<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width="100%" border=0 xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt" xmlns:user="urn:www.briefing.com"><TBODY><TR><TD class=st-Time vAlign=baseline noWrap>15:30 ET </TD><TD class=storyTitle vAlign=top>Dow -87, Nasdaq -15, S&P -7.25</TD></TR><TR><TD></TD><TD class=st-Art>[BRIEFING.COM] The broader averages hit a wall and plunge to new lows heading into the close of trading... Tomorrow, economic data will again be in the spotlight... At 8:30 the Labor Dept will release its Producer Price Index (consensus -0.2%) and core PPI (consensus +0.2%) while the Commerce Dept will release November Business Inventories (consensus +0.6%)... At 9:15 ET, investors should get an updated read on manufacturing when the Fed releases Industrial Production (consensus +0.5%) and Capacity Utilization (consensus 78.9%) figures for the month of December... With regards to earnings, S&P constituent BB&T Corp (BBT 40.31 -0.34) will be the only notable company out with Q4 results before the bell... ..NYSE Adv/Dec 1784/1500. ..NASDAQ Adv/Dec 1384/1658.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width="100%" border=0 xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt" xmlns:user="urn:www.briefing.com"><TBODY><TR><TD class=st-Time vAlign=baseline noWrap>16:20 ET </TD><TD class=storyTitle vAlign=top>Dow -111.95 at 10505.83, Nasdaq -21.97 at 2070.56, S&P -10.26 at 1177.45</TD></TR><TR><TD></TD><TD class=st-Art>[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks held rather tight ranges in negative territory most of the session, on the heels of higher oil prices and mixed economic data, but a late day drubbing, exacerbated by a GM warning, erased anything positive... The market suffered a material, and expeditious, sell-off in the final hour with relatively disappointing FY05 EPS guidance of $4.00-5.00 (Reuters Estimates consensus $4.91) from General Motors (GM 37.37 -1.02) and consternation over the market's inability to follow through on Wednesday's gains driving the selling interest... Separately, it was reported by CNBC that the late slide also stemmed from disappointment in a Treasury Dept. ruling that companies won't be allowed to repurchase stock or pay dividends with repatriated foreign earnings... Whatever the precise cause was, the late sell-off was a reflection of the bearish bias that has permeated the market since the year began... Also contributing to the market's overall weakness was a 3.5% surge in crude oil ($48.04/bbl +$1.67), fueled by supply disruptions, colder weather forecasts and further proof of OPEC production cuts, as the commodity broke through technical levels, hit a 6-week high and renewed fears of oil reaching $50/bbl before hitting $40/bbl... Meanwhile, December retail sales came in relatively in line with economists' expectations, suggesting a decent 2004 holiday shopping season, but weekly jobless claims rose for a second straight week, hitting 367K (consensus 340K), lifting treasuries and leaving investors more uncertain about the pace of economic growth... Telecom services (-1.5%) closed lower for the fourth straight day, pressured by weakness in Verizon Communications (VZ 37.00 -1.23), which was downgraded by both CSFB and Robert W. Baird to Neutral from Outperform... An FDA warning about Pfizer's (PFE 25.37 -0.66) controversial painkiller ads assisted in health care's 1.3% decline while biotech (-2.3%) also plummeted... Also showing weakness was semiconductor, transportation, retail, financial, materials and consumer staples... Interest-rate sensitive groups like homebuilding (+1.8%), REITs and utility closed higher, taking advantage of lower bond yields... Treasuries closed near session highs following this morning's mixed batch of economic data, sending the benchmark 10-year note up 13 ticks to yield 4.18%... Hardware also posted modest gains following a stronger than expected quarterly performance from Apple Computer (AAPL 69.80 +4.34) while disk drive, managed health, and energy also showed strength... The dollar rebounded against both the euro (1.3202) and the yen (102.62), recovering some of the ground it lost yesterday, sending gold futures lower for the first time in three days to close at $425.10 an ounce... ..DJTA -1.5%. ..DJUA +0.5%. ..SOX -1.4%. ..XOI +0.6%. ..NYSE Adv/Dec 1492/1832. ..NASDAQ Adv/Dec 1138/1955.
If the blue stuff turns red then Jan 14th Dow will head south quickly...and should land between 40-70 on the down side: If the blue stuff turns green then keep an eye on sweet crude price per barrel, if that remains in the ballpark then you may see a 10-30 point gain. I think the profit takers got out last week.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>