Stocks End on a Mixed Note

Stocks pared most of their losses in late trading but still finished on a mixed note today.

The Dow Jones ended the day 0.26% lower at 13,982.91, the S&P 500 ended the day 0.06% higher at 1,520.33, and the Nasdaq ended the day 0.33% higher at 3,196.88.

Conglomerates led the gains in the S&P 500 today, ending the day 1.84% higher. Transportation sector also rose sharply today, ending the day 0.56% higher. Basic Materials sector ended the day 0.42% higher, while Energy sector ended the day 0.40% higher. Consumer Non-Cyclical sector ended the day 0.35% higher. Consumer Cyclical sector was the worst performer in the S&P 500 today, ending the day 0.42% lower. Financials ended the day 0.23% lower.

Among the major movers in trading today were Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA), which ended the day 2.98% higher at $40.13, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), which ended the day 0.19% lower at $467.01, Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA), which ended the day 2.19% lower at $3.17, Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), which ended the day 0.81% higher at $21.14, NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA), which ended the day 0.48% lower at $12.37, Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN), which ended the day 5.39% higher at $5.57, and General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), which ended the day 3.59% higher at $23.39.

On the economic front, a report released by the Commerce Department earlier today showed that retail sales rose 0.1% in the month of January, in-line with economists’ forecast. Retail sales had risen 0.5% in the month of December. A separate report from the Commerce Department showed that business inventories rose 0.1% in December, following a gain of 0.4% in November. Meanwhile, a report from the Labor Department showed that import prices rose 0.6%, while export prices rose 0.3%, in January.

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Post Written By: Ed Liston Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.