Energy Rises as Tech Falls

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The Lowdown

The broader indexes were mixed. The Nasdaq lost 13 at 2516, as techs showed weakness. The S&P 500 picked up a point at 1427.

The April reading of the Leading Index came in higher than expected, rising 0.1%. Gains in personal income and manufacturing sales components offset declines in the employment and industrial sectors. Economists had projected the index would remain flat in April.

The National Association of Business Economists offered a mixed outlook in its spring survey. The group predicts economic growth will slow to 1.4% this year and that unemployment will climb to 5.3%. On the upside, the NABE also predicted the housing market would find a bottom before the end of the year.

Energy stocks led the market, propping up the Dow even as oil prices dipped. By 4:02 p.m., crude traded up $1.11 on the day at $127.40 a barrel. Separately, gas prices have climbed 17 cents in the last two weeks to a national average of $3.79 a gallon, according to the latest Lundberg Survey.

Techs had a volatile outing. The sector was off to a strong start after Amazon (AMZN) scored an upgrade from Goldman Sachs and Oracle (ORCL) got a lift from bullish article in Barron's. However, the broader sector declined after traders grew bearish on weak sales from SanDisk (SNDK) and Microsoft's (MSFT) reported plan to acquire Yahoo's (YHOO) search business.

Financials also had a tough day. Lehman Brothers (LEH), Morgan Stanley (MS) and Goldman Sachs (GS) each had their earnings estimates scaled back by Citi (C). "While the [banking] environment seems to have improved considerably in May, it will not offset the considerable weakness in March and April," Citi analyst Prashant Bhatia wrote in a note to clients, Reuters reported.

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