Even with the data, the movements were modest, with only a 0.3% gain for the MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan. South Korea was able to outperform the region by gaining nearly 1% with the help of Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motors. The Nikkei didn’t fare as well, as it lost 0.36%.
The US stock market basically remained flat on Monday despite the PMI news and better than expected news about existing home sales. Last week had seen both the Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 index both reach record highs on Friday, and the housing news today was supposed to be one of the factors to determine how well the stock market would do this week. US existing home sales for May ended up increasing more than two times what was expected, but that alone was unable to spark even a tiny increase in the stock market.
Both the Dow and S&P 500 had tiny losses, while the NASDAQ Composite squeaked out a gain. The Dow ended at 16,937.26, a 9.82 point drop from the record close on Friday, and a loss of 0.06%. The S&P 500 stood at 1,962.61 at the close of Monday, a loss of 0.26 points or 0.01%. The NASDAQ Composite closed 0.64 points higher than Friday at 4,368.68 points, or a 0.01% gain. While not a record high, it was still the highest close in 14 years.
While the housing news was expected to be the big news of the day, it ended up being energy company merger activity which produced the strongest action, and the group which had the largest percentage gain for the S&P 500 for the day with a 0.04% increase. This was precipitated with the news Wisconsin Energy had agreed to purchase Integrys Energy Group in a $9.1 billion deal. Integrys was up double digits at 12.1% to $68.35. That ended up being the top S&P 500 percentage gainer for the day. Wisconsin Energy ended up falling 3.5% to $45.27.
On the other side of the coin, it was companies like General Electric which declined 1.1% to $26.86 and Boeing fell 0.9% to $130.85 which kept the Dow from seeing positive territory for the day. Some other notable stocks for the day:
- Oracle agreed to purchase Micros Systems, which saw both stocks gain. Oracle was up 0.7% to $41.10 while Micros Systems gained 3.4% to $67.98. The deal is said to be worth $5.3 billion.
- ParkerVision tumbled 63% to $1.85 on news that a federal judge overturned a $173 million patent infringement verdict against Qualcomm.
- The announcement of third-quarter results by Micron Technology in after-hours trading produced little change to the stock.
It’s still anyone’s guess where the stock market will end up at the end of this week, and Monday didn’t give any indication on where traders are likely to push it. It seems traders are satisfied to wait for more economic data to come in during the week before making any big decisions, instead focusing on individual stocks and the specific news around them.
(Photo courtesy of Iman Mosaad)
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