Briefing.com's Close Update

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Last week’s near 4% loss made for a bit of a hangover Monday morning as stocks opened with a loss. An early bounce helped the broader market improve its position, but it still finished flat.

Early participants were dealt few trading cues. Among the more notable headlines, there was lower-than-expected annualized second quarter GDP of 0.4% in Japan, renewed selling in Europe, a slightly smaller-than-expected rise in the August Empire Manufacturing Index to 7.1, and an earnings miss from home improvement retailer Lowe’s (LOW 19.70, +0.11).

Despite the lackluster headlines, the S&P 500 bounced up from its opening low in the 1070 area to make its way back to its two-day consolidation range highs in the 1080 to 1085 zone. Resistance in that zone confined the broader market to a narrow range that resulted in a finish flat.

The Nasdaq had a better finish. Its relative strength stemmed from tech issues, which outperformed for the entire session. The overall tech sector settled with a 0.4% gain, though it had been up roughly 1% at its session high.

Small-caps in the Russell 2000 outperformed. 3Par (PAR 18.00, +8.35) was a primary leader following news that Dell (DELL 11.96, -0.05) will purchase the company for $18 per share, which is an 87% premium over the stock’s closing price last week.

In other merger news, airline plays TAM S.A. (TAM 20.78 +4.09) and LAN Airlines (LFL 27.79, +0.59) will combine their holdings under a single parent entity. That helped drive the Amex Airline Index 2.4% higher.

For-profit education plays were pressured amid reports regarding poor loan repayment rates at Strayer Education (STRA 163.26, -36.75). Adding to the weight was a downgrade of Corinthian Colleges (COCO 5.22, -1.44) by analysts at Deutsche Bank.

Trading volume was pathetic again. Specifically, share volume on the NYSE didn’t even break 800 million shares. That makes for one of the most thinly traded session’s all year.

Though the dollar dropped to a 0.5% loss, safe havens like Treasuries and gold garnered support.

Broad support for fixed income dropped the yield on the 2-year Note to a new record low of less than 0.49%. The benchmark 10-year Note saw its yield drop to a 15-month low just under 2.57%, while the yield on the 30-year Bond fell to 3.71% for the first time since April 2009.

Gold prices closed 0.9% higher at $1226.20 per ounce, which marks a one-month closing high.

Advancing Sectors: Materials (+0.5%), Tech (+0.4%), Utilities (+0.1%), Energy (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Health Care (-0.4%), Telecom (-0.3%), Financials (-0.2%)
Unchanged: Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples, Industrials

..Nasdaq 100 +0.2%. ..S&P Midcap 400 +0.2%. ..Russell 2000 +0.9%. ..NYSE Adv/Dec 1880/1090. ..NASDAQ Adv/Dec 1624/1008.