US markets end near day's low amid low volume

By Varinder Bansal, Research Analyst at CNBC-TV18

The US markets ended near day's low amid low volume day; NYSE total volumes traded failed to break 800 million shares on Monday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 23 points at 12,198, after erasing 75 points from day's high.

The NASDAQ Composite was down 12 points at 2,731, after wiping out 24 points from day's high.

The S&P 500 Index fell 4 points at 1,310, after erasing 10 points from day's high.

US Declining Sectors: Energy fell 0.1%, Utilities lost 0.3% and Financial tanked 0.3%

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei was down 1.4% and Straits Times down 0.34%. Hang Seng and Shanghai were down 0.2%. However, Taiwan was up 0.35% and Kospi up 0.3%. SGX Nifty declined just 0.16%.

Japanese stocks fell after yet another 6.5 magnitude earthquake and fears over high levels of radiation at the crippled Fukushima reactor.

European markets ended flat; CAC was up 0.12% and FTSE up 0.06% while DAX was down 0.11%.

CBOE VIX ended up 8.5% at 19.44.

US Economic News

Personal income for February was up 0.3%, in line with averages

Personal spending for February jumped 0.7% while market expected increase of 0.5%

Pending home sales went up 2.1% for February while market expected increase of 0.3%

Global News

There were reports that Rio Tinto is seeking to buy Riversdale Mining for USD 4 billion from CSN

(Tata Steel has upped stake in Riversdale to 27.1% from 24.2%)

Currencies

Dollar was down 10 bps versus Euro at 1.407

Yen fell 4 bps versus USD at 81.67

Commodities

May crude oil contract was down 1.4% at USD 103.98/barrel

April natural gas contract fell 1.1% at USD 4.36 per MMBtu

April gold contract lost 0.4% at USD 1419.9/ounce

May silver contract was up 0.1% at USD 37.09/ounce

Data to watch

S&P Case-Shiller home price index, consumer confidence