Last week was a mixed bag of returns as the Large Caps of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 lost value for a second consecutive week, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ posted gains. The market kicked off the week Monday with slight gains led by Consumer Discretionary sector stocks on a variety of economic news and strong sales numbers. Indices ended the trading day in red territory on Tuesday, pulled down by the Energy and Basic Materials sectors. In economic news, producer prices ticked up in October, as The Producer Price Index jumped up 0.4%, exceeding expectations of a 0.1% increase. Over the past 12 months ending in October, producer prices are up 2.8%, marking the largest rise since an advance of 2.8% for the 12 months ending February 2012. Midweek, the major indices were down again as Energy sector stocks traded lower on a slip in crude oil prices. Additionally, Energy Information Administration figures showed crude inventories increased by 1.9 million barrels last week versus expectations of a one million barrel decrease. While producer prices have risen, that increase hasn’t been reflected in consumer prices yet. For October, consumer prices rose a scant 0.1%, according to the Consumer Price Index. Core prices, which excludes food and energy, increased 0.2% for the month. Indices increased on Thursday on news that the labor market is in good health. The advance number for unemployment insurance benefit claims during the week ended November 4 was 1,860,000, a decrease of 44,000 from the previous week’s level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since Dec. 29, 1973, when it was 1,805,000. Indices lost ground on Friday, bringing both the Dow and S&P 500 into negative territory for the week. The NASDAQ eked out slight gains for the week.
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