US stocks ended with modest losses on Thursday, 13 January 2011. Stocks started the day in the red right from the start. Economic data dominated the day and the same checked in mixed in nature. The decline was led by commodities today, which slipped despite a weak dollar. Dow ended lower by 23.54 points (0.2%) at 11,731.9. Nasdaq ended lower by 2.04 points (0.02%) at 2,735.29. S&P 500 ended lower by 2.2 points (0.2%) at 1,283.96.
Seven out of ten economic sectors ended lower led by materials, utilities, healthcare and financial sectors. Telecom, industrial, and consumer staples were the sectoral laggards. Pharmaceutical giant Merck fell considerably following the company’s statement on changes to the clinical studies for vorapaxar, an investigational cardiovascular medicine. The fall hurt market sentiment. Continue reading Economic data pushes US stocks lower -13 Jan 2010