Stocks swoon on record oil prices, sinking dollar
Stocks are continuing to crumble midday after crude oil and the greenback hit records. Lackluster outlooks from juggernauts Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN) and DuPont (NYSE:DD) also weighed down the market.
At 1:28 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) toppled 17.6 points, or 2.45%, to 700.04, while the Dow sunk 137.11 points, or 1.07%, to a level of 12,687.91.
Crude oil climbed to an intraday record of $120 a barrel, as the dollar hit a new low against the euro. The greenback climbed to $1.60 per euro for the first time after the European Central Bank signaled it will not slash interest rates due to inflation concerns Oil also spiked on a Nigerian supply disruption.
“Over the last 24 hours, four ECB speakers state that they’re concerned about inflation — one going as far as to say that they’re considering raising rates every month going forward,” Andy Busch, BMO Capital Markets global ethics strategist said. “This is part of why the U.S. dollar has come under so much pressure from the euro.”
In economic news, the National Association of Realtors said this morning that existing-home sales slid 2% in the month of March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.93 million from a level of 5.03 million in February. The sales number was slightly narrower than the 4.95 million economists were projecting.
Existing-home sales remain 19.3% below the 6.11 million-unit pace in March 2007, according to the National Association of Realtors.
The national median existing-home price was $200,700 in March, down 7.7% from a year ago when the median was $217,400.
“The price falls don’t worry me as much as the sales,” said Busch. “I was hoping to see that the sales would stabilize and to some extent they have. Yes, it’s lower, but I also think April is going to be the worst … From there we will have fallen far enough with prices and sales to set the stage for a trophing of the housing market.”
Here are the biggest percentage gainers and losers in mid-day trading among companies with a market cap between $50 million and $750 million:
Biggest percentage gainers:
• Transcat Inc. (Nasdaq:TRNS), up 23%.
• Volterra Semiconductor Corp. (Nasdaq:VLTR), up 21% on news that its first-quarter revenues and earnings beat analysts’ estimates.
• Fuel Systems Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq:FSYS), up 21% after reporting fourth-quarter results that beat the consensus on Wall Street.
Biggest percentage losers:
• Omnicell, Inc. (Nasdaq:OMCL), down 33% on news that its first-quarter earnings sunk from last year on account of lower-than-expected orders in the first quarter. The firm also guided for full year income below analysts’ projections.
• Protherics plc (Nasdaq:PTIL), down 18%.
• VNUS Medical Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:VNUS), down 14% after the medical devices provider reported a first-quarter net loss that widened from the 2007 quarter. The company was also downgraded by Roth Capital.
