Stocks ended in the red as investors digested a mixed batch of earnings results, economic data and remained cautious amid ongoing debt talks in Greece. Ahead of the home-sales report, investors greeted a round of better-than-expected earnings from companies including Caterpillar and report on jobless claims. Initial jobless claims rose to 377,000, while economists had anticipated 375,000 claims. New homes sales fell 2.2% in December. For all of 2011, sales of new homes fell 6.2% to 302,000 - the worst on record. Also, AT&T fell 2.5% after the co. reported a $6.7 billion quarterly loss related to its failed merger with T-Mobile USA. Tech stocks sunk deeper in the red, with SanDisk leading losses despite a strong run-up from Netflix. Netflix extended gain and jumped more than 20% after upbeat fourth-quarter projections and upgrade at Citigroup. Implied volatility inched higher in moderate trading volumes.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Plunged on record low homes sales
Stocks ended in the red as investors digested a mixed batch of earnings results, economic data and remained cautious amid ongoing debt talks in Greece. Ahead of the home-sales report, investors greeted a round of better-than-expected earnings from companies including Caterpillar and report on jobless claims. Initial jobless claims rose to 377,000, while economists had anticipated 375,000 claims. New homes sales fell 2.2% in December. For all of 2011, sales of new homes fell 6.2% to 302,000 - the worst on record. Also, AT&T fell 2.5% after the co. reported a $6.7 billion quarterly loss related to its failed merger with T-Mobile USA. Tech stocks sunk deeper in the red, with SanDisk leading losses despite a strong run-up from Netflix. Netflix extended gain and jumped more than 20% after upbeat fourth-quarter projections and upgrade at Citigroup. Implied volatility inched higher in moderate trading volumes.
