Informe : Cierre Wall Street , Petróleo y Riesgo Geo-Político

 

NEW YORK (MarketWatch)
U.S. stocks closed higher Monday claiming their third stratigh monthly gain on a rise in personal income and more signs of life in corporate deal-making while a downgrade of Amazon.com Inc. hit technology shares. “The economic reports are either holding ground or showing modest improvement.
Geopolitical events will continue to cause single-day events or pullbacks, but probably won’t be sufficient enough to derail stocks” for more than a day or two, said Randy Frederick, director of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 95.89 points, or 0.8%, to end at 12,226.34 -- up 2.8% for February, its third consecutive month higher.
War drill worries North KoreaNorth Korea threatens war over a joint U.S.-South Korea military drill, while leadership holds a rally to prevent revolution fever. 
The S&P 500 Index  gained 7.34 points, or 0.6%, to end at 1,327.22 -- up 3.2% from where it stood at the end of January.
The S&P also scored monthly rises in December and January.
Telecoms and utilities performed best and technology shares fared the worst among the S&P’s 10 industry groups.
“Eventually the bull market will end, but right now the short-term trends are against that,” said Frederick, who believes equities will remain in a bullish trend until May or June, at which point he is not comfortable predicting whether the trend will remain in place or turn lower.
The Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 1.22 points to 2,782.27 giving it a monthly gain of 3%, also extending its monthly winning run to three in a row.
The Nasdaq and technology sector were hit after UBS lowered its view on Amazon saying the online retailer’s new movie-streaming service would add to the company’s costs and slow growth in its profit margins for the year.
For every two stocks that fell, three gained on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume topped 1.2 billion shares. Composite volume came to 4.3 billion.
“We came in on a positive note on the abatement of violence in Libya and favorable comments by Warren Buffett, and then popped up on the boost in personal income, even though most of it was attributable to the lower payroll tax,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank.
Fed, oil and data Economic reports had consumer spending rising 0.2% in Januaryand income climbing 1%, while a regional index showed manufacturing expanding further in the Midwest. Meanwhile, pending home sales fell for a second straight month. 
Hospital owner Ventas Inc.  said it would acquire Nationwide Health Properties Inc. in a multibillion-dollar deal that would create the country’s biggest real-estate investment trust for health care.
The deal came two days after Warren Buffett said in a letter to shareholders that he was on the prowl for more companies to buy, with the billionaire investor writing: “[M]y trigger finger is itchy.”
Oil prices edged down on reports that a tanker destined for China was loading crude in a Libyan port, while Saudi Arabia was hiking exports, with crude futures (CLJ11 96.87, -1.01, -1.03%) for April delivery finishing off 91 cents at $96.97 a barrel or up 5.2% for the month, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Bank of St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard told CNBC that energy prices would need to run substantially higher to curb the recovery.
And, in a speech delivered Monday in New York, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley said the economic outlook has improved considerably,yet the recovery isn’t on firm enough foot as yet for the central bank to withdraw its monetary stimulus.
 “The government has a tendency historically to reverse what is propping things up too late rather than too soon,” noted Frederick at Charles Schwab