By Ellie Ismailidou and Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
Retail in the spotlight after weekend of holiday shopping
U.S. stocks closed slightly lower on Monday, but the main
indexes held on to small monthly gains as investors weighed the
kickoff of the holiday shopping season along with
weaker-than-expected economic data ahead of a busy week of economic
releases and central-bank watching.
The S&P 500 closed 9.64 points, or 0.4% lower at 2,080.47
and eked out a less than 0.1% gain over the month. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average slipped 78.63 points, or 0.4%, to 17,719.86 and
gained 0.3% over the month. The Nasdaq Composite ended the day down
18.86 points, or 0.4%, at 5,108.67 and posted a 1.1% gain over the
past month.
An uptick in oil prices gave energy shares a boost on the day,
with the energy sector leading the S&P 500 Monday, closing up
0.4%.
Meanwhile, financials were the best performer on the S&P 500
for the month, posting a 1.7% rise, as investors anticipated that
an interest-rate hike could boost banks' net-interest income. And
the utilities sector was the S&P 500's worst performer of the
month, posting a 2.8% decline.
The notion that the Federal Reserve is confident enough in the
U.S. economy to potentially raise rates in December for the first
time in nearly a decade helped keep the U.S. stock market afloat in
November, said Jerry Braakman, chief investment officer of First
American Trust.
This week could be volatile for markets, with a policy meeting
at the European Central Bank on Thursday and speeches by Fed
Chairwoman Janet Yellen on the docket. Friday brings the last batch
of U.S. jobs numbers before the Fed's December policy meeting. The
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries also meets on
Friday.
Meanwhile, traders were also watching the retail sector closely,
amid concerns about slower-than-expected Black Friday sales in
stores. Some were worried that if early returns on Cyber Monday
sales were also weak, that could dampen what appetite is out there
for retail stocks
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/holiday-sales-wage-data-likely-to-drive-stocks-this-week-2015-11-29).
A National Retail Federation survey on Sunday found that more
people shopped online than in stores during the holiday weekend
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/online-shopping-tops-stores-on-black-friday-weekend-2015-11-29-19103331).
The retail outlook for the holiday season is relatively modest,
with analysts looking at a 3% increase, said Randy Frederick,
managing director of Schwab Center for Financial Research
"But it's very early in the process, as Black Friday is only one
piece of the puzzle," Frederick said, adding that investors should
look for data at least a couple of weeks into December for a more
informed view of the sector.
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dont-expect-saudi-arabia-to-back-down-when-opec-meets-2015-11-25)
Economic data
U.S. economic data on Monday largely disappointed, with the
Chicago PMI, or business barometer, falling back into
contractionary territory in November
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chicago-pmi-tumbles-back-into-contractionary-territory-in-november-2015-11-30).
This was the last major regional release before the Institute for
Supply Management's manufacturing gauge, set for release on Tuesday
morning. Meanwhile, pending home sales edge up 0.2% in October
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pending-home-sales-edge-up-02-in-october-2015-11-30),
following two months of declines.
Later this week, a steady trickle of data builds to the November
nonfarm payrolls report on Friday.
See: November jobs report likely to give Fed go-ahead to raise
interest rates
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/november-jobs-report-likely-to-give-fed-go-ahead-to-raise-interest-rates-2015-11-29).
Stocks to watch:
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) was among the retailers in the spotlight
as investors assessed the holiday weekend of sales. Amazon's shares
fell 1.3% Monday, while Under Armour shares (UA) lost 3.9%.
Shares of Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) inched 0.8 higher, after rising
earlier as high as 1.7%, after the company got upgraded to strong
buy from market perform at Raymond James, and Fitbit (FIT) shares
rose 3.1% amid reports that shoppers will be snapping up its
wearable fitness trackers
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fitbit-rises-after-reports-of-strong-holiday-sales-upgrade-2015-11-30)
this holiday season.
Computer Sciences Corp. shares (CSC) rose 8.6%, after the
company began trading as two separate companies Monday after the
spinoff of its public-sector company as CSRA Inc
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/computer-sciences-spins-off-into-2-separate-companies-2015-11-30-91035350).
CSRA's (CSRA) shares rose 7.9%.
Other markets:Oil futures
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-pause-ahead-of-central-bank-opec-meetings-2015-11-30)
pared earlier gains and closed with a monthly loss of around 10%,
ahead of the OPEC meeting on Friday. Pressure is building on Saudi
Arabia to cut oil output, but many say the kingdom is unlikely to
change its approach
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pressure-builds-on-saudi-arabia-before-fridays-opec-meeting-2015-11-30).
Gold prices edged higher Monday but suffered a monthly drop of
6.7%, the biggest monthly loss in over two years
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-dips-set-for-biggest-monthly-loss-in-more-than-2-years-2015-11-30).
The dollar
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-pinned-down-as-ecb-and-us-payrolls-line-up-this-week-2015-11-30),
meanwhile, posted its best month since January, boosted by rising
rate-hike expectations.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-climb-ahead-of-key-policy-data-week-2015-11-30)
rose 2.7% for November, a second-straight month of gains. In Asia
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-november-stock-gains-nearly-wiped-out-by-broker-probe-2015-11-30),
the Shanghai Composite managed a 1.9% gain for November, but much
of the month's gains were wiped out by an investigation into
China's biggest brokerage houses. The index is up just 16% from its
Aug. 26 bottom.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 30, 2015 16:46 ET (21:46 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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