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Wall Street ended a blockbuster year for stocks on a sharply lower note Thursday, weighed down by general market weakness as traders closed out positions for 2009.
Today’s Markets
At the 4 p.m. close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the year's last session down 120.46 points, or 1.14%, to 10428.05, the Standard & Poor's 500 slipped 11.32 points, or 1%, to 1115.10 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 22.13 points, or 0.97%, to 2269.15. The FOX 50 lost 8.18 points, or 1%, to 813.77.
Twenty-nine of the 30 Dow members ended the session in the red, dragged lower by Caterpillar (CAT), Pfizer (PFE) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ). JPMorgan Chase (JPM) was the only green name among the blue chips, rising 0.34%.
Stocks had been in the red for nearly all day, with losses accelerating as the session progressed into the afternoon. The Dow lost 70 points in the last hour of trading alone.
Despite Thursday’s drop, stocks have had a remarkable year in light of a very difficult economy. The Dow rose slightly more than 18.8% this year while the broader S&P 500 posted an annual gain of 23.5%. When taken from those historic early March lows, the S&P has advanced nearly 65%.
But in the long term, the broader market has made no progress - hammered by 2000's dotcom bubble and the financial crisis of the last two years. Not including reinvested dividends, the Dow lost than 9% since 2000 while the S&P has fallen 24.1%
“It was a year of extremes and a decade of no progress,” said Ted Weisberg, a trader on the NYSE with Seaport Securities.
Thursday’s Session
Stocks extended losses after Chicago Institute for Supply Management revised downward its December purchasing managers' index in the late morning, a day after the data initially was released. The December index was revised to 58.7 from Wednesday's reported 60.0.
Earlier in the session, stocks found room to rise after positive commentary out of Chinese government officials helped rally overseas markets, weaken the U.S. dollar against its major currency pairs and lift commodities.
But the rally fizzled as the day wore on. Crude closed up only 8 cents, or 0.1%, to $79.36 a barrel after being up nearly 1% earlier in the session and industrial-use copper rose 0.06% to $3.3275 a pound.
Gold gained 0.34% to $1095.20 a troy ounce, capping off a decade where the precious metal has rallied nearly 280%.
Before the open, traders got positive initial jobless claims data from the Labor Department -- the last economic report for 2009. The government said initial jobless claims fell by 22,000 to 432,000 claims, the lowest level since February, and considerably better than the 460,000 claims expected by economists.
However, traders said the positive data is possibly distorted because of the holiday season.
"We really have to wait until January to 'believe' the data points," wrote Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist with Miller Tabak, in an e-mail.
Company News
AT&T (T) said it was cancelling its sponsorship deal with golfer Tiger Woods, making the telecommunications giant the second major corporation to part ways with Woods in light of the scandal that broke over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Time Warner Cable (NWS) offered a 30-day cooling off period with News Corp. (NWSA) so television service is not interrupted come midnight tonight. Time Warner Cable and FOX are in a dispute regarding prices TWC is willing to pay for FOX's broadcast stations, which could result in stations going dark. News Corp, the parent company of FOX Business, has not responded to Time Warner's request.
Global Markets
The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.28% on Thursday to 5412.88, closing up 22.07% for the year, while France's CAC 40 gained 0.02% to 3936.33, up 22.32% in 2009. Germany's stock exchange was closed on Thursday, rising 23.85% for the year.
In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.75% to 21872.50, jumping 52.02% this year, while China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.45% to 3277.14, soaring 79.98% this year alone. Tokyo's market was closed for the holiday on Thursday, capping off a 19.04% annual gain for index.
Stocks Little Changed in Sleepy SessionHoliday shoppers spent a little more this season
