By Kate Gibson
As the U.S. stock market struggled Monday in the wake of the
prior session's losses, technology remained a bright spot after
emerging as the only sector to eke out gains last week.
On Monday, tech shares were among the few issues climbing as the
major equity indexes reversed course after morning gains, with
consumer-discretionary shares up the most and financials
lagging.
After climbing nearly 100 points, the Dow Jones Industrial
Average (DJI) was lately off 41.57 points, or 0.4%, at
9,930.61.
"The financial sector is putting the most pressure on the
overall market. There are two major concerns: Bank of America (BAC)
will most likely have to raise money to pay back TARP, and over the
weekend we certainly added to the list and got over the century
mark for the number of banks that have gone under the waves," said
Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co.
The S&P 500 (SPX) shed 5.35 points, or 0.5%, to 1,074.25,
while the technology-driven Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) was the
last to give up gains, retreating a dozen points.
As of Friday's close, 62% of S&P 500 component companies
reporting their quarterly results had topped analysts' expectations
for sales -- and tech's accounted for the best revenues as compared
with Wall Street's pre-report outlooks. Overall, sales are still on
track to drop about 10%, according to Thomson.
"Tech was the only sector to rise last week and is still the
best performer year-to-date with a gain of 49.5%," wrote Ed
Yardeni, chief investment strategist of Yardeni Research Inc., in a
Monday note.
"Eight of the 10 S&P 500 sectors are confirming the cyclical
rebound in forward earnings, with new record highs for consumer
staples and health care. Information technology is showing the best
come-from-behind performance," said Yardeni.