Daily Market Summary 1/5/07

[Portfolio Crafter]

End of Day Market Summary Friday, January 5, 2007
by Portfolio Crafter
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Stocks ended sharply lower on the day and mixed on the shortened three-day trading week after news of surprising strength in the labor market in December fueled concerns that the Federal Reserve won't cut interest rates anytime soon. A downgrade of Intel Corp. and a profit-warning from Motorola Inc. also weighed on the technology sector. The jobs number has the market scared to some extent, as they had been happy with the recent weak numbers.

Today, the Dow Jones industrial average closed down 82.68 or 0.66% to 12,398.01, the broader S&P 500 closed down 8.63 or 0.61% to 1,409.71, and the Nasdaq closed down 19.18 or 0.78% to 2,434.25. For the week, the Dow fell 0.5%, the S&P 500 lost 0.6% and the Nasdaq added 0.78%.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers trounced winners by more than 3 to 1 on volume of 1.71 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, losers beat winners 3 to 1 on volume of 2.1 billion shares.

In a report, the Labor Department said that employers added 167,000 jobs to their payrolls in December, against the expected addition of 100,000 jobs. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.5%, as expected. This shows that the consumer is starting the year on a good note, particularly when you combine it with the recent drop in oil prices. The report also confirmed other recent readings that showed the economy is slowing but not heading for recession, and that inflation is perhaps not moderating enough for the Fed to start cutting rates just yet.

Shares of Motorola closed down $1.61 or 9% to $18.94, after the cell phone manufacturer lowered its fourth-quarter forecast due to a shortfall of mobile device sales. Although Motorola sold more handsets than Wall Street expected - a record 66 million - it was forced to cut prices to entice customers as it battled rivals in markets around the globe. Its fourth-quarter sales is expected to range between $11.6 billion and $11.8 billion, lower than the previously pegged $11.8 billion to $12.1 billion. Analysts had forecast sales of $11.99 billion.

Leading U.S. consumer electronics chains, such as Best Buy closed up $0.16 to $50.00, on reporting strong December sales at stores open at least a year.

U.S. light crude oil prices for February delivery rebounded, climbing 72 cents to $56.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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