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Wall St. finished on the lows

ORCL, AAPL,, WDC, STX, F, GM, UAL, DAL, UNP, CSX, TOL, LEN, PHM

DJIA -98.99 at 13251.97, NAS -10.17 at 3044.36, S&P 500 -10.98 at 1435.81

US stocks began the day on a positive note as yesterday’s optimism regarding a Fiscal Cliff resolution lingered.

The initial strength faded, and the S&P 500 slipped below its flat line where it spent the balance of the session.

A recurring theme played out in Washington as lawmakers held another round of press conferences with both sides pushing back at each other.

US Speaker Boehner said the House of Representatives will vote on his ‘Plan B’ tomorrow. The remarks kept the S&P 500 near its lows before a closing round of selling dropped the index to a loss of 0.8%.
The technology sector outperformed the broader market.

Oracle NASDAQ:ORCL 34.09, +1.21 contributed to the relative strength. The software company gained 3.7% after beating on earnings and revenue.

Apple NASDAQ:AAPL 526.31, -7.59 lost 1.4% with Wednesday’s declined causing the company’s market cap to slip below $500-B.

Hard drive makers have seen recent strength, and major manufacturers once again outperformed.

Seagate Technology NYSE:STX 30.32, +0.96 and Western Digital NYSE:WDC 41.20, +1.60 settled higher by 3.3% and 4.0%, respectively. Prior to the open, both stocks were upgraded to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at Craig Hallum.

General Motors NYSE:GM 27.18, +1.69 6.6% rose after the US Treasury announced plans to sell its remaining shares of the company. Of the 500-B shares to be sold, 200-M will be bought by General Motors at 27.50 per share. The remaining 300-M shares will be sold in an orderly fashion over the next 12-15 months. Ford Motor NYSE:F 11.73, +0.06 rose by 0.5%.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average advanced 0.2% on the strength of airlines. Delta Air Lines NYSE:DAL 11.83, +0.30) and United Continental NYSE:UAL 23.96, +0.39 finished higher by 2.6% and 1.7%, respectively. Note: the 2 stocks have added nearly 20% since the beginning of December.

FedEx NYSE:FDX 93.20, +0.84 settled higher by 0.9% after beating on earnings and revenue. While the company’s Q-2 result exceeded expectations, forward guidance was of some concern. The company expects its Q-3 earnings to fall below consensus estimates while full-year earnings are forecast in-line with analyst forecasts.

On the downside: railroads underperformed. CSX NYSE:CSX 20.01, -0.23, and Union Pacific NYSE:UNP 125.77, -1.39) both lost near 1.1%.

Today’s economic data focused on housing and painted a mixed picture. November housing starts hit an annualized rate of 861,000 units, and were below the 875,000 expected by the Briefing.com consensus. Meanwhile, building permits came in at 899,000, which were ahead of the Briefing.com consensus forecast of 876,000.

Homebuilders ended the session on a lower note.

Lennar NYSE:LEN 39.27, -0.44), Pulte Group NYSE:PHM 18.46, -0.15), and Toll Brothers NYSE:TOL 32.08, -0.43 all lost between 0.8% and 1.3%.

US Major Market Indexes Technical Analysis
Date Symbol Price Technical Analysis Support Resistance
19 Dec 2012 QQQ 66.35 Neutral (0.09) 66.26 67.71
19 Dec 2012 DIA 132.71 Neutral (0.21) 132.57 133.13
19 Dec 2012 SPY 144.7 Neutral (0.23) 143.69 146.20

Greek financials soared after the European Central Bank announced it will once again accept Greek Government Bonds as eligible collateral. Eurobank, Piraeus Bank, and National Bank of Greece all surged between 10.0% and 12.5%.

In tomorrow’s economic data, weekly initial and continuing claims will be reported at 8:30a EST. In addition, the third estimate of third quarter GDP and the GDP deflator will also be released at 8:30a EST. Lastly, November existing home sales, December Philadelphia Fed Survey, November leading indicators, and October FHFA Housing Price Index are all set to cross the wires at 10:00a EST