Stocks Stall on Housing, CPI — Thursday’s IP Market Recap

by Marc Bastow | May 16, 2013 4:51 pm

[1]This time, it was the economy.

A government report stating jobless claims rose from one week ago, a drop in housing starts for April and a falling Consumer Price Index all conspired to put a damper on stocks’ recent rally, and all three indices dropped into the red by the end of Thursday trading.

The S&P 500 led the way down, declining 0.5% to 1650.47, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.28% to close at 15233.22. The Nasdaq fell 0.18% to 3465.24.

Tech stocks rallied around Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO[2]), whose shares soared more than 12% after announcing sales and earnings that beat Street estimates[3]. Cisco competitors Ciena (NASDAQ:CIEN[4], +6.7%) and Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR[5], +4.2%) also saw significant bumps up in sympathy.

The decline in housing starts rattled homebuilders such as Pultegroup (NYSE:PHM[6], -2.6%), D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI[7], -2.3%) and Hovnanian (NYSE:HOV[8], -2%). Shares of Lennar (NYSE:LEN[9]), which is sitting near a 52-week high, fell just under 2% as well, and even DIY retailer Home Depot (NYSE:HD[10]) took a 1.5% spill.

Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA[11]) rebounded from Wednesday’s losses, improving by more than 8% after the electric automaker said it was issuing new stock and convertible notes[12] to raise capital — some of which it would use to repay a Department of Energy loan — and that CEO Elon Musk planned to buy $100 million worth of the new shares.

Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS[13]) jumped more than 4% after beating its own guidance numbers in quarterly earnings, though it reported a lower profit.

And finally, Walmart (NYSE:WMT[14]) announced better-than-expected quarterly earnings, but a decrease in same-store sales and weak Q2 guidance sent its shares down just under 2%.

Three Up

• DryShips (NASDAQ:DRYS[15]): Up 12.2% (23 cents) to $2.10.
• SolarCity (NASDAQ:SCTY[16]): Up 10.9% ($3.52) to $35.69.
• NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP[17]): Up 6.2% ($2.24) to $38.46.

Three Down

• Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD[18]): Down 12.6% (55 cents) to $3.83.
• Comstock Resources (NYSE:CRK[19]): Down 6.5% ($1.13) to $16.48.
• Trina Solar (NYSE:TSL[20]): Down 5.1% (29 cents) to $5.37.

Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/05/housing-cpi-stall-the-rally-thursdays-ip-market-recap-csco-hpq-jnpr-alu-hd/

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