Reply #71: 3:13 EST numbers and blather [View All]

[UpInArms]

Dow 10,158.44 -58.10 (-0.57%)
Nasdaq 1,950.36 -2.04 (-0.10%)
S&P 500 1,132.07 -3.10 (-0.27%)
10-Yr Bond 4.171% -0.002

NYSE Volume 1,135,694,000
Nasdaq Volume 1,414,360,000

3:00PM: The major indices remain mixed and are off their lows for the day... In the past half hour Wal-Mart (WMT 53.00, -0.31) reaffirmed its Q3 EPS guidance of $0.52-0.54, but clarified that earnings are likely to come in at the low end of that range; both Thomson/First Call and Reuters Estimates show a consensus number of $0.53... WMT's dip has weighed a bit on the Dow and S&P whose biggest laggard today is AIG (AIG 66.53, -1.96)...

Latter component being undercut by a Wall Street Journal article that said company's law firm didn't provide documents to SEC during a probe of AIG's financial products unit... NYSE Adv/Dec 1562/1659, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1318/1744

2:30PM: Market stays on the defensive with the Dow and S&P hitting new session lows in the past half hour... The spike in oil prices above $51/bbl is drawing the most attention as a catalyst for the retreat... Overall losses are modest in scope, though, as gains in the energy stocks are acting as an offset to weakness in other areas... The Treasury market is little changed for the day, but has pared some of its losses as the afternoon rally in crude futures has some traders expecting a slower pace of economic growth... NYSE Adv/Dec 1620/1594, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1305/1722