Список проголосовавших за комментарий " Midday Market Summary: Averages Modestly Lower at Midday<p>Today's session has been underpinned by a wait-and-see approach with investors unwilling to make a push in either direction before tomorrow's Presidential Inauguration. The mentality has left the major averages relatively flat with the S&P 500 down a modest 0.2%.</p><p>President-elect Trump's unexpected victory in the November 8th presidential election sent the stock market on a huge run as participants bought the promises of deregulation and increased infrastructure spending. However, after having a couple of months to price-in said promises, all investors can do is watch as only time will tell if the dream becomes a reality.</p><p>However, today's story had the potential to be a bit different as the European Central Bank made their latest policy decision earlier this morning. But all the hype was put to rest as the ECB left rates and stimulus programs unchanged and ECB President Mario Draghi struck a dovish tone in his post-decision press conference. The euro did slide a bit, and is currently down 0.1% against the dollar, trading near 1.0620.</p><p>On the sector leaderboard, industrials (+0.5%) have led the way since the opening bell with railroads giving the sector an extra push. <strong>CSX</strong> (CSX 44.03, +7.13)has spikedfollowing a <em>Wall Street Journal</em> report that Hunter Harrison will pursue changes at CSX after leaving <strong>Canadian Pacific</strong> (CP 152.54, +7.40). Telecom services (+0.3%) is the only other sector in positive territory.</p><p>At the bottom of the leaderboard is energy (-0.7%) amid the Energy Information Administration's report that crude oil inventories had a build of 2.3 million barrels while the consensus called for a draw of 0.342 million barrels. The energy component has fallen from its session high, but remains up 0.3% and $52.06/bbl.</p><p>Financials (-0.5%) and health care (-0.5%) are also notable movers with the latter suffering from a disappointing showing from its biotech components. The three largest biotech names, <strong>Amgen</strong> (AMGN 153.88, -1.88), <strong>Gilead Sciences</strong> (GILD 71.50, -0.63), and <strong>Celgene</strong> (CELG 113.64, -1.58) are all down between 1.0% and 1.5%.</p><p>U.S. Treasuries have resided in negative territory for the duration of today's action and currently hover near their session lows. The yield curve has steepened as the front end of the curve has held up a bit better than the back end; the 2-yr yield is one basis point higher at 1.23% while the 30-yr yield is up five basis points at 3.06%.</p><p>Today's data included Initial Claims, Housing Starts, and Philadelphia Fed Survey:</p><ul><li>The latest weekly initial jobless claims count totaled 234,000 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 252,000. Today's tally was below the revised prior week count of 249,000 (from 247,000). As for continuing claims, they declined to 2.046 million from the revised count of 2.093 million (from 2.087 million).<ul><li>The key takeaway from the report is that it will drive heightened expectations for nonfarm payroll growth in January as this claims report covers the period in which the household and establishment survey for the Employment Situation report are conducted.</li></ul></li><li>Housing starts increased to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1.226 million units in December, up from a revised 1.102 million units in November (from 1.09 million). The Briefing.com consensus expected starts to increase to 1.193 million units. Building permits decreased to a seasonally adjusted 1.210 million in December from an upwardly revised 1.212 million (from 1.201 million) for November. The Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 1.217 million.<ul><li>The key takeaway from the report is that residential construction will be computed as a positive input in Q4 GDP forecasts as the fourth quarter average for privately-owned housing units under construction was 1.8% above the third quarter average.</li></ul></li><li>The Philadelphia Fed Survey for January rose to 23.6 from a revised 19.7 (from 21.5) while economists polled by Briefing.com had expected a reading of 15.3.<ul><li>The key takeaway from the report is that it's a first quarter number and it suggests manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia Fed region expanded at an encouraging pace to begin the year.</li></ul></li></ul>"