Marc Pado Comments: Stocks Close Down, Off Lows of Law, Cisco Falls
August 12, 2010, CNBC
Stocks continued a losing streak Thursday heading into the close, amid light volume and continued worries over the state of the economy triggered by the latest batch of economic data and comments from Cisco that customers are hestitant about a recovery.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down about 50 points, led by Cisco, Hewlett-Packard and American Express .
Verizon and Travelers led the Dow gainers.
Office Depot and Motorola surged more than 4 percent, leading the S&P 500.
The S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq were also lower. The CBOE Volatility Index, the widest gauge of fear in the market, fell below 26 after spiking almost 15 percent in the previous session. It was up for the day, above 25.
Technology, industrials and energy were the worst performing sectors, while telecom, and health-care were in positive territory.
Materials were also up for the day, with Alcoa, International Paper and Newmont Mining among the leaders.
Stocks are likely to remain weak through the fall, with no catalyst on the horizon, such as a change in monetary or fiscal policy or an upswing in economic releases, to spark a buying spree, said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald.
"When you look forward, what’s going to drive us from here? I can’t find a single thing," Pado said.
In the absence of good news, investors will "seek out dividends and preservation of capital," he added. And defensive stocks like telecom, food and beverage, and energy should do well, while more economically sensitive sectors, like consumer discretionary stocks, will suffer.
