- Title: S&P edges lower to snap 6-session win streak
- Date: 12th December 2016
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 12, 2016) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MERIDIAN EQUITY PARTNERS SENIOR MANAGING PARTNER, JONATHAN CORPINA, SAYING: "The whole thing might disrupt the market rally in itself. Go back a year ago. We knew the Fed was going to raise rates at the end of December. It was very clearly orchestrated. We kind of knew what they were going to say afterwards, yet when that happened the market did not know what to do with itself. End of December last two weeks of December, we did not see the Santa Claus rally. Market tumbled. January and February were very poor performing months."
- Embargoed: 27th December 2016 21:16
- Keywords: Jonathan Corpina market Dow rally Fed market December NYSE energy rate economy
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA0025CKYF0T
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell on Monday (December 12) after six sessions of gains, weighed by tech sector stocks, while a rally in energy shares petered out as crude oil gains withered.
Bank shares fell ahead of the Federal Reserve's last meeting for the year, set to begin Tuesday (December 13) and expected to end on Wednesday with the year's first interest rate increase.
That could derail the current rally, warned Jonathan Corpina of Meridian Equity Partners.
"The whole thing might disrupt the market rally in itself. Go back a year ago. We knew the Fed was going to raise rates at the end of December. It was very clearly orchestrated. We kind of knew what they were going to say afterwards, yet when that happened the market did not know what to do with itself. End of December last two weeks of December, we did not see the Santa Claus rally. Market tumbled. January and February were very poor performing months," Corpina said.
Traders cashed in gains in bank stocks ahead of the meeting, even if a rate hike, which on paper would benefit banks, is all but priced in.
The S&P 500 financial sector fell 0.9 percent following five consecutive weeks of gains.
The benchmark's tech sector fell 0.5 percent after posting its largest weekly advance in a year last week.
The healthcare sector was the biggest boost to both the S&P 500 and the Dow industrials.
Regeneron gained 3.8 percent to $387.10 after data on a competing drug combination from Novartis and Opthotech OPHT.O did not meet its main goal. Ophthotech shares tumbled 86.4 percent.
Regeneron was the largest percentage gainer on both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 39.58 points, or 0.2 percent, to 19,796.43, the S&P 500 lost 2.57 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,256.96 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 31.96 points, or 0.59 percent, to 5,412.54.
The Dow posted the latest in a string of record closing highs.
Energy stocks on the S&P 500 rose as much as 2.5 percent in early trading as crude oil prices soared around 6 percent to levels not seen in a year and a half. The sector ended up 0.7 percent, with both WTI and Brent crude barrels up less than 2 percent.
The industrials sector was down 0.37 percent, dragged down by defense stocks. Lockheed Martin declined 2.5 percent to $253.11, bouncing back from a session low of $245.50, after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump tweeted that the company's F-35 program and costs were "out of control."
Viacom fell 9.4 percent to $34.99. National Amusements withdrew its merger proposal for CBS and Viacom. Privately-held National Amusements is controlled by Sumner Redstone and his daughter, Shari Redstone.
Alexion Pharmaceuticals fell 12.9 percent to $115.08. The chief executive officer and chief financial officer resigned, a month after the drugmaker said it was investigating allegations related to sales practices of its flagship drug.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.79-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.23-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
About 7.4 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges, roughly in line with the average volume over the last 20 sessions. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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