Wall Street Rises, But Oil Prices Pressure
Originally published: 12.17.15 by Margot Crabtree
What began as the best week of the year was book-ended with sharp declines in oil prices. As our trading session ended Dec. 15, 2015, oil pricing pressures hammered all 10 sectors of the S&P 500, and the HVACR Business Stock Index headed south, shedding 21.17 points, or 1.83 percent, closing at 1137.55. Declining issues overpowered advancing issues by a 25-to-8 count.
To begin our session, investors began to lean toward the expected rate hikes as a positive move, and as we closed, the central bankers were meeting on interest rates.
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Homebuilder sentiment index, while still positive, slipped in November from a 10-year high in October, to 62, and fell again in December, down to 61.
The Commerce Department reported that new home sales rebounded in October, by 10.7 percent, following a drop-off the previous month. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index was up to 91.3 in November, near the six-month average, and up from October's 90.
That reading conflicts with The Conference Board's consumer confidence index, which showed a sharp drop in November, to 90.4, from 99.1. In the third week of our session, the Commerce Department reported that factory orders rose 1.5 percent in October after falling in the two previous months.
The Commerce Department also said that U.S. construction spending rose to its highest level since Dec. 2007, up 1 percent in October, on home building and federal construction.
The downturn came in our last week, with pressures from oil and worry over the worldwide economy, especially China. The main concern was the dramatic slide in oil.
"We've got a heck of a commodity bear market here and the Fed's about to raise interest rates," said Robert Phipps, a director at Per Stirling Capital Management in Austin, Texas. "People are growing concerned they're going to raise rates at the worst possible time."
Exchange |
Symbol |
Company Name |
Price
|
Price
|
Net
|
PercentChange |
52-Week
|
52-Week
|
Shares
|
Market
|
| NASD | AAON | AAON, Inc. | 23.38 | 23.48 | -0.10 | -0.43% | 25.34 | 18.85 | 54090 | 1264624.2 |
| NYSE | ABB | ABB Ltd. | 17.91 | 18.29 | -0.38 | -2.08% | 23.66 | 17.13 | 2220000 | 39760200 |
| NYSE | ARG | Airgas, Inc. | 136.66 | 101.82 | 34.84 | 34.22% | 139.22 | 86.09 | 72200 | 9866852 |
| NYSE | AOS | AO Smith Corp. | 77.75 | 75.60 | 2.15 | 2.84% | 81.15 | 50.09 | 74890 | 5822697.5 |
| NYSE | FIX | Comfort Systems USA, Inc. | 30.93 | 29.90 | 1.03 | 3.44% | 35.00 | 15.56 | 37290 | 1153379.7 |
| NYSE | DOV | Dover Corp. | 62.11 | 63.10 | -0.99 | -1.57% | 78.21 | 55.50 | 154970 | 9625186.7 |
| NASD | ELON | Echelon Corp. | 5.54 | 7.10 | -1.56 | -21.97% | 17.80 | 4.80 | 4420 | 24486.8 |
| NYSE | DD | E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. | 66.50 | 67.05 | -0.55 | -0.82% | 76.59 | 47.11 | 876410 | 58281265 |
| NYSE | EME | EMCOR Group, Inc. | 48.71 | 48.32 | 0.39 | 0.81% | 52.37 | 39.83 | 62720 | 3055091.2 |
| NYSE | EMR | Emerson Electric Co. | 45.22 | 47.69 | -2.47 | -5.18% | 63.41 | 42.21 | 654560 | 29599203.2 |
| NYSE | FCAU | Fiat Chrysler | 13.50 | 13.52 | -0.02 | -0.15% | 17.08 | 11.13 | 1290000 | 17415000 |
| NYSE | F | Ford Motor Co. | 13.87 | 13.92 | -0.05 | -0.36% | 16.74 | 10.44 | 3900000 | 54093000 |
| NYSE | GM | General Motors Co. | 34.54 | 34.31 | 0.23 | 0.67% | 38.99 | 24.62 | 1550000 | 53537000 |
| NYSE | HON | Honeywell International, Inc. | 98.47 | 101.08 | -2.61 | -2.58% | 107.41 | 87.00 | 770690 | 75889844.3 |
| NASD | HDSN | Hudson Technologies, Inc. | 2.85 | 3.01 | -0.16 | -5.32% | 4.75 | 2.45 | 32690 | 93166.5 |
| NYSE | IR | Ingersoll-Rand Plc | 53.50 | 56.86 | -3.36 | -5.91% | 70.93 | 49.74 | 261050 | 13966175 |
| NYSE | JCI | Johnson Controls, Inc. | 39.38 | 43.08 | -3.70 | -8.59% | 54.52 | 38.48 | 647680 | 25505638.4 |
| NYSE | LII | Lennox International Inc. | 129.22 | 133.33 | -4.11 | -3.08% | 138.57 | 91.64 | 45060 | 5822653.2 |
| NYSE | LXU | LSB Industries, Inc. | 5.49 | 6.96 | -1.47 | -21.12% | 47.33 | 5.38 | 22810 | 125226.9 |
| NYSE | MTW | Manitowoc Co., Inc. | 14.31 | 15.56 | -1.25 | -8.03% | 23.15 | 13.86 | 136590 | 1954602.9 |
| NYSE | MLI | Mueller Industries, Inc. | 28.10 | 30.19 | -2.09 | -6.92% | 37.18 | 26.96 | 57160 | 1606196 |
| NYSE | NWL | Newell Rubbermaid, Inc. | 44.13 | 42.68 | 1.45 | 3.40% | 50.90 | 34.63 | 267100 | 11787123 |
| OTC | NSANY | Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. | 20.37 | 20.57 | -0.20 | -0.97% | 21.92 | 16.65 | 2100000 | 42777000 |
| NASD | NTK | Nortek, Inc. | 42.08 | 45.67 | -3.59 | -7.86% | 92.96 | 41.02 | 16260 | 684220.8 |
| NASD | OFLX | OmegaFlex, Inc. | 39.60 | 39.30 | 0.30 | 0.76% | 43.20 | 23.50 | 10090 | 399564 |
| NYSE | PH | Parker-Hannifin Corp. | 95.69 | 99.85 | -4.16 | -4.17% | 132.08 | 93.47 | 135980 | 13011926.2 |
| NYSE | RBC | Regal-Beloit Corp. | 57.86 | 61.95 | -4.09 | -6.60% | 81.36 | 54.51 | 44660 | 2584027.6 |
| NYSE | ROK | Rockwell Automation | 101.54 | 102.64 | -1.10 | -1.07% | 127.05 | 98.47 | 132020 | 13405310.8 |
| OTC | SIEGY | Siemens Aktiengesellschaft | 96.09 | 99.48 | -3.39 | -3.41% | 116.00 | 87.88 | 808620 | 77700295.8 |
| NYSE | SPXC | SPX Corp. | 8.94 | 10.74 | -1.80 | -16.76% | 22.90 | 8.22 | 40800 | 364752 |
| NYSE | TXN | Texas Instruments | 57.55 | 56.13 | 1.42 | 2.53% | 59.99 | 43.49 | 1010000 | 58125500 |
| NYSE | UTX | United Technologies Corp. | 93.26 | 96.48 | -3.22 | -3.34% | 124.45 | 85.50 | 887020 | 82723485.2 |
| NYSE | WSO | Watsco, Inc. | 119.94 | 120.86 | -0.92 | -0.76% | 133.09 | 102.75 | 27610 | 3311543.4 |
Parker-Hannifin fell 4.16 points, or 4.17 percent and closed at 95.69. Investment bank JPMorgan Chase cut its price target on PH to $97, from $103. Analysts currently have a "neutral" rating on the stock. Parker-Hannifin was the top dollar loser.
Airgas rocketed ahead after Paris-based Air Liquide announced its plans to acquire the company for $13.4 billion, or about $143 per share. The all-cash bid, which includes debt, is subject to anti-trust and other regulatory hurdles, but has been approved by the boards of both companies.
The combined company, of which Airgas will be a subsidiary, will become the top supplier in North America, and hold a leading position worldwide. ARG soared 34.84 points, or 34.22 percent, and closed at 136.66. ARG was the top dollar and percentage gainer.
Echelon had a 1:10 reverse stock split effective Dec. 8, 2015. The split, approved by shareholders on Nov. 17, converted each 10 shares into one share, with the total number of shares changing from 44.1 million to 4.1 million. ELON slipped 1.56 points, or 21.97 percent, and was the top percentage loser. Echelon ended at 5.54.
Margot Crabtree is president of Trade Trends, Inc., a financial data services provider. She has been offering market analysis with customized stock indices and financial commentaries since 1999. For additional information, visit www.tradetrendsonline.com.