Reports earlier today showed U.S. Consumer Prices were flat in November, but the annual inflation rate which bounced back from a four-year low may push the Fed closer to begin tapering. A separate report showed the U.S. current account deficit for Q3 was the lowest in four years as exports increased and more income was earned abroad.
Market Indices/Statistics:
Dow closed down 9.31 pts/ -0.036 to 15,973.13; 21 of the 30 Dow stocks closed lower
S&P closed down 5.54 pts/ -0.31% to 1,781.00; 8 of the 10 S&P 500 sectors closed lower
Nasdaq closed down 5.84 pts/ -0.14% to 4,023.6
Telecom was the weakest (-0.80%), Materials were the strongest sector (+0.52%)
The VIX is up 0.20 at 16.23
Gold is down 14.0 to 1230.4
Oil is down 0.40 to 97.37
Nat Gas is up 0.013 to 4.277
Yen vs. Dollar is down 0.39 to 102.63
Euro vs. Dollar is up 0.0002 to 1.3763
The ICE Dollar Index (USDX) is down 0.05 to 80.07
Top Headlines:
And the M&A’s keep on comin.. KKR & Company (NYSE: KKR, $24.79) announced on Monday it would acquire its specialty finance company KKR Financial Holdings (NYSE: KFN, $12.34) in a $2.6 billion deal, paid for with KKR shares trading at an all-time high. Shares of KFN jumped 30.58% on the news while KKR slipped 1.6%.
3M Company (NYSE: MMM, $131.39) rose 2.92% after the maker of Post-it notes and film for flat-panel televisions affirmed its 2014 outlook and raised their quarterly dividend by 35% as the company continued its effort to consistently boost its payouts to shareholders. The company also expects to spend $17 billion-$22 billion on share repurchases for 2013-17, compared with its previous estimate of $7.5 billion-$15 billion.
FactSet Research Systems Inc.'s (NYSE: FDS, $109.62) fiscal first-quarter profit rose 4.8% as an increase in its client count offset charges from the company's acquisition of a financial data service company. Although shares slipped 6.36% as the company gave a cautious earnings view for the current quarter.
