It's best described as the first half from hell. Monday's trading session ends one the the most disappointing six months in Wall Street's recent history.
A small uptick in stock prices in the last few hours of trading could only put a band-aid on a rough quarter and an especially demoralizing past month. Stocks dropped quickly at the start of the year, then seemed to hit bottom in March when investment bank Bear Stearns collapsed. But a rally in April and May fizzled, and June 2008 should end as one of the worst Junes on record -- the worst June performance for the Dow Jones industrial average since 1930 and for the broader S&P 500 since 1962.
With just an hour of trading left in the first half, the Dow dropped 14.14% so far in 2008; Standard & Poor's 500-stock index plunged 12.52%; and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 13%.
Rather than recovering from problems earlier in the year, the stock market's momentum is negative, as indexes to be retesting their lowest points of the year, Mark Arbeter, chief technical strategist of Standard & Poor's says. "If we don't get some help from the financials or crude oil, and their ominous trends continue, this range of support may get obliterated," he says. June is set to be the worst one-month of the S&P 500 since September 2002, he added.
A modest retreat for oil prices and some better-than-expected economic data gave stocks a slight lift on Monday. In the afternoon, the Dow added 40.14 points, or 0.35%, to 11,386.65. The S&P 500 gained 5.42 points, or 0.42%, to 1,283.80. The Nasdaq added to the month's losses, falling another 9.91 points, or 0.43%, to 2,305.72.
Oil hit a record high of $143.67 per barrel overnight, but retreated on Monday. On the NYMEX, crude oil for August delivery was trading at $139.98 per barrel, 23 cents lower than Friday's close.
The June Chicago purchasing managers index, or PMI, was expected to fall in June but instead inched higher. The reading 49.6 beat May's PMI of 49.1. The employment index improved from 41.2 to 46.7.
For the month of June the Dow is down almost 10%, and the S&P 500 off 8.3% and Nasdaq down 8.6%. Almost 440 of the 500 stocks in the index are in negative territory for the month, and almost half are down 10% or more.
Among Monday's stocks in the news, H&R Block (HRB) impressed investors with earnings of $1.66 per share, beating a loss of 26 cents a year ago. The tax preparer says it expects to earn between $1.60 and $1.70 per share next year, which is above analysts' predictions. The firm also raised its annual dividend 5.3%.
Del Monte Foods (DLM) agreed to sell its seafood business, including StarKist, to Dongwon Enterprises for $363 million.
Usana Health Sciences (USNA) says Gull Holdings and Unity Acquisition Corp. have raised their buyout offer from the company from $26 to $28 per share.
Solarfun Power Holdings (SOLF) entered into a long-term polysilicon supply deal with Jiangsu Zhongneng Polysilicon Technology Development Company. Also, Solarfun says it will buy the 48% of Jiangsu Yangguang Solar that it doesn't already own.
Major European indexes were mixed Monday. In London, the FTSE 100 index was up 1.74% at 5,625.90. In Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.85% to 4,434.85, while Germany's DAX index slipped 0.06% to 6,418.32.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 moved 0.46% lower at 13,481.38, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index added 0.27% to 22,102.01.
Treasury market
Treasury prices were falling Monday. The two-year Treasury was off 02/32 to 100-14/32 for a yield of 2.665%; the 10-year notes lost 08/32 to 99 for a yield of 4.002%; and 30-year bond dropped 16/32 to 97-04/32 for a yield of 4.556%.