74%) were up, while the Aussie All Ordinaries (3,842.5 -21.1 -0.55%), India BSE 30 (12,019.7 -138.38 -1.14%), and Hong Kong Hang Seng (17,059.6 -94.0 -0.55%) closed lower. The French CAC (3,193.6 7:47AM ET -1.16%), German DAX (4,769.3 7:32AM ET -1.75%) and UK FTSE 100 (4,380.1 7:32AM ET -1.03%) were all down between 1 and 2 percent as banks were weak in European trading.

In NY, the leader was Healthcare (XLV +1.6%), but only the Goldminers industry group ($XAU +3.6%) was remarkable. The Financials (XLF -2.1%) were led south by Banks ($BKX -4.2%). Consumer Discretionary (XLY -2.1%) was also weak, led south by GM.

The Cara 100 company stocks were led on the up side by PDA +13.8%, POT +6.2%, and VIP +5.9%. The losers were headed by BC -10.7%, VCP -7.5%, SNDK -6.2%.

The $USD (82.36 -0.36 -0.43%) returned to its downside trend. The Euro (136.47 +0.70 +0.52%), Pound (103.69 +1.14 +1.11%), Cdn Loonie (86.02 +0.35 +0.41%) and Yen (103.69 +1.14 +1.11%) were all stronger against the USD.

With the weak $USD, commodity prices gained strength.

Crude Oil ($WTIC 59.71 +0.30 +0.50%) lifted but still failed to hold the 60 mark again yesterday. Futures were a tad stronger (59.98 +0.27 +0.45% 07:22am ET).

$GOLD futures had a break-out to the upside (923.50 +10.20 +1.12%), but were a tad weaker Wednesday morning. But in recent weeks, the charts show a couple higher highs and higher lows, and the prices are higher than the 50- and 200-day Moving Averages, so the trend has changed to the Bull. Volatility is expected, and the cycle may be a short one.

Spot (cash) market prices earlier today were: Gold (922.23 -3.27 -0.35% 07:50am ET), Palladium (231.0 -1.0 -0.43% 07:50am ET), Platinum (1126.0 -3.0 -0.27% 07:50am ET), and Silver (14.11 -0.17 -1.19% 07:50am ET).

The Euro futures were a tad weaker earlier (1.3632 -0.0005 -0.04% 07:37am ET).

Stock futures for the DJIA were weaker (8360 -76 -0.90% 07:36am ET).

Wednesday, the EU announced a fine of $1.45 billion levied against Intel (INTC) for predatory pricing practices that disadvantaged Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Intel said it would appeal. With advance knowledge, however, some traders sold INTC heavily for the past couple days. Regulators ought to investigate and prosecute.