After Market: Bah, Humbug! Still No Sign of the Usual Christmas Rally

DailyFinance Staff
Updated

There's still plenty of time for a certain Jolly Old Elf to visit Wall Street and deliver the Santa Claus rally that traditionally leads up to Christmas, but so far this month, it's been mostly coal in the stockings of investors. That's raising questions about whether were at the start of a long-predicted market correction.

Lump of Coal
Getty Images

The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) fell another 104 points. The blue chips have now lost ground in 8 of the last 10 sessions, and are down more than 350 points from the record high set two weeks ago. The Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) dropped 6 points, and the Nasdaq composite (^IXIC) lost 5.

The S&P 500 announced changes to its closely watched index -- most significantly, adding Facebook (FB). That boosted shares of the social network giant by 5 percent, as mutual funds that track the index will be forced to buy it. Mohawk Industrials (MHK) is also being added. It added less than 1 percent. But JDS Uniphase (JDSU) and Teradyne (TER), both of which are being dropped from the S&P 500, each lost 3 percent.

Elsewhere, Lululemon (LULU) tumbled nearly 12 percent -- not over worries about too-sheer yoga pants, but an earnings outlook for the current quarter that's a bit skimpy.

Cisco (CSCO) lost 2 percent after trimming its long-term growth forecast. The tech giant says it is "extremely challenged" in emerging markets, including China and India.

Ciena (CIEN), which also provides networking equipment, fell 7 percent. Its net badly missed expectations and revenue guidance was a bit weak.

And AmTrust Financial (AFSI) tumbled 12 percent after an analyst raised questions about the insurance company's financial reports.

On the plus side, a pair of IPOs had successful debuts. Hilton Worldwide (HLT) rose 7.5 percent from its initial pricing level. And Aramark (ARMK), the food service company at stadiums and big cafeterias, gained 13 percent.

Hovnanian (HOV) gained 6 percent. The homebuilder's net topped expectations and it said both deliveries and orders are rising.

And some biotechs rebounded from recent selling. Sarepta (SRPT) jumped 19 percent.
What to Watch Friday:

  • The Labor Department reports producer prices for November at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.

-Produced by Drew Trachtenberg.

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